The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Tech
No. 22/19 Football preview: at Texas Tech
09.19.2022 | Football
The Longhorns play on the road for the first time this season at Texas Tech on Saturday.
Texas (2-1) vs. Texas Tech (2-1)
September 24, 2022
Where: Lubbock, Texas
Stadium: Jones AT&T Stadium
Time: 2:30 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN (Dave Fleimming, Rod Gilmore, Tiffany Blackmon)
Radio: Longhorn Radio Network/LEARFIELD (Craig Way, Roger Wallace, Will Matthews)
National Radio: Compass Media Network (TJ Rivers, Tiki Barber)
Spanish Radio: Longhorn Radio Network/LEARFIELD (Dr. Rubén Pizarro-Silva, Arturo Mata)
THE OPENING KICKOFF
• The University of Texas continues its 130th season of football on Saturday when the Longhorns open Big 12 play against Texas Tech on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.
• Last week, Texas (2-1) topped UTSA, 41-20, in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
• Texas Tech (2-1) heads into Saturday's matchup looking to bounce back from a 27-14 loss at No. 16 NC State.
• Texas will be playing on the road for the first time this season, while Texas Tech is 2-0 on the year at home.
• Saturday's game will mark the 13th time Texas opens conference play on the road. The Horns are 9-3 when opening Big 12 play on the road with wins victories in the last two games and nine of the last 10.
• Texas currently boasts 930 all-time wins, tied for the fifth-most in college football history. UT holds an all-time record of 930-386-33 (.701).
The All-Time Series
• Texas holds a 54-17 advantage over Texas Tech in the all-time series between the schools, and has won 11 of the last 13 matchups.• The Longhorns scored 10 touchdowns in a 70-35 win over the Red Raiders in Austin last season.
• Texas holds the longest winning streak by either side (8 games) and the largest margin of victory (51 points) in series history.
• The matchup marks the third-straight year in which Texas opens Big 12 play against the Red Raiders and the sixth time overall, with the Longhorns holding a 5-0 record ahead of Saturday's game.
• Texas is 2-0 in Big 12 openers against Texas Tech in Lubbock with wins in 2010 (24-14) and 2020 (63-56 (OT)).
A Texas Win Would ...
• Be Texas' 931th victory all-time, the fifth-winningest program in college football history.
• Give Steve Sarkisian his 54th victory as a head coach and eighth at Texas.
• Improve Sarkisian's record at Texas to 8-8 overall and 4-6 in the Big 12.
• Be UT's sixth consecutive win in Big 12 Conference openers.
• Mark Steve Sarkisian's fourth victory versus teams from the State of Texas and improve his record in such games to 4-2 (TCU 1-0, Texas Tech 1-0, UTSA 1-0, Baylor 0-2).
Sarkisian Era Enters Second Season
• Texas Football Head Coach Steve Sarkisian begins his second season at the helm of the Longhorns and his ninth season as a head coach overall.
• Last season, the Texas offense ranked 18th in the nation and second in the Big 12 Conference with 35.5 points per game, the third-straight top-18 scoring output for a Sarkisan-led offense.
• The offensive showing also marked the eighth top-30 scoring offense in Sarkisian's career.
• Bijan Robinson rushed for 1,127 yards in 2021, marking the 10th consecutive year a Sarkisian coached offense has had a 1,000-yard rusher.
DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium Shines
• The Texas-Alabama game at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium drew record-setting crowds to the Forty Acres.
• A total of 105,213 packed DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, topping the previous record of 103,507 established in 2018 in the Longhorns' victory over USC.
• It marked the 30th game in DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium history to draw more than 100,000 fans.
• Texas drew over 100,000 fans to a home game for the first time since 102,498 Longhorn faithful packed the house for UT's 24-10 victory over Iowa State in 2018.
Drawing a Crowd
• A week after setting the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium attendance record, the Longhorns drew another huge crowd with 102,520 Longhorn faithful packing the house, the third-largest crowd in DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium history, and the 31st crowd of 100,000-plus.
• It marks the first time since 2018 that Texas has drawn back-to-back crowds of over 100,000 fans.
• The combined attendance of 207,733 (105,213 vs. Alabama; 102,520 vs. UTSA) over the last two games is the largest two-game total in stadium history.
• With four home games left to play, Texas has drawn multiple home crowds of 100,000 fans in a season for the first time since 2018 (three games) and for the second time since 2013.
The Eyes of College Football are Upon Austin
• Nearly 10.6 million viewers tune into FOX for Texas Football's game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 10, the most-watched college football game of the 2022.
