AUSTIN — The No. 11 Texas Longhorns began their final season in the Big 12 with a 37-10 victory over the Rice Owls at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Story: Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers finished the game with three touchdowns while completing 19 of his 30 passes for 260 yards.
- Texas running back Jaydon Blue led the Longhorns with 10 carries for 55 yards while Jonathon Brooks had 12 runs for 52 yards.
- The Longhorns kept the Owls to under 200 total yards on offense and allowed just 27 rushing yards.
“One thing I really like about this team is that we’re very versatile, and today was indicative of that,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “Our defense played a fantastic game, and there’s not always a lot of talk about how good we are defensively.”
Defense dominates: The Longhorns forced three turnovers, two interceptions, and a fumble, and had a turnover on downs in the third quarter.
- Texas ran 75 plays to Rice’s 51 and averaged 6.1 yards per play.
- The Owls averaged just 3.5 yards per play with 1.1 yards per rush attempt.
“Our defensive front did exactly what they’ve been doing all training camp, and that’s playing dominant football,” Sarkisian said.
Offensive explosion: After Rice took a 3-0 lead, the Longhorns’ offense exploded for 37 consecutive points to blow the game open.
- “We won a way today that I don’t think that’s how most people thought we’d win,” Sarkisian said. “There’s a lot of encouragement in that for me. It showed me when we can win a game in different styles.”
Up next: The Texas Longhorns (1-0) travel to Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide (1-0) in the Allstate Crossbar Classic on September 9 at 6:30 p.m.
