The Texas Longhorns added another early top-10 win on the road for the second season in a row. This past Saturday, Quinn Ewers led the number three ranked Texas Longhorns to a 31-12 over 10th ranked Michigan Wolverines in the “Big House”, in Ann Arbor. Last season, the Longhorns notably beat Alabama last year on the road in Tuscaloosa setting a future trend that was showcased on Saturday with the Longhorns dominating the defending National Champions Michigan Wolverines.
The Wolverines lost a lot of pieces in the off-season including quarterback JJ McCarthy and runningback Blake Corum, but also most notably Jim Harbaugh who is now back in the NFL coaching the Los Angeles Chargers. The Longhorns also lost key pieces on both sides of the ball, losing players like Jaylon Ford, AD Mitchell, and Xavier Worthy. Both teams came into this game having won their home openers last week in preparation for what would be both team's first major test in this young season.
The Longhorns started the game off with the ball and were tested early as Ewers found Isaiah Bond on 3rd & 13 to get the Longhorns the first down and silenced the Michigan crowd early. The Longhorns would go on to get the in-field goal but saw their drive stifled after two holding penalties, one of which took a touchdown off the board before kicker Bart Auburn missed a 43-yard field goal attempt. Michigan would get the ball and would go three and out before punting the ball back to the Longhorns.
After a touchdown drive by the Longhorns and a field goal drive by the Wolverines, The Longhorns would follow that up with a 12-play drive capped off with a seven-yard rushing touchdown by true freshman Jerrick Gibson to put the Longhorns up 14-3. Michigan would have turnovers on their following two drives. First, quarterback Davis Warren would throw his first of two interceptions on the day and Colston Loveland would shockingly fumble the ball after knocking the ball loose with his knee. This would prove costly for the defending champs as the Longhorns would score 10 points off those turnovers giving them a 24-3 halftime lead.
“ That first drive we kind of stubbed our toe with some self-inflected penalties,” said Steve Sarkisian. “ I thought the offense found a nice rhythm in the second quarter and defensively just continuing to win first down, enabling us to play in second and third a long situations.”
Texas would go on to put the game away in the second-half win Quinn Ewers threw his third touchdown of the day to runningback Jaydon Blue with 2:57 remaining in the second quarter. Although Michigan’s Davis Warren would go on to pass for his first touchdown of the game, he also threw another pick in the second half settling the game with the Longhorns winning 31-12, earning their first-ranked win of the season.
“This one game is not going to define our season,” said Sarkisian. “All in all it's a good start to the season we’re 2-0 but we got a long way to go.”
Texas with the win on Saturday, saw them move up to number two in the AP rankings this week passing Ohio State. The Longhorns now look to close out non-conference as they face both UTSA and Louisiana Monroe in back-to-back home games before officially opening up SEC conference play at home against Mississippi State on September 28th.
As for Michigan the loss at home to Texas now has many fans questioning Davis Warrens's status as the starting quarterback as he has now thrown three interceptions in his first two starts. Michigan now sits at number 17 in the latest AP rankings with one last non-conference game against Arkansas State before opening Big Ten conference play against #11 USC and their much-improved defense. With both their quarterback options being unproven, Michigan will have to bank on the development of Davis Warren throughout the season and hope it doesn’t cost them the chance to defend their title as national champions in this year's new expanded playoff.
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