• The broadcast averaged 10,595,000 viewers on FOX, peaking at over 15.1 million viewers, and was the fourth-most watch regular season college football matchup in the network's history.
• It marked the 30th game in DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium history to draw more than 100,000 fans.
• In addition to the record-setting crowds on the Forty Acres, FOX College Football announced that the game was the most streamed regular season college football or NFL game in FOX Sports history.
• ESPN's College GameDay drew its top Week 2 viewership in over a decade for the pregame show's live coverage from Lyndon B. Johnson Library Lawn.
• The show averaged 2,104,000 million viewers, an increase of 26% from 2021's Week 2 total.
• The final hour of the show, broadcast live from inside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. CT, drew 2.7 million viewers.
• ESPN College GameDay's viewership of 2.1 million was the highest Week 2 total for the show since 2010 and the best for a September episode since 2016.
Non-Offensive Touchdowns
• Texas has made scoring non-offensive touchdowns a habit, registering at least one in 13 of the last 14 seasons.
• The Horns wasted no time this season when Keilan Robinson scored on a D'Shawn Jamison blocked punt to close out the first drive of the season opener by ULM.
• Jamison secured a defensive score with a third-quarter, 69-yard interception return against ULM, giving UT multiple non-offensive touchdowns in a season for the fourth time in six years.
• UT added a third for the 2022 campaign when Jahdae Barron intercepted a pass against UTSA at the Roadrunner 44-yard line and took it to the house for the first interception return of his career.• Josh Thompson tallied a 27-yard interception return against Texas Tech last season that marked the fifth-straight season in which the Longhorns had a non-offensive touchdown.
• D'Shawn Jamison's 100-yard kickoff return against Oklahoma State in 2020 was the second of his career and fueled the Longhorns comeback from an 11-point deficit at the sixth-ranked Cowboys.
• Texas has scored a non-offensive touchdown in 15 of the last 16 seasons.
• Thompson's touchdown was the first for the Texas since defense since Anthony Wheeler's 38-yard fumble return in the 2017 Texas Bowl.
• It was the first interception returned for a touchdown since DeShon Elliott's 43-yard return at Baylor, also in 2017.
• The score was the 79th interception returned for a touchdown in UT history.
• UT finished 2017 with eight non-offensive touchdowns, tied for the most in the country. It was their most since registering 11 in 2009.
Defense Bringing the Heat
• The Texas defense came up huge in the 20-19 defeat at the hands of Alabama in week two, the first matchup between the storied programs since the 2010 BCS Championship Game.
• Texas' defense limited the high-powered Crimson Tide offense to 20 points, just the seventh time in the last eight seasons that Alabama has been held to 20 points or fewer.
• In the first half, Alabama rushed for 94 yards on 12 carries, with 81 of those yards occurring on one play.
• Following the 81-yard run, Texas forced Alabama to punt on each of the next six drives.
Finding the End Zone
• In the Longhorns' season opener against ULM, Keilan Robinson returned a blocked punt for a touchdown, D'Shawn Jamison returned an interception for a score and the Texas offense scored three rushing and two passing touchdowns.
• It marked the first time since the season opener against Maryland in 2017 that Texas scored a touchdown on offense, defense and special teams.
• In the 2017 game, Holton Hill had a 31-yard interception return and returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown, and Reggie Hemphill-Mapps scored on a 91-yard punt return. Shane Buechele added a pair of touchdown passes to Armanti Foreman and Collin Johnson and ran in for another score.
Heisman Hopeful: Bijan Robinson
• Texas has a strong Heisman tradition when it come to the running back position with two of the greats - Earl Campbell (1977) and Ricky Williams (1998) hailing from the Forty Acres.
• Additionally, the Longhorns have had 10 running backs or fullbacks place in the Top-10 in Heisman Trophy voting, most recently D'Onta Foreman in 2016.
• Current Big 12 Conference programs have produced five Heisman Trophy Winners from the running back/tailback position: Campbell, Williams, Billy Vessels (1952), Billy Simms (1978) and Barry Sanders (1988).
• The last three running backs named as the Heisman Trophy winner have been sophomores or juniors: Reggie Bush (2005), Mark Ingram (2009) and Derrick Henry (2015).
Robinson By the Numbers
• Bijan Robinson has been one of the top performers in the FBS this season, ranking fifth in total touchdowns (6) and scoring (12.0 ppg), sixth in points scored (36) and seventh in rushing touchdowns (5), while also ranking 16th in all purpose yards per game (147.67) and rushing yards per game (103.7).
