Longhorns Dominate Sam Houston in Shutout Win
The energy was up in Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. The stands were full of burnt orange fans ready for a show, and the Longhorns were ready to give one to them.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian said going into the game that he wanted the offense to have just as much fun in a game as the defense had gotten to. The Longhorns did just that.
Scoring on almost every drive, Texas finished the game with a shutout 55-0 win against Sam Houston. The last time Texas had a shutout game was against Colorado State last season with a final score of 52-0.
Here are five key takeaways from the last home game for the Longhorns for a while:
Key Takeaways from the Game
1. Arch Manning’s Breakout Game
Like he played against San Jose State, Manning initially started the game with a couple of throws low to the ground.
But then Manning came to life. He started to hit his receivers in the chest, extending the first drive to give the Longhorns the chance to score. Then, on the second drive of the game, Manning finished a 60-yard drive down the field with a five-yard rush into the endzone.
Manning was fired up. He stared down Sam Houston linebacker Antavious Fish, who was lying on the ground in what could have been a flag for taunting.
“The ref came up to me, I was so scared,” Manning said.
By the end of the first half, Manning finished with more passing yards than his totals in both games against Ohio State and UTEP. With 227, he was only 68 yards off his total against San Jose State as well.
“The guys feed off of that (emotion) from him, and it’s one of his strengths,” Sarkisian said. “And you know, he’s a very cerebral guy in his approach and in his preparation, but at his core, I think when he plays a little looser, a little bit more free, that’s the best version of Arch.”
2. Running Back Room Scores its First Touchdown
For the first time this season, a Texas running back scored a touchdown.
Jerrick Gibson seemed to cut through the Bearkats’ defense like it was made of butter in the first drive of the game. In two back-to-back runs by the sophomore for a total of 22 yards, Gibson found his way to the endzone for his first touchdown this season.
Then, in the fourth quarter, redshirt freshman back Christian Clark got his first career touchdown for the Longhorns.
With injuries leaving starting running backs Quintrevion Wisner and CJ Baxter out of the game, Texas has struggled to generate plays through its running game. The Longhorns’ rushing touchdowns so far this season have come off Arch Manning’s legs.
However, Texas found its stride against Sam Houston. The Longhorns ended the game with 264 yards, led by Clark with 62.
3. Defense Puts Heavy Pressure Up Front
Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski showed Texas fans that this Texas team can put heavy pressure on a quarterback up front when they need to.
Primarily blitzing, the Longhorns held the Bearkats to just 50 total yards in the first half and 63 in the second.
The Longhorns created lots of pressure up front, but also generated a takeaway. To end the first half, Sam Houston quarterback Hunter Watson threw the ball deep, hoping to find someone near the end zone. Jelani McDonald leaped up high in the air and came down with the ball for his second career interception as the clock ran down.
When asked if he knew that he could jump that high, McDonald said he “kind of did.”
“I played basketball, so it’s in me,” McDonald said.
4. Executing on All Three Phases
Special teams shouldn’t be left out of the conversation.
So far this season, the punt return team hadn’t gotten many breakout drives. The Longhorns have been on an upward track since ending with less than 40 yards on punt returns in their first two games. Against UTEP, Texas ended with 72 yards over three punts.
On Saturday, the Longhorns ended with 56 yards off of punt returns and 22 off of kickoff returns.
Because Texas was able to execute in all three phases, 75 players got time on the field, including some guys on the scout team. Sarkisian gave credit to the starters, who cheered on their teammates from the sidelines.
“They were up watching, whether it was (Malik) Muhammad, Jaylon Guilbeau. All those guys were staying into the game and and cheering on their buddies,” Sarkisian said. “They know how hard those guys have been working all summer, all training camp, and for them to get opportunities to play, I thought was really cool.”
5. Offensive Penalties Were Still a Problem
While the game was an overwhelming success for the Longhorns, it wasn’t perfect. There were a couple of offensive penalties early on that could have been cleaned up.
Playing center for the first time this season, Connor Robertson may have felt some nerves. In the first half, he got a holding penalty for a loss of 10 yards, followed by a false start penalty for five yards. However, he seemed to settle down and didn’t take any more penalties later in the game.
The other three penalties came from an illegal formation on an extra point attempt, holding on Brandon Baker and a false start by Trevor Goosby. However, the mistakes only led to a loss of 35 yards and didn’t have any real impact on the outcome of the game.
The Red Raiders are 4-0 after a dominant road win over Kyle Whittingham’s Utah to kick off Big 12 play.
TCU also joined the ranking at
