The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
UTEP game honors and notes
09.27.2009 | Football
Sept. 27, 2009
Barnett out for season: As the result of re-injuring his right shoulder in the UTEP game, Longhorn freshman defensive back Eryon Barnett will have season-ending surgery later this week.
Players of the Week
Offensive Honors
Offensive Player of the Game: Colt McCoy
Despite coming out of the game just one series into the second half, McCoy completed 28-of-35 passes for 286 yards and three TDs in a 64-7 win over UTEP. He also rushed for 15 yards to tally 301 yards of offense on the day. He led the Horns to scores on nine (six TDs) of the 11 drives he directed and helped UT register 638 yards of offense (6th most in school history). Texas posted 300 yards rushing and 300 passing for just the second time on school record. McCoy became the 15th player in NCAA history to amass over 12,000 yards of total offense in a career in the game.
Boss Hawg: Adam Ulatoski

Biggest Contributors: Vondrell McGee, Jordan Shipley
Great Plays: Dan Buckner, Charlie Tanner
Defensive Honors

Defensive Player of the Game: Earl Thomas
Thomas led a dominant UT defense that held UTEP to just 53 yards on 51 plays and was the first to hold the Miners without an offensive touchdown since 2003. Thomas hauled in two interceptions and added a solo tackle as the Horns posted the top total yardage differential on school record of 586 yards (639 gained/53 allowed). Both of Thomas' interceptions came in the first half and led to a touchdown and a field goal attempt as the Horns ran out to a 47-7 halftime lead.
Hard Hat: Roddrick Muckelroy

Ball Hawks: Lamarr Houston (2), Earl Thomas (2), Ben Alexander, Deon 
Beasley, Russell Carter, Blake Gideon, Sergio Kindle, Alex Okafor, Ben Wells
Special Teams Honors
Special Teams Players of Game: Clark Ford, Aaron Smith


Mack Brown on first four weeks of season: "The first four weeks of the season couldn't have gone much better for us. We've gone on the road and played well and won, faced some adversity and had a tough game with Texas Tech. It was good to get a conference victory out of the way early with that win and then to wrap up our first four games of the season with a great performance against UTEP. We played well at times on offense or defense in our first three games, but didn't play as consistently or well in all areas as a team. We played well in all facets against UTEP. We've still got a lot of room for improvement, but we're where we need to be as we head into a tough stretch of conference games. We're really excited about the kicking game because we're at a point where we feel like we have a chance to make a big play every time they take the field. On defense, we're right where we want to be, tackling much better, stopping the run and getting pressure on the quarterback. Offensively, we have a lot of new faces and had some trouble getting our timing down and determining the best way to utilize all of our talent. I think we're at a point where it's coming together, everybody is starting to find their roles and the offensive staff is getting comfortable with where all of the guys can help us."
Notables
*Texas' yardage differential of 586 yards versus UTEP (639 gained/53 allowed) is the best in school history.
*Including its return yardage, Texas' 810 all-purpose yards versus UTEP are the fourth-most in UT history.

*Texas has now won 12 straight home games, tied for the sixth-longest streak in UT history and the nation's fourth-longest active streak (Oklahoma 25; Boise State 21; Utah 13).

*Balanced attack: Texas is averaging 314.0 passing yards and 207.3 rushing yards per game. The Horns are one of only three teams nationally averaging 300 yards passing and 200 yards rushing this season.
*Texas won the explosive plays versus UTEP 15-3
*The Longhorns registered eight QB pressures and 11 hits on the QB in the game.
