No. 21/19 Football preview: No. 23/23 Louisiana

No. 21/19 Texas (0-0) vs. 23/23 Louisiana (0-0)
September 4, 2021
Where: Austin, Texas
Stadium: Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium
Time: 3:30 p.m. CT
TV: FOX (Tim Brando, Spencer Tillman)
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 begins its 129th season of football on Saturday when the Longhorns meet Louisiana at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
Texas enters the 2021 campaign with 923 wins, the fourth-most in college football history. UT holds an all-time record of 923-378-33 (.704).
The Longhorns are 105-20-3 all-time in season openers. Began last year with a season-opening victory over UTEP, 59-3
Louisiana enters the 2021 campaign on the heels of a 10-1 (7-1 Sun Belt) season under head coach Billy Napier.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES

The Texas Football program will meet Louisiana for the third time in team history, and the first time for the Longhorns under the direction of head coach Steve Sarkisian.
Each Texas-Louisiana matchup has served as the season and home opener for the Longhorns.
The Longhorns are 30-9-2 all-time against teams from the state of Louisiana. Texas has previously faced Tulane (17-1-1), LSU (9-8-1), Louisiana-Lafayette (2-0) and Louisiana-Monroe (1-0), Louisiana Tech (1-0).
Texas is 2-0 all-time against Louisiana, winning each matchup by an average of more than 49 points in series history.

RESULTS VS. LOUISIANA (ALL TIME)
Year Location Result Score
2000..... Austin................... W..... 52-10
2005..... Austin................... W....... 60-3

A TEXAS WIN WOULD …

Be Texas' 924th victory all-time, keeping UT as the fourth-winningest program in college football history.
Give Steve Sarkisian his 47th victory as a head coach and first at The University of Texas.
Improve UT's ledger in season openers to 106-20-3.
Give the Longhorns their 19th season-opening win in the last 22 years.
Improve Steve Sarkisian's record in season openers to 6-2 and be his sixth consecutive win to start a season.
Give Sarkisian his seventh-straight win in home openers and improve his record in such games to 7-1.
Mark UT's fifth-straight win over a non-conference opponent, dating back to a 48-13 victory over Rice on Sept. 14, 2019.

THE SARKISIAN ERA BEGINS

Steve Sarkisian was named the 31st Head Football Coach at The University of Texas on January 2, 2021. In the past two seasons the as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Alabama, Sarkisian was the architect of 24 straight games in which the Crimson Tide's offense scored 35 or more points, the longest streak in major college football history.
Despite coming up just short of the 35-point mark in a 31-14 win over Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinals, the victory propelled Alabama to the National Championship Game where they defeated No. 3 Ohio State, 52-24.
Sarkisian went on to be named the 2020 Broyles Award winner as the best assistant coach in college football.
Last season, Alabama's offense ranked second in the nation in scoring and led all Power 5 schools with 48.5 points per game, which set a school record and included five 50-point games against Southeastern Conference competition.
The Crimson Tide became the first team in SEC history to record five such games in a single season in conference play. The Tide followed that by posting 52 points against Florida in the 2020 SEC Championship to earn the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. They later matched that total in the National Championship Game.
The Alabama offense under Sarkisian produced a Heisman Trophy winner, two Heisman finalists, a Doak Walker Award winner and a Joe Moore Award winning offensive line.
Sarkisian has previously served as the head coach at Washington and USC.

CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE

All totaled among the 10 assistant coaches and director of football performance who were hired to form Steve Sarkisian's staff, there are a combined 234 years of coaching experience, including 200 years in collegiate coaching, 101 bowl games, 11 CFP playoff games and seven National Championship Games, and they have won six of those.

