A 4-0 start and road win to begin conference play sends the Longhorns into an idle week as the nation's top team.
It wasn't entirely pretty, but it hardly ever is when the standard a No. 1-ranked team is occupying space in the mind and interpreting each and every detail of a game.
That was the case for the Texas Longhorns in their 20-17 win at Tennessee that felt as though the Volunteers could escape with a win in Knoxville on Saturday.
However, coach Steve Sarkisian's team prevailed, using a tied-program-record 10 sacks and two rushing touchdowns from Raleek Brown out of an undermanned backfield.
There are definitely things to fix, but the Longhorns' sky-high expectations will remain tied to the nation's top ranking as they sit atop the latest US LBM coaches poll and the Associated Press' Top 25.
Georgia and Notre Dame held on to their second- and third-place standings, respectively, after Week 4. The Bulldogs throttled Oklahoma 41-13. Texas' next game is in Dallas against the Sooners on Oct. 10.
Would Georgia's home-field thumping have been enough evidence for the Dawgs to leapfrog Texas' narrow win in the rankings? It's not a wild claim that Georgia has looked more the part of a "top-ranked team" with four blowout wins.
A win on the road in SEC play, however, carries significant weight, however it comes. AP voters had Texas staying No. 1 in 62 of the 69 ballots this week.
That puts a target on the Longhorns' back moving forward. And their gauntlet of a schedule could equally hurt as much as help their resume.
Each win will likely keep give no reason why Texas should dip below the top spot. A loss will send them sliding, but likely not by very much unless it's to a large underdog (say, like Oklahoma at the State Fair).
"We're kinda used to this environment," Sarkisian said, whose Longhorns have the most ranked wins of any program over the last three seasons.
"I know we may not always be our best or play super clean football - and I get it, we're held to a different standard than I think other places. But we win big games around here; we do."
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That means the pressure will keep ramping up for the Longhorns, who nearly lost grip of its lead late in Saturday afternoon's battle in Knoxville, with the President of the United States looking on, adding to the theatrics.
The Vols completed an 80-yard scoring drive, then recovered an onside kick in Texas territory. Had it not been for a facemask penalty and other self-inflicted wounds in game management from the Tennessee offense, who knows whether the Longhorns would've been able to stop the bleeding.
In the end, the Longhorns lived to see another day. That will remain the mantra through the rest of conference play as the top-ranked team in the country faces opponents currently ranked in the top 25 in five of the last eight games.
