On Saturday evening, the Texas football program improved to 3-0 on the 2026 college football season with a comfortable 30-6 home win over UTSA. While the Longhorns didn't dominate as early and often as some expected in this one, they were still able to cruise to the easy win thanks in large part to the prowess of the defense.

After the game, Longhorns star safety Jelani Macdonald spoke on the team's mindset on that side of the ball.

“Nobody gets in our paint. Dang sure don't run into our paint…We work on it in practice, so glad we see it on game day,” he said, per Tyler Horka of Inside Texas on X, formerly Twitter.

He was then asked what motivates the defensive unit to have such a mentality.

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“Our reward is our pride,” said Macdonald.

It's certainly a mindset that Texas fans will be happy to hear from their defense, which has been strong so far during the 2026 season. While the Longhorns struggled to get stops throughout the first three quarters against Ohio State last week, they flipped the script in the final frame, shutting down Jeremiah Smith when it mattered most and giving Arch Manning and the offense a window to complete the comeback, which they were able to do in the final seconds.

Texas is expected to retain their number one ranking this week following the win over UTSA, as they look forward to beginning the SEC portion of their schedule, knowing that they will be getting the opponent's best shot on a weekly basis.

That will begin with a tough road game against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday at noon.