- Texas finished the regular season 13-3 (7-1 conference) in their first season in the SEC and first in the 12 team playoff coming up short in the semifinal against Ohio State.
- The Longhorns are second in the nation in turnovers gained with 31, behind Notre Dame’s 33 TO. They are tied for most interceptions in the nation with 22.
- Texas defense held 14 of it’s 16 opponents to under 300 yards of total offense
- Texas went five games, 149 passes, without allowing a touchdown pass and made an astounding jump of 106 spots from 2023 in pass defense national ranking. From #113 and 254 yards to #7 and 173 yards in 2024.
- Kwiatkowski switched the Texas base defense from a two-high safety look to one-high, which allowed for an extra man in the box to offset the loss of defensive tackles T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II, but put his cornerbacks on islands. The defense responded by improving its passing yards allowed to 7th in the country.
- Texas defense allowed fewer runs of more than 20 yards than anyone in the nation
- Kwiatkowski is nominated for the Broyles Award for the second consecutive season and fourth time overall. He was a semifinalist in 2023 and is a finalist for the first time this season.
Improvement of defensive national rankings from 2023 to 2024
Final NCAA Stat rankings of 133 Teams Ranking Improvement from 2023
- 2023 Passing yds allowed #113 254.4
- 2024 Passing yds allowed #7 173.8
** 106 spot improvement #113 to 7
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- 2023 total defense #34 336.7
- 2024 total defense #3 283.4
** 31 spot improvement #34 to 3
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- 2023 Scoring defense #15 18.9
- 2024 Scoring defense #3 15.3
** 12 spot improvement #15 to 3
