Football preview: at No. 16/18 Baylor

No. RV/RV Texas (4-3, 2-2) vs. No. 16/18 Baylor (6-1, 3-1)
October 30, 2021
Where: Waco, Texas
Stadium: McLane Stadium
Time: 11:00 a.m. CT
TV: ABC (Joe Tessitore, Greg McElroy, Katie George)
Radio: Longhorn IMG Radio Network (Craig Way, Roger Wallace, Will Matthews)
Spanish Radio: Longhorn IMG Radio Network (Dr. Rubén Pizarro-Silva, Jesus Mendoza)

THE OPENING KICKOFF

The University of Texas continues its 129th season of football on Saturday when the RV/RV Longhorns face No. 16/18 Baylor for the 111th all-time meeting.
Texas (4-3, 2-2) heads to Waco after a bye week. UT last played on Oct. 16, falling to Oklahoma State, 32-24 in Austin, snapping the Longhorns' three-game home winning streak.
Baylor heads into Saturday's game with a 6-1 record and a 3-1 mark in Big 12 Conference play. The Bears were also off last week, winning their prior game against then-No. 20/19 BYU, 38-24, at home in Waco.
Saturday's matchup will be Texas' fifth consecutive 11 a.m. kickoff, with the Longhorns holding a 2-2 record in the previous four games. In all, the Longhorns have played five day games this season with a 3-2 mark.
Saturday's game against Baylor will be Texas' fourth against a ranked opponent this season with the Longhorns holding a 1-2 record in the previous games.
UT has scored 32 or more points in five of seven games this season and in seven of the last nine games overall.
This will be Texas' first game this season against an opponent that head coach Steve Sarkisian has previously faced. Sarkisian led Washington against Baylor in the 2011 Alamo Bowl.
Texas currently boasts 927 all-time wins, the fourth-most in college football history. UT holds an all-time record of 927-381-33 (.704).

THE ALL-TIME SERIES

Texas has faced only two schools more frequently than Baylor (110 times, last 2020) in its football history: Texas A&M (118 times, last 2011) and Oklahoma (117 times, last 2021).
It will be the 51st meeting between the two programs in Waco, where the Longhorns hold a 31-17-2 record over the Bears.
Texas was won five of the last six meetings against Baylor, including two of the last three in Waco.
UT is 18-6 against Baylor during the Big 12 era (since 1996).

A Texas Win Would ...

Be Texas' 928th victory all-time, keeping UT as the fourth-winningest program in college football history.
Improve the Longhorns to 80-27-4 all-time against Oklahoma State.
Give Steve Sarkisian his 51st victory as a head coach and fifth at The University of Texas.
Improve Sarkisian's record against programs representing the Big 12 to 4-4, move him to 1-1 all-time against Baylor and bring his record against teams currently in the Big 12 to 3-3.

The Captains

This season, Texas will be naming game captains on a weekly basis.

LOUISIANA (Game 1): OL Derek Kerstetter, RB Roschon Johnson and LB DeMarvion Overshown.
ARKANSAS (Game 2): TE Cade Brewer, K/P Cameron Dicker and DL Moro Ojomo.
RICE (Game 3): OL Junior Angilau, DB B.J. Foster and WR Jordan Whittington.
TEXAS TECH (Game 4): DB Anthony Cook, RB Keilan Robinson and QB Casey Thompson.
TCU (Game 5): DL Keondre Coburn, OL Denzel Okafor and RB Bijan Robinson.
OKLAHOMA (Game 6): RRB oschon Johnson, OL Derek Kerstetter, LB DeMarvion Overshown and RB Keilan Robinson
OKLAHOMA STATE (Game 7): TE Cade Brewer, DB B.J. Foster, EDGE Ovie Oghoufo and DB Brenden Schooler.

