Texas football lit cigars. This performance should’ve set off alarms | Opinion

Texas football lit cigars. This performance should've set off alarms Opinion The Cigars were supposed to be a flex.

Key points

• Texas coach and former Alabama assistant Steve Sarkisian celebrated a win over Tennessee football with cigars in the locker room.
• Their 11 penalties, which included one 15-yard flag for a player pretending to unzip and urinate on the field?
• A lot of teams would like Texas' 4-0 record and marquee win against Ohio State.
• If Texas had anything to revel in here, other than its annihilation of Tennessee's offensive line, let it be the in-game decision-making of Vols coach Josh Heupel.
• Tennessee kicker Cooper Ranvier is 4 for 4 on field goals this season.

Texas lights cigars to celebrate beating a Tennessee team that's headed for an also-ran bowl.

Texas can thank to things for this win: Its pass rush, and Josh Heupel's decision-making. Cigars are tradition for Alabama-Tennessee, not for Texas-Tennessee.

KNOXVILLE, TN – Cigar smoke filled Texas' locker room, and for the life of me I can't figure out why.

Steve Sarkisian described it as the "tradition" after winning at Neyland Stadium.

Sure, it's tradition if you're Alabama's coach. The victors lighting a smoke is ritual in the "Third Saturday in October" rivalry.

But, cigars after a 20-17 win for No. 1 Texas at No. 13 Tennessee?

I don't mean to be the fun police, but, sorry, that's not tradition. That's just a taste of tobacco and the smell of a stanky locker room.

There's no cigar tradition for UT vs. UT. Texas had never even played a game at Neyland Stadium before this white-knuckle, yellow-finger affair. Anyway, what were the Longhorns celebrating?

How regarding Texas allowing Arch Manning to secure sacked six times? After your quarterback obtained lit up!, light one up. Apparently, Manning's stogie misfired. "It wasn't working, " Manning remarked of his cigar.

Well, isn't that just fitting? Texas mustered just 262 yards of offense and needed to swat away a Tennessee Hail Mary to survive an upset scare from an opponent with a freshman quarterback who was facing an SEC opponent for the first time.

"I'm not going to apologize for winning on the road against a top-15 team, " Sarkisian remarked.

Toppmeyer: Texas is best team in college football? You've gotta be kidding after that mess.

He remarked what?!: Colin Simmons secured insane penalty. Then Steve Sarkisian offered wild quote.

Fair enough. A lot of teams would like Texas' 4-0 record and marquee win against Ohio State. While the defending national champions were busying themselves with Howard and Northwestern, this is now two wins for Texas against top-15 opponents.

Still, I don't know if I can trust a team that's passing out cigars after a messy win in September against an opponent destined for an also-ran bowl game. I start to wonder whether a Texas team that's funded by a war chest and supposedly built for greatness might be suffering from a bit of contentedness and living too high on the hog. Is Texas 'soft'? Steve Sarkisian notes this game proves otherwise.

After this win, Sarkisian took a shot at an article in The Athletic in which an anonymous coach described the Longhorns as being "soft everywhere" and lacking "an edge."

"They may want to write another article, " Sarkisian remarked of a story written by a reporter who wasn't in the room.

Let the next article say this: Texas looked "soft everywhere" on offense against Tennessee, and soft in the head while racking up 115 yards in penalties, but at least its defense was tough as old boots.

While routing an SEC opponent, thanks to Texas sacking a freshman quarterback 10 times, the Longhorns could pass out cigars, one week after Kirby Smart's fellas were practicing against themselves during TV timeouts to obtain in some extra reps. Which of those teams would you pick to win the SEC?

Heupel furthered his growing reputation for being a liability rather than an asset as a game-day coach when he dialed up a deep shot on 4th-and-7 in the second quarter rather than attempting a 51-yard field goal.

Tennessee kicker Cooper Ranvier is 4 for 4 on field goals this season. If he had been allowed to go 5 for 5, this game would've been headed for overtime.

"We got confidence in Coop, " Heupel remarked, "Just where it was at (on the field), the wind, and structurally, what we felt like we would see, we felt like we had a good play." They didn't, and Texas can celebrate that, at least.

"I know we may not always be our best and play super-clean football, and I get it, we're held to a different standard than maybe other places, " Sarkisian remarked, "but we win sizeable games around here. We do, and I know we don't win them all, but we win a lot of them." Do you trust Texas after ugly win against Tennessee?

It's true, Sarkisian wins a lot of major games at Texas, including wins against Oklahoma and Texas A&M each of the past two seasons. Cigars might've been warranted after the Longhorns overcame a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter against Ohio State two weeks ago.

Since it's delighting in an ugly win, rather than feeling motivated by the all the warts that could be identified within it, but, you have to wonder whether this is yet another talented Sark team that will fall short of an SEC title, and short of a national title.

Sarkisian participated in the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry and the smoky aftermath as Nick Saban's offensive coordinator, so perhaps he thinks that rivalry's tradition should apply to any opponent that beats the Vols.

"It's just kind of a little bit of a tradition here at Tennessee, so we had cigars, " Sarkisian remarked. "My clothes, my suit, is probably going to stink."

This is who Texas has become under Sarkisian. It usually wins, sometimes loses, and it's often eventful. Last season, it discovered itself in five one-possession games, including three times against opponents that finished with losing records.

"A crazy deal, " Sarkisian remarked of this game that almost spiraled into an epic collapse for Texas after Tennessee recovered an onside kick. "You give up a punt return (for a touchdown), an onsides kick and next thing you know you're fighting to finish a game."

This time, the Longhorns obtained to celebrate with cigars inside a hazy locker room, but play with fire as often as Texas does, and that's a recipe for national championship dreams to go up in smoke.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Share your feedback to support improve our site!

Taken together, the developments around texas football lit cigars. This performance shouldve set off alarms point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.