ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

The fiery orations of Will Muschamp have finally gotten through to his secondary.

Last season, there was no way to sugarcoat it. Texas struggled making big plays on defense.

	Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
	Earl Thomas, left, and Curtis Brown celebrate an interception in the third quarter, one of two picks that were returned for scores.

A more mature, experienced group was a marked contrast from those growing days on Saturday. Texas' secondary went into a feeding frenzy in the Longhorns' 41-14 victory over Oklahoma State, finally producing a rare effort where they fulfilled and exceeded their coach’s seemingly impossible standards.

In Muschamp’s world, the Longhorns need to force three turnovers in every game. The developing Texas secondary fulfilled that in bunches in arguably their best performance of the season.

“I’m pretty sure he should be happy,” Texas safety Earl Thomas said, chuckling when asked about Muschamp’s demands. "Our goal is three a game. We got that. It’s just falling our way in this game.”

The Texas secondary produced four interceptions, including two that were returned for touchdowns. Toss in a fumble recovery and the Longhorns’ secondary served as the destructive unit for the Oklahoma State defense.

Thomas set the tone with one of the interceptions for a touchdown, a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown early in the second half. Curtis Brown added another one on a 77-yard pick early in the second quarter that changed the nature of the game.

"Curtis always has the athletic ability to finish games and you saw what he could do,” safety Blake Gideon said. “The way he can jump routes, you saw what happened. That was a big play and a huge momentum swing.”

Gideon also produced a pair of turnovers, recovering a fumble by Hubert Anyiam at the Texas 47 early in the second quarter. That turnover sparked a binge where the Longhorns scored on three straight offensive possessions and the two interception returns that blew the game open.

But his teammates were joking about Gideon’s interception and how he failed to continue the scoring binge. Gideon had a 31-yard interception return, but was stopped short of the end zone like Brown and Thomas.

“I caught some grief,” Gideon said. “I kind of got slowed down and got tackled by a lineman. But I haven’t carried a football since high school, so I guess I kind of forgot about how to do it.”

Chykie Brown added the other interception as the Longhorns matched their season high for interceptions with four set earlier this season against UTEP.

Muschamp had the Longhorns playing in the nickel defense from the start of the game, hoping to handcuff the Zac Robinson’s intermediate and deep passing with three safeties as part of the regular defensive rotation.

The Longhorns’ secondary is playing like the strength of the defense, becoming the best group for the Longhorns since their national championship team in 2005.

“The 2005 secondary, six of them played in the NFL,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “Let’s wait six games and then talk. But they are playing really well. We’re getting good pressure on the quarterback. Right now we are able to man because we are good and because we can get pressure on the passer. They can’t stand back there forever and try to throw the ball.”

Thomas, whose cover skills may be as good as any back in the nation, was particularly adept in the defense.

“I was really proud of them,” Muschamp said. “We put a lot of kids in our formation and made our adjustments and they did a nice job. And Earl can cover as well as any corner in the country. I don’t even look at him like a safety.”

It’s a big change from last season when the Longhorns ranked tied for 113th nationally and last in the conference with only six interceptions.

Those hard lessons from an immature group have helped prepare the way for the Longhorns’ turnover binge this season.

“Coach Muschamp has worked hard to work for the defense,” Texas defensive end Sergio Kindle said. “We want to force quarterbacks to throw bad balls and it seems like those guys are catching the ball. We had a bunch of drops last season and we’re really focused on doing that.”

And considering that Curtis Brown and Chykie Brown are juniors and Thomas, Gideon and Williams are sophomores, more growth will be expected for the Texas defense during the rest of the season and beyond.

“Those guys are great players and all they can do is get better,” Kindle said. “They have grown and matured. They are learning now and are getting it down to a T.”