Bijan Brings the Noise

Bijan Robinson has been on a roll this season, racking up yards at an astonishing rate. In seven games, he has 924 yards on 146 carries (6.3 ypc) and 10 touchdowns to go along with 14 receptions for 207 yards and three more scores. In 160 plays he has 1,131 yards for 7.1 yards per play and 13 touchdowns.
The sophomore's hot start earned him nods on five midseason All-America teams, garnering accolades from the Associated Press, CBS Sports, ESPN, The Athletic and The Sporting News.
Robinson currently leads the Big 12 and ranks third in the nation in rushing yards (924), rushing yards per game (132.0), total touchdowns (13), scoring (11.1 points per game) and all-purpose yards (161.57 yards per game). He is second in the Big 12 and is tenth nationally in rushing touchdowns (10) and second in the conference and is tied for fourth in FBS in total points scored (78).
Over his last 11 games, Robinson has totaled 1,446 on 193 carries (7.5 ypc) with 14 touchdowns, while hauling in 22 receptions for 336 yards (15.3 ypr) and scoring five touchdowns. All told, he has 1,782 yards on 215 plays for 8.3 yards per play and 19 touchdowns.
Against Oklahoma State, Robinson had 135 yards rushing on 21 carries with two touchdowns, while also hauling in three receptions for 38 yards and one touchdown.
He has scored 19 touchdowns (14 rushing and five receiving) in his last nine games with at least one score in nine-straight games.
His nine-game touchdown scoring streak is the longest for a Longhorn since Jordan Shipley scored in 10 consecutive games in 2008. It is the longest streak for a UT running back since Jamaal Charles scored in nine-straight games in 2006-07. Ricky Williams and Cedric Benson hold the Texas record, scoring touchdowns in 11 consecutive games in 1998-99 and 2003-04, respectively.

Thompson at the Helm

Junior QB Casey Thompson is making the most of his opportunity since being named the starter in week three against Rice.
Thompson guided Texas to victories in each of his first three career starts, the first Longhorn to begin his career 3-0 since Garrett Gilbert in 2010.
The Oklahoma native had a career day in his Red River Showdown debut against rival Oklahoma, setting career highs in completions, attempts and passing yards completing 20-of-34 passes for 388 yards and five touchdowns.
His 388 yards passing were the 12-most for a Longhorn in program history, while his five touchdowns were tied for the second in UT history and were the most-ever for a Longhorn against the Sooners.
Joined Colt McCoy and Sam Ehlinger as the only Longhorns to have multiple five-touchdown passing games.
Casey Thompson has thrown 15 TD passes (t-15th NCAA/1st Big 12) on 89 completions in 2021. His ratio of throwing one TD per every 5.9 completions is second in the nation for quarterbacks with at least a 12 TD passes this season. He's even more productive for his career, tossing 21 TD passes on 109 completions (one TD every 5.2 completions). Take it a step further and over the past two seasons, Thompson has thrown 21 TD passes on his last 86 completions (one TD every 4.8 completions). For Longhorn historical context, the ratio of TD-to-completions that Thompson has this year surpasses any quarterback in UT history. Of James Brown's 80 completions in 1994, 12 went for TDs (one TD every 6.6 completions). The next best efforts came when Colt McCoy tossed a freshman record 29 TDs on 217 completions (one TD every 7.5 completions) and last year as Sam Ehlinger had 26 TDs on 194 completions (one TD every 7.5 completions).

The X-Factor

Texas true freshman WR Xavier Worthy leads all Power 5 Conference freshmen with 77.4 receiving yards per game (29 receptions, 542 yards) and is third among all FBS freshmen behind Demario Douglas of Liberty (78.1 ypg) and Corey Ruckus of Arkansas State (77.9 ypg). Worthy's six TD catches lead all Power 5 freshmen wide receivers and is second to Rucker of Arkansas State in the FBS. Additionally, his 18.69 yards per catch are 26th-best nationally and tops among FBS freshmen.
He had a spectacular first half of his freshman campaign to land on a pair of Freshman Midseason All-America teams, earning nods from ESPN and The Athletic.
Against Oklahoma State, he hauled in five receptions for 28 yards, his fourth five-reception game this year.
Worthy's 261 yards (on nine receptions) vs. Oklahoma are the most in a game by any FBS player this season, while his three TD catches vs. Texas Tech are the third-most in a game for any FBS player in 2021, and the most by a Power 5 freshman.
In seven games with seven starts, Worthy has 29 receptions for 542 yards (18.7 ypr) and six touchdowns. He has also returned three punts for 47 yards and two kickoffs for 33 yards.
Worthy's six touchdown receptions are tied for the second-most by a freshman in UT history, while his 542 receiving yards rank fourth all-time for a freshman.
The freshman is averaging 34.5 yards per touchdown catch (207 yards on 6 TDs).

Dynamic Demarvion

Senior LB DeMarvion Overshown has played in 34 games and made 19 starts during his collegiate career.
He has recorded 135 tackles (77 solo), 19 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 10 pass breakups, three interceptions, three forced fumbles, three recovered and one block punt.
This season, he has racked up 56 tackles (28 solo) with four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
Totaled four tackles (one solo) against Oklahoma State.
Against Oklahoma, the Arp, Texas native had eight tackles (five solo) with two tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and his first career blocked punt.
In Texas' victory over TCU, Overshown registered 10 tackles, including a career-best eight solo tackles, for his second game of 10 or more tackles on the season.
He collected a team-high eight tackles against Arkansas, the second-straight game in which he has led the team in tackles.

