The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
California
Football hosts Cal Golden Bears
09.14.2015 | Football
Longhorns look to close nonconference schedule with win
Texas-Cal Game Notes | Tickets | Texas Game Week |
Texas will face the Cal Golden Bears at 6:30 p.m. Saturday from Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns (1-1) are coming off a 42-28 win over Rice while Cal (2-0) enters Austin following a 35-7 victory over San Diego State. The game will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Central and air nationally on FOX. The Longhorn IMG Radio Network broadcast, including flagship 104.9 FM in Austin, begins at 6 p.m. Listen onparticipating Longhorn Radio Network affiliates, including the Austin Radio Network. The game can also be heard online at TexasSports.com. Tickets are available through TexasSports.com or by calling (512) 471-3333.
Scouting the Golden Bears
• Cal is in its third year under head coach Sonny Dykes. He has ties to the Big 12 Conference having graduated at Texas Tech and serving as an assistant coach there under Mike Leach. He went 22-15 as head coach at Louisiana Tech.
• The Bears are averaging 570.5 yards per game on offense with 396.0 through the air.
• Quarterback Jared Goff spreads the ball around to his receivers well. Six Bears have at least four catches so far this season, and five different players have caught touchdowns. Three are averaging more than 50 yards per game.
Series History
• Texas leads the all-time series against Cal, 5-0
• The Longhorns got the best of the Golden Bears, 21-10, at the 2011 Holiday Bowl to close the season with an 8-5 record
• The 2011 Holiday Bowl also marks the only time the two teams have met in the postseason
• Saturday's contest will be the first regular season meeting between Texas and Cal since 1970.
• In 1970, No. 2 Texas opened the season with a 56-15 home victory over Cal to spark a 10-1 season in which the Longhorns' claimed their third national championship.
• Texas has shutout Cal in two of the meetings. The first time the Longhorns and Bears met in 1959, Texas won 33-0. The other shutout came in 1969 by the final of 17-0.
Special Teams Make Significant Impact
• In the 42-28 win over Rice, the punt return team played a huge role. After Texas forced a three-and-out on Rice's second drive of the game, Daje Johnson took Rice's punt 85 yards to the end zone.
• Johnson's punt return for a TD was the first by a Longhorn since he did so against Oklahoma on Oct. 12, 2013. That return also went for 85 yards against the Sooners
• The 85-yard punt return is tied for the fourth longest in school history
• Johnson also became the eighth player in UT history to have at least two career punt returns for touchdowns. He is just one behind the career leaders: Jordan Shipley (2006-09), Aaron Ross (2003-06) and Jim Moore (1971-73).
• Johnson also had punt returns of three and 31 yards for a total of 119 and an average of 39.7. This came a week after Johnson had just three yards on two punt returns against No. 11/11 Notre Dame.
• It was a total team effort on punt returns. Duke Thomas also grabbed a short punt and returned it 56 yards to set up another Texas touchdown.
• With Johnson and Thomas combined, Texas tallied 175 punt return yards to break the school record. The previous best was 173 yards against Baylor on Nov. 3, 2001. All those yards came from Nathan Vasher.
• Texas averaged 43.8 yards on punt returns against Rice.
Big Plays Fuel Home-Opening Win
• The Longhorns' 42-28 victory against Rice was sparked by the 'big play.' All totaled, the Longhorns had nine plays of at least 20 yards in Saturday's win, including four that went for touchdowns.
20-yard plus plays against Rice (9)
• Jerrod Heard 35-yard rush on UT's third offensive play from scrimmage
• Heard 32-yard TD pass to Armanti Foreman to cap first offensive possession
• Daje Johnson 85-yard punt return for TD in first quarter
• Duke Thomas 56-yard punt return to the Rice 6 (set up TD) in first quarter
• Jason Hall 31-yard interception return in the second quarter
• Heard 23-yard rush at end of second quarter
• Heard 69-yard TD pass to John Burt on first play of third quarter
• Malik Jefferson 26-yard fumble return for TD in third quarter
• Daje Johnson 31-yard punt return to the Rice 28 (set up TD) in third quarter
Jefferson's Fast Start
• True freshman LB Malik Jefferson has made an immediate impact on the Texas defense. Through his first two collegiate games (both starts), Jefferson leads the team and ranks second in the Big 12 Conference in total tackles with 18 (team-high 11 solo).