• He leads the Big 12 Conference all purpose yards per game, scoring, total points scoring and total touchdowns, while ranking second in rushing touchdowns, rushing yards per game and rushing yards (311). Additionally, Robinson is third in the conference in rushing yards per carry (6.10) and yards per reception (18.86).
• Robinson has a history of not only making people miss and getting the tough yards, but also breaking big plays as both a rusher and receiver. For his career, Robinson has 31 plays (22 rushes/9 receptions) of 20-plus yards and that includes seven of 50 or more (all runs).
• This offseason, Robinson focused on maintaining his speed for 90 yards (instead of the 40-yard dash), and was clocked at 22.3 mph on the GPS.
• Over his last 15 games, his ratio of long plays is even more impressive. During that time, he has 26 plays (18 rushes/8 receptions) of 20-or-more yards, including five runs of 50-plus. He's accomplished that in just 303 plays (265 rushes/38 receptions) in that 15-game span, or a play of 20-plus yards on average about every 12 plays.
• In three games this season, he has five plays (3 rushes/2 receptions) of 20-or-more yards, including touchdown runs of 78 yards 41 yards.
• In 10 games last season, he had 12 plays (9 rushes/3 receptions) of 20-or-more yards, including two of 50-plus, with five touchdowns.
Mr. Versatility
• A dual threat, Robinson is one of three players in Texas history with multiple games of at least 100 rushing yards and 50 receiving yards. With three such games in his career (12/5/20 vs. Kansas State - 172/51; 9/4/21 vs. Louisiana - 137/54; 9/25/21 vs. Texas Tech - 103/73), he trails only Longhorn Legend Cedric Benson's four, while they are joined by Eric Metcalf, who had two.
• Since 2020, his three games of 100 rushing and 50 receiving yards are tops among active players who accomplished the feat in Power 5 Conferences and he is the only Power 5 Conference player to accomplish the feat multiple times during that stretch.
• The three games are also more than any other program has achieved since 2020, with Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oregon having players rush for 100 yards and have 50 yards receiving on two occasions.
All About Zay
• Sophomore WR Xavier Worthy opened his 2022 campaign with a solid outing against ULM and a standout performance against No. 1 Alabama to move past 1,000 career receiving yards and climb closer to 100 career receptions.
• In the Longhorns' 41-20 victory over UTSA, Worthy hauled in four receptions for 41 yards.
• The four catches brought his career total to 73 and extended his streak of receptions to 15 games.
• Worthy caught five passes for a game-high 97 yards against Alabama, including a diving 46-yard reception at the end of the first quarter.
• He had a pair of receptions for 24 yards against ULM and also returned three punts for 33 yards, including a career long 21 yard returned, and ran the ball once for seven yards.
• Worthy was a dynamic performer last season on the Forty Acres, smashing decades-old Texas records and setting a new standard for Longhorn freshmen.
• In 2021, Worthy established Texas freshman single-season receiving records for receptions (62), yards (981) and touchdowns (12), while also holding the top single-game marks for receptions (14), yards (261) and touchdowns (3, twice).
• He was named the Big 12 Conference's Offensive Freshman of the Year and earned All-Big 12 First Team honors, the only freshman among the conference's first- and second-team selections.
• Worthy was the sixth Longhorn to earn the league's offensive freshman of the year honors and the first since Colt McCoy in 2006.
Ford Foundation
• Junior LB Jaylan Ford was a force against UTSA, posting career best numbers with 15 tackles, 10 solo tackles and his first forced fumble.
• He had a breakout performance against No. 1 Alabama, posting a team-high 10 tackles (six solo) with two tackles for loss and one sack, helping hold the Crimson Tide to 20 points.
• In 2021, the Frisco, Texas native led the team with six tackles for loss. He collected at least one five of the least six games of the season with two in the season finale against Kansas State.
• He notched a career-high 12 tackles (seven solo) against Oklahoma State.
• Ford had at least six tackles in each of the last three games of the season, recording six against Kansas, five at West Virginia and six (all solo) against K-State.
DeMarvion is Dialed In
• Senior LB DeMarvion Overshown has become a leader and proven big-play maker during his time on the Forty Acres.
• In UT's victory over UTSA, Overshown had 10 tackles (four solo) for his third career game with 10 or more tackles. He also added a half a tackle for loss and a pass break up.
• He tallied five solo tackles in the Longhorns one-point loss to Alabama, helping hold the high-powered Crimson Tide offense to just 20 points.
• He led Texas with eight tackles (six solo) and posted two tackles for loss in the opener against ULM, helping the defense hold the Warhawks to 10 yards or less on six of their first 10 drives.
