No. 4 Texas makes the needed plays late to beat Wyoming, stay undefeated
AUSTIN – There are two different versions of the undefeated Texas football team through three games this season – the one that plays around with the opposition in the first half and the other that dominates the proceedings down the stretch with the game on the line.
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The 101,777 fans in attendance at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday both versions as the fourth-ranked Longhorns turned it on in the fourth quarter for a 31-10 victory over feisty Wyoming.
Quinn Ewers passed for two touchdowns including the game-winner to Xavier Worthy early in the fourth as Texas suffered through an uneven performance for three quarters before making all the plays it needed
Ewers finished with 131 yards through the air and also ran five yards for a score as the Longhorns (3-0) struggled with execution and had a bit of a hangover after their huge win at Alabama on Sept. 9.
Jonathon Brooks ran for career-best 164 yards on 21 carries, highlighted by a 61-yard jaunt in the fourth quarter as Texas put some distance between itself and the hard-nosed Cowboys.
Jerrin Thompson added a 27-yard pick-six for Texas with 8:46 to play.
Harrison Waylee ran for 110 yards and a score on 16 totes for Wyoming (2-1). Evan Svoboda, who started in place of regular first-team signal caller Andrew Peasley, hit on 17 of 28 throws for 136 yards and Thompson’s interception.
Texas has now beaten the Cowboys all six times they’ve played, five of those in Austin.
Wyoming stunned the Longhorns on the game’s first possession when Waylee, a transfer from Northern Illinois seeing his first action of the season, ripped off a 62-yard TD to give the Cowboys a 7-0 lead just 2:15 into the game.
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The Longhorns answered on a 37-yard field goal by Bert Auburn with 9:46 to play in the first quarter. Texas’ scoring drive got a jump start when Worthy returned a punt 20 yards to allow Texas to set up shop at the Wyoming 38.
Texas took a 10-7 lead on Ewers’ 1-yard pass to defensive lineman Byron Murphy II out of the jumbo set with 11:45 to play in the second quarter. The Longhorns used 17 plays and more than 8 minutes of the clock bridging the first and second quarters to march 90 yards, converting two fourth downs along the way and getting a 14-yard Ewers to Gunnar Helm pass to put them on the doorstep.
The Cowboys outgained Texas 163-120 in the half, holding Ewers to 57 yards passing as the Longhorns’ quarterback hit just 8 of his 17 throws. Texas was 0 for 6 on third downs over the first 30 minutes with its longest play of the half a 16-yard pass to Keilan Robinson.
Wyoming tied the game with 36-yard field goal by John Hoyland with 20 seconds to play in the third quarter to culminate a 17-play, 77-yard drive that ate up 10:22 of the quarter.
Texas woke up in big way on the third snap of the fourth quarter with Ewers hitting Worthy on a swing pass to the right flat that the speedster turned into a 44-yard TD and a 17-10 Longhorns’ lead.
