The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Louisiana Tech
No. 10/10 Football preview: Louisiana Tech
08.26.2019 | Football
The Longhorns open the 2019 season at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
No. 10/10 Texas (0-0) vs. Louisiana Tech (0-0)
August 31, 2019
Where: Austin, Texas
Stadium: Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
Time: 7 p.m. CT
TV: Longhorn Network (Lowell Galindo, Ahmad Brooks, Taylor Davis)
Radio: Longhorn IMG Radio Network (Craig Way, Roger Wallace, Quan Cosby)
Spanish Radio: Longhorn IMG Radio Network (Dr. Rubén Pizarro-Silva, Jesus Mendoza)
All-time Series: Never met
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COMPLETE GAME NOTES
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THE OPENING KICKOFF
• The University of Texas begins its 127th season of football on Saturday when the Longhorns take on Louisiana Tech at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
• Texas enters the 2018 campaign with 908 all-time wins, the third-most in college football history. UT holds an all-time record of 908-370-33 (.705).
• The Longhorns are 103-20-3 (.829) all-time in season openers. UT last began a season at home in 2017 when they squared off with Maryland at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. The 2019 season marks the 21st time in the last 24 years that Texas has opened its season at home. The Longhorns have gone 18-2 when beginning the season at home during that stretch.
• UT finished the 2018 season with a 10-4 overall record and a 7-2 mark in the Big 12 Conference. It was Texas' first 10-win season since 2009 and the Longhorns defeated No. 5/6/6 Georgia, 28-21, in the Allstate Sugar Bowl to cap off the season.
• Louisiana Tech enters 2019 on the heels of an 8-5 (5-3 C-USA) campaign under head coach Skip Holtz last year.
• The Bulldogs defeated Hawaii, 31-14, in the 2018 Hawaii Bowl to cap Holtz's sixth season in charge of the program.
• Texas and Louisiana Tech have never met prior to 2019.
• Ten of Texas' 12 regular-season games will be contested inside the state of Texas, starting with Saturday's season opener. UT will only leave the Lone Star State to face West Virginia (Oct. 5) and Iowa State (Nov. 16).
• Eight of UT's 2019 opponents played in a bowl game in 2018, with five of those teams winning their postseason matchups.
• The Longhorns are scheduled to play 10 Power Five Conference opponents during the 2019 regular season. UT was the only program in college football to play 11 Power Five Conference opponents in each regular season from 2015-18.
• Texas played in 10 one-possession games in 2018, going 7-3 in such games. Prior to the loss in the Big 12 title game, UT's three regular season losses had come by a combined nine points. The Horns beat five ranked teams in 2018, their most since also besting five teams ranked in at least one of the national polls back in 2004.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
• Texas and Louisiana Tech have never met prior to 2019.
• The Longhorns are 29-8-2 all-time against teams from the state of Louisiana. Texas has previously faced Tulane (17-1-1), LSU (9-7-1), Louisiana-Lafayette (2-0) and Louisiana-Monroe (1-0).
A TEXAS WIN WOULD...
• Be Texas' 909th victory all-time, keeping UT as the third-winningest program in college football history.
• Mark Tom Herman's 40th victory as a head coach and his 18th at The University of Texas.
• Improve UT's ledger in season openers to 104-20-3.
• Give the Longhorns their 17th season-opening win in the last 20 years.
• Be Texas' fourth consecutive regular-season victory, dating back to a win over Texas Tech on Nov. 10, 2018.
• Mark UT's fourth-straight win over a non-conference opponent, dating back to a 28-21 victory over Tulsa on Sept. 8, 2018.
THE 2019 SCHEDULE
• Texas faces a challenging slate in 2019 that features three new non-conference opponents from last season. Similar to last year, those games are the first three of the season.
• The first two will feature a pair of 2018 bowl winners with Louisiana Tech, which finished 8-5 and won the Hawaii Bowl in 2018, followed by the week two highlight of the national schedule as last season's Fiesta Bowl champion LSU comes to Austin. The final non-conference game will be the renewal of the series against former Southwest Conference foe Rice at NRG Stadium in Houston.
• The final nine weeks of the regular season will all be in Big 12 Conference play, with six of the nine opponents coming off of bowl appearances a season ago.
HEAD COACH TOM HERMAN
• Tom Herman is in his fifth season overall as a head coach with a career record of 39-14 (.736) entering the 2019 season opener. He is in his third season at Texas with a mark of 17-10 (.630).
• Including the 2019 season, Herman has spent 16 of his 22 seasons as a coach in the state of Texas on the collegiate level.
• Herman graduated from Cal Lutheran and received his master's degree in education from The University of Texas.
• He owns a career mark of 12-6 against Top 25 opponents, 5-4 against Top 10 foes and 3-2 versus teams in the Top 5.
CAPTAINS
The Longhorns announced their 2018 captains on Tuesday, August 20. The five captains are:
Sam Ehlinger (Austin, Texas, third-year QB)
Collin Johnson (San Jose, Calif., fourth-year WR)
Brandon Jones (Nacogdoches, Texas, fourth-year DB)
Malcolm Roach (Baton Rouge, La., fourth-year DL)
Zach Shackelford (Belton, Texas, fourth-year OL)
All five Longhorn Captains are first-time selections, marking the second time during Tom Herman's three seasons at the helm that all captains are first-time selections (2017).
