AMES, Iowa — The Texas Longhorns earned this.

They arrived in America’s Heartland in an unpleasant mood and left a big step closer to being the class of the Big 12 and a playoff contender.

As his players rapped along with Boosie while his smash "Set it Off" reverberated throughout the visitors' locker room in the bowels of Jack Trice Stadium, Steve Sarkisian sat on the other side of the wall in a small interview space, answering questions about the biggest season of his coaching career. And even after the biggest win of his coaching career, there was an ease about him. He knows his No. 7 Horns (10-1, 7-1) are on the rise and have become what he envisioned when he took this job: a program.

His Longhorns had just reduced the Cyclones to a light shower in front of a crowd of 61,500. They moved a step closer to their first Big 12 title since 2009 and can punch their first Big 12 championship game ticket since 2018 with a win Friday over Texas Tech.

A work in progress, not a work of art

Saturday's 26-16 win wasn’t a thing of beauty on either side of the ball, but the Horns got here because they were the tougher bunch from start to finish. The players turned those deep wounds from that miserable 5-7 season of 2021 into proud battle scars that have hardened their resolve, thanks to a head coach who insisted from Day One that he would get that total buy-in that’s so essential to building a winner.

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With UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife and athletic director Chris Del Conte standing nearby — the men who hired him in 2021 to change this program’s trajectory — Sarkisian spoke of the pains and gains that have come over this three-year odyssey, including that infamous bus ride after a humiliating 30-7 loss right here in Ames two years ago.

That night, defensive line coach Bo Davis noticed that some players were seemingly unfazed by the loss after getting outscored 27-0 in the second half. Not long after taunting “SEC!” chants rang down from the stands, some could be heard laughing on the bus. Others were joking. Many were busy texting. The coach felt there just wasn’t enough hurt or anger in that space.

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This team was fractured, and he had to say something.

Never one to hold his tongue — except to the media, since assistant coaches aren’t allowed to be interviewed during the season — Davis let loose with an expletive-filled rant that not only removed any doubt that he was all-in on Sarkisian’s rebuilding plan, but made clear that anyone who wasn't could take the first train out of Austin.

Unbeknownst to Davis, one of the players — in the ultimate betrayal of anything team — videotaped it all and leaked it. Predictably, it went viral. Davis was roundly criticized in some circles and celebrated in others. Either way, the message he sent was unmistakable.

And what a message it was.

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The Horns took it on the chin seven times that season, but what followed was the exit of several players — some of whom had not bought in to what Sarkisian was selling — and the arrival of current key starters such as quarterback Quinn Ewers and cornerback Ryan Watts. As it turns out, Davis’ rant gave the program what it needed: a figurative kick in the butt and a challenge to a locker room’s collective manhood.

The invested players digested those words and showed up the next season with the right mindset, and though Sarkisian still didn’t have the total buy-in he wanted, the improvement in effort was reflected on Saturdays and, most important, in the win column.

The head coach says he’s glad that those few minutes are remembered because it was the beginning of what we’re witnessing now.

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Now Texas (10-1, 7-1) is in the hunt for the program’s first College Football Playoff. A 10-point win over Alabama coupled with a league title would make it difficult for the selection committee to say no. These Horns believe they can play with anybody, and while there have been anxious moments at times, the buy-in is undeniable. Davis' words signaled change would come, and look where they are now.

“I joke with Bo all the time that CDC is getting ready to put a statue of him right there outside the north end zone there because (the speech) meant a lot to our program,” Sarkisian said.

The right words at the right time

Davis’ words came during a tough time, but he said it with his chest because he understands that greatness cannot be born of timidity. Football isn’t for the weak of spirit or the faint of heart. Hell, Davis wasn’t the first coach to lob a few f-bombs at players to motivate them, and if some get their feelings hurt, there’s always the portal or a knitting class.

On that night and in the months that followed, Sarkisian and Davis hoped that one day it would be a player delivering the type of fire-and-brimstone speech after a disappointing loss, and over the past two years, several leaders emerged who did just that.

Roschon Johnson, Bijan Robinson and Keondre Coburn stepped to the front last season, and now we’re seeing it from linebacker Jaylan Ford, Ewers and defensive tackles T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II.

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Sweat and Murphy, the big boys up front, were the linchpins in a seismic shutdown of the Iowa State run game, which hadn’t set any defense ablaze with a 3.8-yard rushing average. The Cyclones totaled a scant 9 yards on 21 carries, their worst rushing performance in 13 years. Coach Matt Campbell seemed content to run his backs into those two mountains in shoulder pads, and that strategy produced 9 more rushing yards than a dead man.

The titanic twosome strode out to midfield as pregame captains with tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. and wideout Jordan Whittington, a move Sarkisian described as “totally intentional” because he wanted Jarrod Hufford and the Cyclones to see the behemoths that they would have to deal with for four hours.

“All night,” Sweat said. “That’s what they got.”

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That’s the problem with careless trash talk. It’s not really an ambush if you tell them what’s coming. Iowa State offensive lineman Jarrod Hufford talked of Texas coming to Ames on senior night in the dark and how he believed the Longhorns would struggle. Instead, he spent most of his final home game in a constant backpedal.

“We definitely brought some light to their darkness, for sure,” Ewers quipped.

Even after Rocco Hecht’s smart 66-yard pop pass that went for six points in the fourth, the Horns were resolute in purpose and calm under fire. They never flinched. Previous Texas teams would have.

Murphy tweeted, "9 yards rushing … that’s all,” after the game with Hufford in mind. “Don’t write no check you can’t cash, little guy.”

On the upward arc ... as a program

The Longhorns took another step to becoming the program they once were under Mack Brown, back when fans viewed a 10-3 season as a sign of possible decline. They aren’t a finished product, but they’re coming.

A win over Texas Tech on Black Friday would give them their first 11-win regular season since Colt McCoy was throwing to Jordan Shipley back in 2009 and ensure a spot in the conference championship game, and then perhaps one of the major bowl games, even if it isn’t a national semifinal.

As for Davis, he might have to stand in a statue line after Longhorn legends such as Vince Young and McCoy, but when the complete story of the Sarkisian era is one day written, he will go down as a central figure who provided the perfect amount of accelerant to get this thing moving in the right direction.

“I think it meant a lot to a lot of the players in that locker room,“ Sarkisian said of the holes in the program that needed to be filled. “Because from the sounds of it, that might have been going on, and the fact that we were able to put a stop to that and change the direction and the trajectory of our program … and it doesn't happen overnight. That was just the starting point. And then we had to continue to build off of that for years to get to this point.”

The new Horns showed up for a fight Saturday night, and they packed a few receipts in their carry-on bags. Hufford’s words added a few tanks of petrol to a locker room that still remembers former Iowa State running back Breece Hall calling the 2021 win a case of “five-star culture versus five-star players.”

When asked about that comment, Whittington said, “I think we’ve got a six-star culture right now. It’s amazing.”

There would be no leaked video on Saturday night’s bus ride from Ames, but plenty of social media posts were flowing. Davis can save his next passionate speech for Texas Tech game week and likely conference title game preparation. His rant will be celebrated because it presented that vital first brick in Texas' return to national relevance.

The Longhorns are a program now.

Friday's game

Texas Tech (6-5, 5-3) at No. 7 Texas (10-1, 7-1), 6:30 p.m., ABC, 1300

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Two years after Bo Davis' rant in Ames, Texas football is back