WHAT RETURNS IN 2021

The Longhorns will have a new starting quarterback this season with redshirt freshman getting the start on Saturday against the Ragin' Cajuns. Card appeared in two games as a true freshman last season, seeing action in the season-opening win against UTEP while also taking snaps in the Alamo Bowl victory over Colorado.
Texas returns its top two rushers from 2020 with the duo of Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson combining for 1,121 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns on 166 carries (6.75 ypc). The 1,121 yards represent 57.4 percent of the team's rushing output last season.
Joshua Moore returns as the Longhorns leading receiver last year in receptions (30), yards (472), touchdowns (9). Despite playing in only five games last year, Jordan Whittington collected 21 receptions for 206 yards. When healthy, his 4.2 receptions per game led the team.
The tight end position will return its top two pass catchers in Cade Brewer (15-169-2) and Jared Wiley (9-166-1). Wiley's 18.4 yards per reception were second on the team among receivers with more than five receptions.
Texas loses four of its top five tacklers from a year ago, with LB DeMarvion Overshown being the leading returner with 60 tackles, however the next seven leading tacklers outside of the top five all return, included as part of 11 of the next 12.
Overshown is also the leading returner in tackles for loss with eight, quarterback pressures with four, interceptions with two, forced fumbles with two and pass breakups with seven.
Five other players who intercepted a pass last season return, including Chris Adimora, Jerrin Thompson, Alfred Collins, David Gbenda and Josh Thompson.
Six players are back who had at least three pass breakups including DeMarvion Overshown (7), D'Shawn Jamison (6), Chris Adimora (3), Josh Thompson (3), B.J. Foster (3) and Alfred Collins (3).
Along the defensive line, five players come back who had at least 2.5 tackles for loss last year with Keondre Coburn and T'Vondre Sweat leading the way with 3.5 each, followed by Moro Ojomo, Alfred Collins and Jacoby Jones with 2.5.
The Longhorns return their primary kicker in Cameron Dicker (15-21 FG), primary punter in Ryan Bujcevski, deep snapper Justin Mader and return specialist D'Shawn Jamison. Dicker also took over the punting duties following a late season injury to Bujcevski.

CAMPBELL-WILLIAMS FIELD RECOGNIATION

At the request of the Jamail family, Joe Jamail Field was renamed in 2020 in honor of Longhorn Legends and Heisman Trophy winners Earl Campbell (1974-77) and Ricky Williams (1995-98).
Campbell, the famed "Tyler Rose," holds a special place in The University of Texas and state of Texas' football history. As a senior at UT in 1977, Campbell became the first Longhorn to win the Heisman Trophy after he rushed for 1,744 yards – a Southwest Conference record that stood for 16 years – and 19 touchdowns. He led the nation in rushing and scoring, and posted a pair of 200-yard games on the road against Texas A&M (222 yards) and SMU (213 yards). Campbell also set a Texas record for 100-yard rushing games that season (10).
Williams, a San Diego native, completed his UT career with 21 NCAA and 46 school records under his name en route to becoming Texas' second Heisman Trophy winner in 1998. He was a three-time first-team all-conference pick, a two-time Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and only the second player to twice win the Doak Walker Award (nation's top running back). Williams' career culminated in his final home game, on the field now named in his honor, when he surpassed Tony Dorsett's 22-year-old NCAA rushing record.
The field at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium was originally named after Joe Jamail in 1997 to honor the lifelong Longhorn's immense contributions to The University of Texas' athletic department.
An on-field ceremony will take place during pregame at approximately 3:25 p.m. with Campbell, Williams, UT President Jay Hartezll and UT Vice President and Athletic Director Chris Del Conte.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Chris Adimora

Cade Brewer

Ryan Bujcevski

Keondre Coburn

Alfred Collins

Cameron Dicker

B.J. Foster

David Gbenda

D'Shawn Jamison

Roschon Johnson

Jacoby Jones

Justin Mader

Moro Ojomo

DeMarvion Overshown

Bijan Robinson

T'Vondre Sweat

Jerrin Thompson

Josh Thompson

Jordan Whittington

Jared Wiley

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics