Longhorns rising: No. 11 Texas roars past No. 3 Alabama for benchmark win
One would have anticipated nothing more than a heavyweight slugfest when resurgent 11th-ranked Texas squared off against perennial powerhouse No. 11 Alabama on Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
But the reality ended up being even more than expectations allowed as Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns produced their much-anticipated coming-out party with a 34-24 win over the gritty Crimson Tide in a prelude to the teams’ future battles in the Southeastern Conference.
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Ewers passed for 349 yards and three touchdowns, two to Adonai Mitchell, and Ja’Tavion Sanders caught five passes for 114 yards for the Longhorns (2-0). Texas avenged a 20-19 loss to the Crimson Tide in Austin last season and snapped Alabama’s 21-game home winning streak in its first trip to Tuscaloosa since 1902.
Texas outgained Alabama 454-362 and ran off the final 7:14 of the game to cement the victory.
Alabama (1-1) quarterback Jalen Milroe had 299 combined yards (244 of them passing) and two scores but also uncorked two interceptions.
The Longhorns lit the scoreboard first, cashing in a Jahdae Barron interception with a 32-yard Bert Auburn field goal after a 10-play, 26-yard scoring drive. The Crimson Tide rolled down the field mostly on the ground before stalling at the Texas 24 and tying the game on a 42-yard FG by Will Reichard on the first snap of the second quarter.
Texas hit the deep ball with some style to take a 10-3 lead as Ewers ripped off a 44-yard touchdown pass to Worthy on a seam route with 13:26 remaining in the second quarter.
Ewers’ throw stayed in the air for 55 yards before nestling into the receiver’s hands in the end zone and came one snap after Worthy’s end-around pass to Adonai Mitchell drew a pass interference call on the Crimson Tide’s Terrion Arnold.
It was Ewers’ first TD pass of his career with 20-plus yards of air under the ball. It wouldn’t be his last in this game.
Auburn’s 29-yard FG at the end of a 14-play, 82-yard drive expanded the Texas advantage to 13-3 with 4:05 to play until halftime. Reichard booted a 30-yard field goal on the half’s final play to bring the Crimson Tide to within 13-6 at intermission.
Reichard hammered through his third field goal, this one from 51 yards, on Alabama’s opening drive of the third quarter to pull the Crimson Tide to within 13-9.
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Alabama took its first lead of the game on 49-yard TD pass from Milroe to Jermaine Burton over Jerrin Thompson with just 14 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Texas immediately responded, using a 50-yard catch-and-winding run by Sanders to set the table for a 7-yard TD pass to Mitchell that put the Longhorns up 20-16.
Thompson made amends in a big way almost immediately when he stepped in front of a pass by Milroe, intercepted it and returned it 32 yards to the Alabama 5-yard line. Jonathon Brooks went up the middle for a touchdown on the next snap, giving the Longhorns a 27-16 lead with their second TD in a 15-second span.
The Crimson Tide were far from done, as Milroe picked up a bobbled snap and hit Amari Niblack for a 39-yard tackle-breaking TD catch and run. Milroe then lobbed up a pass to Isaiah Bond for the two-point conversion to pull Alabama to within 27-24 with more than 11 minutes to play.
The Longhorns were unfazed, with Ewers finding Mitchell on a 39-yard scoring pass with 8:23 to play that pushed the lead back to double digits and putting Alabama into desperation mode.
Texas will be flying high with its long-awaited benchmark win when it hosts dangerous Wyoming next Saturday in Austin.
