Longhorns light up Texas Tech in 70-35 win in Big 12 opener

Ahead of the Texas Longhorns’ Big 12 opener versus the Texas Tech Red Raiders, UT head coach Steve Sarkisian lauded his team for its intent during the week of practice leading up to Saturday’s 11 a.m. kick.

If the Longhorns’ intent was to light up the scoreboard, mission accomplished. Texas cruised to a 70-35 win over the Red Raiders, scoring touchdowns on nine of its eleven drives. Only two chances with the football didn’t end in six points, one the result of a Casey Thompson interception and the other late-game turnover-on-downs following a time-killing drive.

“The cool part for me as a coach is, that showed up right there at the start of the game in the first half of this game,” Sarkisian said postgame of his team’s intent. “These guys can recognize when you’re really focused and you prepare and there’s real intention to what we’re doing throughout the week, then it carries over to the game.”

Thompson was 18-of-23 for 303 yards and five touchdowns plus the one interception. He continually found receivers and moved the ball down the field thanks to opportunities offered by the successful Longhorn rushing game.

Texas topped 300 yards rushing in back-to-back weeks, led by Robinson’s 18 carries for 137 yards. Roschon Johnson added 64 yards and two touchdowns, and Thompson found the end zone on a sneak in the first half.

Keilan Robinson got involved in the scoring action, too. Every Longhorn back reaped the benefit of running behind an offensive line that has steadily improved since a horrid showing in Fayetteville versus Arkansas.

Against a Texas Tech defense that had limited opponents to 57 yards on the ground per game through three contests, the Texas O-line imposed their will play after play, quarter after quarter. Texas averaged 6.5 yards per carry with Keilan Robinson’s 10.5 yards per tote leading Longhorn rushers.

“Speaking of the O-line, they crushed it today,” Bijan Robinson said. “They killed it. They executed everything correctly and came out with the mindset to dominate everybody that was in front of them.”

Those marks benefitted Thompson and the passing offense. Xavier Worthy had five receptions for 100 yards, three of them touchdowns. Jordan Whittington hauled in a touchdown pass and tallied 93 yards.

Bijan Robinson’s only score came as a result of a wheel route he took 38 yards to the end zone during the game’s first drive. When the game was still undetermined, Robinson’s play was pivotal to Texas’ success.

“We have a saying, we like to stay behind No. 5 and just let him carry us,” Thompson said. “He’s doing a good job of that.”

Texas surged to a 21-7 lead after about 20 minutes of game time and made it 28-7 following a Josh Thompson pick-six. Tech starter Tyler Shough rushed for a touchdown early in the second quarter, but left the game as a result of an awkward landing on the scoring jaunt leading to Colombi taking his place.

The Longhorns took a 42-14 lead into halftime, with their first-half scoring capped by Johnson’s second touchdown run to complete a nine-play, 84-yard drive.

“The mindset was be able to start fast, attack these guys, play with tempo, and also dominate in the run game,” Casey Thompson said. “I think we did that today.”

The second half began with each team trading interceptions, but eventually resulted in the Longhorns adding more and more to the scoreboard. Texas scored 70 points for the first time since the 2005 Big 12 Championship game, and was one point shy of its record of 71 for a Big 12 Conference game.

Texas tallied 639 total yards, including over 300 both through the ground and air.

“If I could get that every week, I’d be a happy man,” Sarkisian said.

Though the offense dominated and the defense provided the effort necessary for a win, Texas Tech still put 35 points on the scoreboard with four touchdowns scored by a backup quarterback-led offense.

Myles Price caught a 40-yard pass late in the second quarter, Loic Fouonji caught a 69-yard pass in the third quarter, and Kaylon Geiger hauled in a 75-yard scoring throw in the third stanza as well. Donovan Smith scored on a one-yard run late in the game to put Tech’s scoring total at half of the Longhorns’ total.

Much of it was in a game that was well out of reach, but the Longhorns still surrendered 520 total yards and 392 yards through the air. Until two late runs as the final minute ticked away, Tech only had amassed 98 yards on the ground. Texas tried to make TTU one dimensional, and succeeded.

But that one dimension cost Texas several times, and the Red Raiders’ over-the-top pass plays stuck out to Sarkisian.

“I think that if there’s anything coming out of this, that’s where we have to demand there’s a standard to which we play at every play regardless of the score in the game,” Sarkisian said. “I was not pleased with the fact they threw the ball over our head two times and one to get the ball down to the one-yard-line.”

Those defensive lapses did result in points on the board for Texas Tech, but the Longhorns had enough points to more than make up for it. There are lessons to be learned, especially ahead of another Big 12 test next week in TCU.

A week of practice with intent like Sarkisian saw last week might lead to a similar result for the Longhorns.

“The beauty of this is that it’s a really good win for us to start conference play, but we still have work to do,” Sarkisian said. “I think that’s a good sign that we can win, not be perfect, and have things to work on. We’re going to need to. We have a very tough opponent next week.”