3-2-1: Texas shuts out Colorado State 52-0 to start the 2024 campaign
The Texas Longhorns entered the season ranked No. 4 in the country. They played like a top-five team and a College Football Playoff contender on Saturday, demolishing the Colorado State Rams 52-0 to set up a top-10 matchup next week in Ann Arbor against the Michigan Wolverines.
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Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning added touchdown passes, the three transfer wide receivers all found the end zone, and the Longhorn defense pitched a shutout with several forced turnovers.
Here are three plays, two players, and one moment that stood out from the game.
Three Plays
Play No. 1
Ewers threw an interception on the Longhorns’ third drive of the game, but it was one the Rams could do little with as a failed fake punt attempt on the ensuing possession resulted in a Bert Auburn field goal. The next time Texas had the ball, Ewers flipped the field with a long pass to Matthew Golden and worked the ball into the red zone.
The red zone was a house of horrors for Texas last season, at least for a team of Playoff quality. There simply were not enough six-point successes in 2023 even though the Longhorns won 12 games and a Big 12 Championship.
That was little issue on Saturday as the Longhorns were 4-for-4 in the first half in the red zone and 7-for-7 in the game.
The second of four first-half scores was the type of impressive throw fans have come to expect from the former five-star in Ewers. He had a small, small window to hit to get the ball to Golden and he put it right on the money. It was reminiscent of the dropped touchdown pass intended for Xavier Worthy at Alabama last year.
This time, it was converted and indicates that the Longhorns may have a considerable amount of trust in their quarterback to operate in the red zone in tight spaces, especially if opposing defenses are focusing on the run.
Play No. 2
Texas was ahead of CSU 10-0 with 10:56 left in the first half when David Gbenda made sure the Rams did not take any sort of momentum. Rams running back Justin Marshall picked up seven yards on first down before Gbenda and Jermayne Lole corralled the CSU back.
On second down, Marshall again rushed to the left side and was once again stuffed by Gbenda.
Third down? Same result. Marshall rushed right and Gbenda darted through the line to make a hard-hitting tackle and force the Colorado State punt team on the field.
Gbenda, Anthony Hill, and Jahdae Barron spearheaded a stifling defensive effort in the first half. Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense surrendered only 78 total yards, including 25 passing yards to an Air Raid offense. Gbenda was all over the field and made a number of other hard-hitting plays. Hill racked up three tackles with one for loss. Barron recorded an important interception.
The Texas offense got into gear after a little bit of a rocky start, but the Texas defense brought it early and often. Gbenda’s three-tackle was the best evidence of that attitude, an attitude that kept Colorado State under 200 total yards.
Play No. 3
It had to be Arch Manning’s first career touchdown. Had to be!
Manning’s first pass was a completion for Johntay Cook that the sophomore took 40 yards. A few more plays got Texas in scoring position, position Manning salvaged by leaping on top of a live ball that hit a man in motion at the snap.
On third down, after flushing out of the pocket, Manning found Bolden with a casual flip and Bolden makes the most un-casual dive into the end zone. All three transfer wide receivers in Bolden, Bond, and Golden scored a touchdown in their Texas debut, and Bolden had the honor of hauling in Manning’s first career touchdown pass.
The first of many? He added a rushing score later on a sneak. Dual threat.
Two Players
Quinn Ewers
After an early mishap the Longhorns quarterback was fantastic. He finished 20-for-27 for 260 yards and three touchdowns after his interception.
His misthrows were few and far between. Not only was he successful on play action, he showed progress in progression passing that makes life significantly more difficult for opposing defenses.
After the Longhorns scored a touchdown on their first possession of the third quarter, Ewers went over to Steve Sarkisian, shook his hand, and exchanged large smiles after a quality day.
Throws like this were the norm on Saturday, but there was one stood above the rest. More on that later.
Michael Taaffe
Taaffe wasn’t the leader in tackles for the Longhorns, nor did he log a TFL. No turnovers were caused by the junior safety, though he did log a pass-breakup.
However, Taaffe could be seen all over the field before every single snap. He was the lead communicator in the secondary even though other players had the helmet communication device.
Thanks to that effort, plus strong showings from the aforementioned Hill, Barron, and Gbenda, the Longhorns allowed just 164 total yards to the Rams. Colorado State quarterback Brayden Folwer-Nicolosi managed to just go 10-for-18 with one interception. The Rams didn’t break 100 yards rushing until the score was already 52-0.
All three levels put together a strong day, and Taaffe’s constant communication in the back end put players in the right spots to indicate the Longhorn defense is more cohesive than it was last year when much of the focus was on the exploits of Byron Murphy and T’Vondre Sweat.
One Moment
For some reason at the end of the first half, Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell elected to try to gain some yards instead of running the clock to force the Longhorns to use timeouts or head into halftime down 24-0.
A rush of no gain and two incompletions put the ball back in Texas’ hands, and the Longhorns were in business after Bolden returned the punt 35 yards to the CSU 33.
A few plays and a fourth down conversion later, the Longhorns were set up with 1st and 10 at the 11.
That’s when Ewers decided to pull this move out of his bag of tricks.
The no look pass! The Ram middle linebacker almost runs into the ball because he’s so intent on watching Niblack… like Ewers is. But the Longhorn signal caller finds Golden for his second scoring connection with the Houston transfer of the day.
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Ewers was 18-for-25 in the first half for 248 yards and three touchdowns, along with one interception. He found 10 different receivers in the first 30 minutes.
