AUSTIN, Texas -- The crowd surfing might've been a one-time deal, but Charlie Strong will be celebrating like that again someday soon.

The Longhorns' first big win under their first-year coach will get called a signature win, maybe even a turning point. But the 33-16 victory over No. 23 West Virginia offered something more important: a glimpse of the future and the team Strong is trying to build.

A dominant first half in which Texas took a 21-point lead over a ranked team, averaged 8 yards per carry, held the Big 12’s No. 1 passer under 100 yards and was indisputably the tougher team offered the best proof yet of where Strong believes this is heading.

“Eventually, that's who we're going to become, and that's going to happen,” Strong said. “I hope it happens a lot sooner than later, but that will happen within this program where we're going to be able to just physically pound the football and defensively go play physical.”

After coming close against UCLA and Oklahoma, Texas finally earned its breakthrough win in a fashion that aligns perfectly with what Strong has preached. These Longhorns are starting to understand and play to their coach's vision.

“We’re getting closer to the overall team win we’ve been looking for,” running back Malcolm Brown said.

For Strong, it’s the effort plays that stood out. Jordan Hicks got stops on third and fourth down in front of his goal line. Quandre Diggs got the chance to slow down Kevin White and pulled it off (nine of White’s 16 catches gained less than 10 yards). Mykkele Thompson laid big hits in the open field and Cedric Reed finally broke out with three sacks, though Strong says he could’ve had five.

“I love putting the game on the defense’s shoulders,” Strong said. “The way we play this game, defense plays well. If defense doesn't play well, we have no shot at all."

On the other side, Strong saw something Texas has been searching for all season: big lanes in the run game. Like the 25-yard run from Brown with the kind of path “he probably could have driven a car through” and Johnathan Gray runs of 39 and 40 yards in which he actually got to make moves in space.

Texas’ opening drive was another encouraging sign: A 90-yard, 11-play excursion that included a third-and-15 conversion, two long runs from Brown, an explosive pass play to John Harris and a third-and-goal touchdown. That start set the tone for the Horns to pound the run, control the line of scrimmage and triumph with toughness.

“The game is all about just being physical,” Strong said. “We know that that's the only way we can ever be who we are because we have the players, we have the talent; it's just all about putting it together.”

Texas pulled off this double-digit win over a team that beat Baylor and tested TCU and Alabama despite an up-and-down day for Longhorns quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, who missed on 12 of his final 15 pass attempts. When he’s shaky, this offense can slow to a crawl -- 2.6 yards per play in the second half -- and struggle on third downs.

But Strong doesn’t ask or need Swoopes to be great. Just good enough. His development is still being handled with care and patience, because Texas knows its identity isn't at all dependent on elite quarterback play.

The head coach has said it all season long: You win big games with great defense. The Longhorns have done so in back-to-back weeks for the first time this season. They'll need one more to reach a bowl game.

"The mark of a champion is being able to repeat last week's performance," Strong said. "Can we do that again and put it all together?"

Six wins isn't close to the bar for success at Texas, but it's the beginning this rebuild needs. A physical Texas team beating up a ranked foe at home with stingy defense and big gains on the ground? Now that's more like it.

“That’s the standard,” Hicks said. “Everybody knows what the Texas standard is. We’ve got to live up to it.”