What started Saturday afternoon for the Texas football team with a Quinn Ewers pass ended with an Arch Manning kneel-down.
In between those two plays in front of an announced crowd of 99,171 at Royal-Memorial Stadium were 128 others. Ewers threw touchdown passes on three of those snaps, and Manning accounted for two second-half scores. Three transfers scored touchdowns. The Texas defense made a statement. A shutout-preserving interception from third-string freshman cornerback Wardell Mack was recorded in the game's final minute.
Add it all up, and that's a 52-0 win for No. 4 Texas against Colorado State to open the 2024 football season. Boosted by its first shutout in a season opener since 2004, UT now will turn its attention to next weekend's road trip to No. 8 Michigan.
3 TAKEAWAYS:Quinn Ewers nor Arch Manning is MVP in Week 1 win vs. Colorado State
"This was a good start, but we also know where we're headed and what we're trying to get done this season," said head coach Steve Sarkisian, who is 4-0 in season openers at Texas. "To do that, we have to consistently improve."
Sarkisian told reporters earlier in the week that he wanted to play plenty of players in the opener against a Colorado State team that went 5-7 last season. As always, complementary football was a goal for the Longhorns.
"I thought the first half of the game, we accomplished probably a lot of the things I was hoping we would," said Sarkisian, who estimated that 51 players saw action. UT built a 31-0 halftime lead.
Quintrevion Wisner rushed for a touchdown in the first half, and Ewers threw his three scoring passes to transfer receivers Matthew Golden (Houston) and Isaiah Bond (Alabama). The Longhorns stalled on their first possession of the day, and Ewers had a tipped pass that was intercepted, but UT scored on five of its seven first-half possessions.
Texas also held the Colorado State offense to 78 total yards over the first 30 minutes. The Rams boasted a top-10 passing offense last season, but third-year quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi went 6-for-12 for 25 yards. Jahdae Barron's interception of a Fowler-Nicolosi pass set UT up for a second-quarter touchdown drive.
"I'm really proud of us. We were playing a lot of complementary football, which we talk about that a lot," junior safety Michael Taaffe said. "The team atmosphere is like, if special teams can get a stop, then offense, you're going to go score. Defense, if you get a stop, the offense loves you and we're going to go get a score. Offense, you go score right away; that fires up the defense."
Ewers made a brief appearance in the second half before ceding the stage to Manning, the heralded second-year backup who quickly engineered a scoring drive that was capped with the first touchdown pass of his collegiate career. In addition to that 5-yard connection with Oregon State transfer Silas Bolden, Manning scored on a quarterback sneak in the fourth quarter.
Manning's touchdown run put Texas up by 52 points with 10 minutes, 10 seconds to go. Colorado State had two additional chances to avoid its first shutout since 2013, but the Rams punted on one possession and JacksonBrousseau had a pass intercepted in the back of the end zone by Mack on the other.
After the game, both Sarkisian and Taaffe made sure to mention the end of those two drives. Texas actually muffed that Colorado State punt, but senior cornerback Gavin Holmes fell on the football at the UT 6. Mack's diving interception in the end zone with 46 seconds left gave the Louisiana product his first highlight in Austin.
"Our guys, all of them were playing and playing for the entire ballgame," Sarkisian said. "As we say all the time, everybody's got a role on our team to contribute to the success of the team, and that definitely shined through today."
GOLDEN:Bloodthirsty Texas defense had itself a huge opening day
Defensively, Texas limited Colorado State to 192 yards of offense. Offensively, Texas was led statistically by freshmen Jerrick Gibson (67 rushing yards) and Ryan Wingo (70 receiving yards) while six different Longhorns scored a touchdown and Bert Auburn kicked a 45-yard field goal.
Ewers threw for 260 yards while completing 20 of his 27 passes before the third-year quarterback called it a day midway through the third quarter. After the game, Ewers explained that his interception came on a third-down pass that he was trying to throw away.
"I thought he played well," said Sarkisian, whose offense compiled 545 yards. "I just thought his command of the offense on the field was really good. I was proud of him (in) that way."
With the season opener now behind them, the Longhorns can shift their focus to the upcoming visit to Ann Arbor. Michigan, the defending national champion, opened its season Saturday night with a 30-10 victory over Fresno State.
Despite being two of the winningest programs in college football history, Texas and Michigan have played each other just once. Behind Dusty Mangum's walk-off field goal, the Longhorns earned a 38-37 win in the 2005 Rose Bowl.
"We're all excited to get up there and to be able to play against the defending national champions," Ewers said. "We're excited for the opportunity that we're granted and fired up to see how we handle this week."
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Saturday's game
No. 4 Texas (1-0) at No. 8 Michigan (1-0), 11 a.m., Fox, 1300, 98.1, 105.3 (Spanish)
