Texas wakes up in second half, beats Rice 37-10

Texas corrected its first half to finish strong and defeat the Rice Owls.

Texas struggled in the first half to put it mildly. Earlier this week we set the mark for a successful half at 28 points for the Longhorns. Texas finished the first half with a 16-3 lead.

Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski had his unit playing as well as you could have wanted them to play. Fair or not, the poor offensive output in the first overshadowed the defensive dominance. It wasn’t that the Longhorns offense couldn’t score. It was that they did not execute in the first half. That fact bore itself out in the second half. Ewers and company fired out of a cannon.

The team opened the half with a Xavier Worthy-dominant touchdown drive capped by an Adonai Mitchell touchdown. It was Mitchell’s third reception of the day in what was a quiet performance. The Texas offense continued its second half success.

One adjustment featured the Longhorns sending Ja’Tavion Sanders on a quick route down the seam and hitting him just over five yards downfield. Perhaps Sarkisian saw overzealous fronts leave Sanders uncovered heading upfield in the running game. The Texas tight end housed a 44-yard reception for six.

Xavier Worthy led all receivers with 7 receptions for 90 yards. Quinn Ewers finished the game with three touchdowns and 260 yards on 30 attempts.

The Longhorns will next take on the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sept. 9.