Of course Matthew McConaughey was on hand Saturday for College GameDay’s broadcast from Dallas ahead of Texas-Oklahoma and the Red River Rivalry.

When joining the panel during the popular college football pregame show, the actor – and avid Texas supporter – was asked about what he saw during the Texas-Alabama game that made him think this Longhorns team was different.

“Talent and belief,” McConaughey said. “We went to Alabama. We’re going to Tuscaloosa. Big, bad Alabama. Yes indeed. We’re excited about that. We hold honor and reverence for that situation, but not more reverence than the mission we’re on. We went to Alabama to go beat Alabama on the way to where we are going. We didn’t go to Alabama going, ‘Wow. We’re in Alabama.’

“There’s a difference. A whole mindset. We were not surprised to win that game. This team, this staff was not surprised to win that game. We expected to win that game, but, once again, did we talk a lot? No, we did not. We’re focusing on ourselves and focused on each other because we have a mission.”

Quinn Ewers passed for 349 yards and three touchdowns to lead then-No. 11 Texas to a 34-24 victory over then-No. 3 Alabama in a huge win for a program trying to climb back into national championship contention. The Longhorns delivered the biggest victory under Steve Sarkisian in a game that slipped away last season after a red-hot Ewers exited with a first-quarter shoulder injury. He was back and with another big weapon in Adonai Mitchell.

Alabama had its 21-game home winning streak snapped along with a 57-game regular-season binge against nonconference teams dating to Nick Saban’s debut season, 2007.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.