Quinn Ewers took the snap, the pocket remaining clean as it did for most of Saturday night, and he looked upfield to find another white jersey with a few yards of separation. Hitting the end of his dropback, Ewers’ choice was obvious.

Streaking down the heart of Alabama’s defense was Texas wideout Adonai Mitchell for what would be his second touchdown catch of the game. He pranced across the goal line untouched for a 39-yard strike. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian knew his team would need “haymakers” to upset No. 3 Alabama and the Ewers-Mitchell connection delivered the knockout.

No. 3 Alabama (1-1) tried to mount a comeback for a few quick scores of its own. Yet, Ewers’ cannon of a right arm burned the Tide’s secondary more often than not with six completions of at least 30 yards. After teasing his performance in Austin a year ago before getting injured, Ewers helped Texas coach Steve Sarkisian the third former assistant to beat UA coach Nick Saban.

“All the plays that they made were all explosive plays,” Saban said after the Tide fell 34-24 to No. 11 Texas. “All were explosive plays. That was the difference.

“They took a lot of shots in the game. And they made them. We knew they would take shots in the game. They did last year. That’s how they play and it’s a good way to play. But if you play them correctly, they can turn out to be long foul balls too. We didn’t do that. We didn’t make that happen.”

Ewers completed 63% of his passes (24-for-38) for 349 passing yards. By comparison, Alabama produced 362 yards as a team. The Tide also failed to pressure Ewers once and generated no sacks. Meanwhile, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was sacked five times as the offense tried, and failed, to make a comeback.

Saban said each of Texas’ long passes came off “something different.” He couldn’t identify one particular player as the weak link — the Tide started a freshman safety in Caleb Downs and two other starters were coming off injuries and didn’t practice until Thursday.

At times, Alabama didn’t have its secondary lined up properly after subbing someone on late due to Texas’ hurry-up offense. Other times, Texas’ pre-snap motion led to a bust in coverage.

“They made some mental errors, got people in the wrong spots. We didn’t match the patterns,” Saban said. “…It’s a lot of technical stuff, but can’t let people throw the ball over your head in the secondary so we need to get that fixed.”

Texas’ first score came via aggressive play-calling by Sarkisian, whom Tide cornerback Terrion Arnold referred to as a “genius” a few days ago. Sarkisian sent Xavier Worthy on three straight fly-routes. The results? Overthrow, pass-interference, 44-yard touchdown. At one point, Saban said the Tide played “quarters defense” or four defensive backs covering the backend. Sarkisian ran a “quarters-beater” and isolated a defender for a big gain.

Milroe and Alabama reciever Jermaine Burton tried to answer. After a disappointing first half, Milroe completed three of his longest gains of the night. The highlight was a 49-yard bomb to Burton that gave Alabama its first lead of the game.

Even when Texas answered less than three in-game minutes later, Milroe used his scrambling to create a broken play for Amari Niblack and answered with a 39-yard pass and score. But two interceptions by Milroe, and none from the visitors, triggered an upset.

“It’s definitely frustrating, but that’s the game of football. You just gotta play the next play,” defensive back Malachi Moore said. ” … Getting the ball back, that’s been the emphasis all year, all offseason. We had two on the ground today, didn’t get to capitalize. That’s our biggest thing.”

UA’s defense had prepared for a raucous Bryant-Denny Stadium environment. It practiced with silent counts throughout the week. Instead, the lapses in communication led to end of Alabama’s 29-game home winning streak (2015, Ole Miss).

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].