Malik Jefferson by the Numbers
• Team-high nine tackles (six solo), including one TFL, four QB hurries and one fumble recovery in the home win against Rice (Sept. 12)
• Returned the fumble against Rice 26 yards for a TD, marking his first collegiate touchdown
• Posted nine tackles (five solo), including 2.5 TFL, in the season-opening loss at Notre Dame (Sept. 5)
Not Bad for Starters
• Redshirt freshman QB Jerrod Heard shined in his first career start on Saturday against Rice. After playing just six snaps in the season-opening loss at Notre Dame, Heard had his name called prior to kickoff and responded with a solid performance. Here's a look inside the numbers from Heard's starting debut against Rice.
Jerrod Heard by the numbers in starting debut vs. Rice
• Rushed 10 times for a team-best 96 yards (9.6 avg), including a long of 35 yards on UT's third offensive play
• Four of his 10 carries went for at least 11 yards
• Completed 4-of-7 passes for 120 yards with two TDs and no INTs
• TD passes came on throws of 32 yards to Armanti Foreman and 69 yards to John Burt
Big-Play Burt
• True freshman WR John Burt has caught at least one deep ball in each of his first two collegiate games. Burt has two receptions for a team-best 117 yards (58.5 avg) and one TD through the first two contests.
Burt Going Deep
• One catch for 69 yards (TD) vs. Rice (Sept. 12) on UT's first offensive play of the third quarter
• The TD catch vs. Rice marked the 11th-longest reception by a freshman in UT history
• One reception for 48 yards at Notre Dame (Sept. 5) which setup a field goal
Horns Stay Hot in Home Openers
• With the 42-28 win over Rice on Saturday, Texas has now won 16 straight home openers. The last time Texas lost a home opener was against North Carolina State in 1999 when Texas fell 23-20.
Youthful Experience & Freshman Starters
• Texas had a strong 2015 recruiting class and many of the newcomers wasted little time making an impact during preseason camp. Seven true or redshirt freshmen were listed as first-teamers on the depth chart heading into the Notre Dame game.
• The Longhorns ended up with five freshman starters in their opening lineup: WR John Burt, LT Connor Williams, RG Patrick Vahe, LB Malik Jefferson and CB John Bonney were in the starting lineup. In addition, Michael Dickson handled the punting chores. Redshirt freshman Edwin Freeman is listed as the first team weakside linebacker, but the Horns opened the Notre Dame game with five defensive backs.
• Freshmen continue to make an impact as redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard got the first start of his career against Rice. Heard threw for 120 yards and two TD's while also rushing for 96 yards to lead the team.
• The 2015 recruiting class was highly touted and included 19 signees from Texas along with recruits from California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi and New York.
• Coach Strong on his recruiting philosophy: "We know this – the state of Texas will always be our home ground. We will always build it from this state. There are great high school coaches in this state. That's what it's all about. We will always know this, any time we need to go out of state where we can get into battles, I don't mind going outside the state to get in a battle. That's what it's all about; that's what recruiting is all about. We knew we were not going to back down."
• Texas may have one of the youngest teams in the nation. The Longhorns played 21 freshmen, including 15 true freshmen, in the season opener vs. Notre Dame. Only Florida State, NC State and Syracuse played more freshmen in their first game, and just Georgia had more true freshmen get on the field.
• A total of 17 freshmen, including 15 true freshmen, played against Rice.
Quick Strike
• Texas scored quickly to defeat Rice with scoring drives of: 9, 2, 1 and 5 plays
• Those quick scoring drives led to just 15:58 time of possession for Texas
Finding Paydirt
• Texas scored 42 points in its home opener against Rice and 14 of those points were not scored by the offense.
• Daje Johnson struck first on special teams as he returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown. It was the first punt return for a TD since the Oklahoma game on Oct. 12, 2013 — a span of 22 games.
• Malik Jefferson scooped up a fumble in the third quarter and ran it 26 yards to the end zone. It was the first time Texas had returned a fumble for a touchdown in 20 games.
• Although those were the only two scores by special teams and defense, there were a number of other big plays that helped set up scores by the offense: a 56-yard punt return to the Rice 6-yard line by Duke Thomas resulted in a TD; a 31-yard punt return by Johnson to the Rice 28-yard line set up a touchdown.
No Gray Area
• Senior running back Johnathan Gray is climbing up the all-time lists at Texas. With a long history of legendary running backs for the Longhorns, Gray could move into the top 10 in yards soon.
• Gray needs just 459 yards to move ahead of Hodges Mitchell for 10th in school history. He is currently 15th and would move ahead of Eric Metcalf just before climbing over Mitchell.