Jamison in Rarified Air

Senior DB D'Shawn Jamison is one of the most electrifying returners in school history, and a threat to score anytime he touches the football.
In 2021, he has returned 10 kicks for 241 yards (24.1 ypr) and seven punts for 70 yards (10.0 ypr).
The defensive back intercepted his first pass of the season against Oklahoma State, the fourth pick of his career and first since 2019.
At TCU, he had three tackles (two solo) and recovered a fumble in the first quarter, the second fumble recovery of his career and first since 2019 against Oklahoma.
Jamison moved into fourth place on UT's all-time kick return yardage list with a pair of 36-yard returns at TCU, giving him 1,155 yards for his career.

Dicker the Kicker

Senior K/P Cameron Dicker is 55-for-74 on his career field goal attempts and has made 191-of-194 PATs.
Dicker currently stands fourth on the Longhorns' all-time scoring list and second in scoring among kickers with 356 career points, two points behind Dusty Mangum on both lists.
He ranks fourth in UT history in field goals made (55) and is tied for fifth in attempts (74).
Dicker went 3-for-3 on extra point attempts against Oklahoma State, extending his streak of successful PATs to a career-best 55, the sixth-longest streak in UT history.
His 194 career point after attempts and 191 career point after makes are each 17 behind UT's all-time leader Dusty Mangum.

Full Steam Ahead

The running backs ran wild in Texas' 58-0 win over Rice with three Longhorns breaking runs for over 60 yards, the first time in program history that three different players have registered rushes of over 60 yards in the same game.
Junior Roschon Johnson started things off with a 72-yard jaunt for a score in the first quarter and sophomore Bijan Robinson followed with a 62-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Not to be out done, sophomore Keilan Robinson added a 65-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Texas finished the game with a program-single-game record 10.4 yards per carry (41 carries for 427 yards).
The last time Texas had three different players with a run of 60 yards or more in a season was 2004. Romance Taylor had a 74-yard touchdown run in the season opener against North Texas and Cedric Benson busted a 60-yard run at Arkansas the following week. Vince Young added one of his own with a 60-yard run in the Rose Bowl against Michigan.
Texas' previous season with at least three runs of 60 yards took place in 2015, when D'Onta Foreman had three (Kansas – 93 yards, Oklahoma – 81 yards, West Virginia – 65 yards) and Chris Warren III had one (Texas Tech – 91 yards).
The last time there were three plays of 60 or more yards in a single game occurred against Oklahoma in 2005 when Jamaal Charles ran 80 yards for a touchdown, Rodrique Wright scored on a 67-yard fumble return and Vince Young connected with Billy Pittman for a 64-yard touchdown pass.
In addition to three players busting 60-plus yard runs, four different players rushed for touchdowns against Rice, with freshman Jonathon Brooks joining the trio with a 17-yard score in the fourth quarter.

Breaking Big Plays

Texas has registered 600 yards of offense in each of their two games (620 vs. Rice/639 vs. Tech). That's just the second time in school history that the Longhorns have had back-to-back 600-yard games. UT had 3-straight 600-yard games in 2005 (606 vs. Oklahoma State/645 vs. Baylor/617 vs. Kansas). The 1,259 yards over two games are the second-most yards in a two-game stretch in UT history.
Texas rushed for 427 yards against Rice and 346 against Texas Tech, the first time rushing for more than 300 yards in back-to-back games since 2016 against Cal (307) and Oklahoma State (329).
The Longhorns surpassed 300 yards passing and 300 yards rushing on the day, which was last accomplished against Colorado in the 2020 Alamo Bowl.

Passing on Punts

Against Rice and Texas Tech, the Longhorns did not attempt a single punt, the first time in program history that UT had not punted in consecutive games.
Between a punt following their first drive of the second half against Arkansas and an early second quarter punt at TCU, the Longhorns went 29 consecutive drives without attempting a punt, the third longest streak since 2005.
The Longhorns streak included 10 full quarters without attempting a punt.
The only other season in which Texas had two games with zero punt attempts was in 2011 (vs. Texas Tech, at Baylor).

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Junior Angilau

Cade Brewer

Jonathon Brooks

Keondre Coburn

Anthony Cook

Cameron Dicker

Sam Ehlinger

B.J. Foster

D'Shawn Jamison

Roschon Johnson

Derek Kerstetter

Ovie Oghoufo

Moro Ojomo

Denzel Okafor

DeMarvion Overshown

Bijan Robinson

Keilan Robinson

Brenden Schooler

Casey Thompson

Jordan Whittington

Xavier Worthy

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics