COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Texas Longhorns are beaten up at the moment, but they're not done fighting.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said he and his players were not naïve to the noise or the perception that this trip to face No. 18 Missouri might just be the one that wrecked the No. 7 Longhorns' College Football Playoff hopes.
"I could hear the talk getting on the plane yesterday. I could hear the talk when we got here. Nobody believed we'd win the game," Sarkisian said. "Nobody thought we were going to come here and win the game. Nobody thought we were tough enough at the line of scrimmage. Everyone thought we'd get pushed around. And, you know, the DNA of this organization is mental and physical toughness, and I think that poured out of our pores in this ballgame today."
The Longhorns gritted out a 34-20 road victory, their fourth over a top-20 opponent this season, with big fourth-quarter plays from Arch Manning and a supporting cast that was counting on several backups to bring their best when it mattered most.
Texas was missing star receiver Cam Coleman. Running back Hollywood Smothers and left tackle Trevor Goosby are out with season-ending knee injuries. Colin Simmons, the nation's sack leader, tried his hardest to make his comeback from an ankle injury and played limited snaps. Receiver Ryan Wingo was slowed by injury, but the St. Louis native refused to miss his homecoming game.
As their head coach put it, how many other teams could pull off a win like this with three potential top-15 NFL draft picks hurt?
"I really believe there's a toughness in our organization that is kind of undeniable," Sarkisian said. "Right when people want to count us out, we just refuse to go away. We continue to fight, we continue to battle, we continue to practice really hard. But we're down some really good players right now."
On this day, though, he could list countless other players who rose to the occasion. Emmett Mosley V and Jermaine Bishop Jr. combined for 145 receiving yards on nine catches to help make up for Coleman's absence. Raleek Brown had 133 yards from scrimmage without Smothers' help and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Texas got a blocked punt from backup linebacker Jonathan Cunningham. It was Colton Vasek, not Simmons, who delivered a 10-yard sack of Austin Simmons to force a critical three-and-out in the fourth quarter. And it was cornerback Warren Roberson, making his first career start, who knocked a ball out that Graceson Littleton snagged and returned 44 yards to put the game out of reach.
"We don't recruit really hard, we don't recruit really well around here, for fun," Sarkisian said. "It's not for signing day. It's for moments like this that we can have quality people that we trust that can go in and play."
Linebacker Justin Cryer, a transfer from Florida State, joked that he's only been in the program for nine months before adding, "I'm pretty sure Texas does a good job of recruiting."
The competitive depth they've developed over time showed up repeatedly Saturday as the Longhorns pulled away late in another SEC stress test. They've now won 14 of their past 15 games in the month of November under Sarkisian, and Manning has won six starts in a row against top-25 foes.
"We won it in all three phases," Manning said. "All three phases stepped up when they had to. I'm really proud of our guys. It was a long week. I'm glad we had a little gritty road win."
Texas has been in must-win mode ever since a home loss to Florida put its CFP hopes in jeopardy. Sarkisian's squad has responded under pressure with a three-game win streak. No other playoff contender has more wins over AP Top 25 opponents on its résumé.
But there's no time to rest up and recover, not with this schedule and a trip into Death Valley to take on No. 14 LSU up next.
"I'm going to enjoy this one, enjoy the flight home with the guys," Manning said. "But we all know we got a big one next week."