No. 5 Texas avoided a second straight loss with a 27-24 win over No. 25 Vanderbilt.

The Longhorns took a 10-point lead right after the two-minute warning on a short field goal by Bert Auburn. Vanderbilt scored a TD with 46 seconds left, but the onside kick didn’t bother the Longhorns and Texas ended the game with two knee downs.

Texas QB Quinn Ewers starred in the first half as he completed 19 of 21 passes and threw three touchdowns. Two of them came to DeAndre Moore Jr. and both were for over 20 yards.

Ewers finished the game completing 27 of 37 passes for 288 yards and three scores, throwing two interceptions on tip passes.

“I thought he showed great composure and he played really well,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said on the SEC Network after the game. “Sometimes you can’t control that they’re going to be dumped in the right place at the right time. Ultimately I thought he played really well. He was efficient and got the ball to our playmakers when we needed him.”

Ewers’ performance came a week after he subbed in for Arch Manning on two first-half possessions in the Longhorns’ 30-15 home loss to Georgia. Like Ewers, Manning struggled with his time on the field and Ewers played the entire second half.

There was no QB controversy at all during the week, as Sarkisian made it clear after the game that Ewers was still the team’s No. 1 QB.

Vanderbilt entered the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2013 and has already earned a home win against Alabama this season. The Commodores had a chance to tie the game in the fourth quarter, but Diego Pavia’s fourth-down pass with 5:13 left was intercepted by Liona Lefau. That pick set up Texas’ field goal a little over three minutes later that put the game out of reach.

The Longhorns have a break in Week 10 before hosting Florida on November 9th. Vanderbilt travels to Auburn next week while Pavia gets a chance at back-to-back wins at the Tigers. A season ago, Pavia led New Mexico State to a 31-10 win at Auburn.