Forty Acres Insider: September 3

Chris Del Conte head shot

Longhorn Nation,

Here's hoping everyone had an awesome Labor Day weekend, as our Longhorns were certainly busy putting in the work and their best Texas Fight. What an incredible day Saturday was on the Forty Acres and WOW did y'all show up and show out to kickoff the football season in sensational style. Y'all CAME EARLY, WERE LOUD, STAYED LATE and painted the ATX in Burnt Orange & White! The energy around the stadium was at full force, and with 100,000 of you holding your Horns High in the stands, it was electric from pregame, to kickoff, to The Eyes, and Coach Sark and the squad delivered on the field with our first season-opening shutout in 21 years (since 2004). And we weren't just flexing our football muscles, Volleyball opened its season with a pair of top-20 road matches on Sunday and Monday, Soccer rolled to a weekend win and Cross Country got things off and running on Friday. It was your Longhorns all the livelong days and we're just getting started as we stampede ahead!

Air BEVO 😤 pic.twitter.com/kRSKAZMKRv
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 2, 2024

Now we're HEADING TO THE BIG HOUSE for a Battle Royal and Clash of the Titans that is the talk of the town and the sports world! No. 4 Texas, No. 8 Michigan, the Longhorns and Wolverines, it's the much-anticipated first-ever regular season gridiron match-up of two of the preeminent programs in college football history. The iconic jerseys & helmets, legendary players & teams, awesome traditions, historic programs … it's a matchup of two of College Football's top four all-time winningest programs and a rematch of the epic 2005 Rose Bowl when VY ran over and around Michigan while Dusty Mangum split the uprights for our memorable 38-37 win. The prequel to the 2005 National Championship! Like those games, everyone will be talking it up all week, FOX Big Noon Kickoff & ESPN's College Game Day will be on-site, and the eyes of the nation are going to be zeroed in on this monumental early-season matchup at 11 a.m. CT (FOX). We're so fired up and I know y'all are too! Get those Horns Up, start chantin' Texas – Fight, and let's get to Ann Arbor and Hook 'Em!!

But before we look ahead, I've got to reflect. It was a historic afternoon on Saturday as we celebrated game one of the 100th Anniversary of DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. There was nifty no-look touchdown passes from the Mighty Quinn, stingy & relentless defense and special teams highlights in a total team 52-0 victory over Colorado State. Coach Sark rattled off some of the numbers on Monday and they're startling. Seventy-seven Longhorns played in the game, 12 caught passes, eight ran the ball, 28 had a tackle and we got to welcome 31 players to the joy of playing in front of the best fans in the Land! We took time to salute our Olympians, Big 12 Champs, National Champs, Capital One Cup victors and LEARFIELD Directors' Cup campaign too. It was a glorious game one with more to come. Your support was incredible and how about our staff?! Big shoutout to our entire team who worked tirelessly to take our game day experience up a notch once again. I hope y'all agree that it was truly a special game day experience and our entire team and we not me attitude are the absolute best! There's plenty more in store and we'll be back at home with y'all very soon.

Missed you, Longhorn Nation 🤘 pic.twitter.com/7uXlsWIyA2
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 1, 2024

It was a solid start to 2024 for Texas Volleyball as we traveled to Milwaukee, got some big-time national exposure with Sunday's match on FOX for the world to see! Our Horns were on point in that one with a dominant victory over an always talented Badgers program. After splitting the opening two sets, Coach Elliott and our Horns outscored one of the nation's top teams 50-26 to secure a four-set victory to open the season. Up next was perennial power and No. 18 Minnesota on Labor Day. Our Horns fought hard, bounced back multiple times in the match, but dropped a tough five-setter. Now it's time to roll up our sleeves, get back to work and we get to do that in the friendly confines of Gregory Gym with matches against Indiana on Thursday (8 p.m. CT/SEC Network) and Miami on Saturday (4 p.m. CT/SEC+). It's bounce-back time so let's get to The Greg, bring your patented pride and passion and cheer the ladies on to victory!

like it's no big deal 🤷‍♀️ @_mariannalee #HookEm pic.twitter.com/1YhwsmpSNZ
— Texas Volleyball (@TexasVolleyball) September 1, 2024

Fresh off a 2-0 win over Central Michigan on Sunday, our undefeated and No. 14-ranked Soccer squad (4-0-1) is at home this week too so come on out and show them some love. Coach Kelly and our Horns host San Diego State on Thursday (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) and Long Beach State on Sunday (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network+).

let's have some fun this week🤩#HookEm | @Seatgeek pic.twitter.com/LxcBdq5vNE
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 2, 2024

And before we get to all the notes, I've got to give a shoutout to the GREATEST GOLFER IN THE WORLD, our guy Scottie Scheffler. On Sunday, the Olympic Gold Medalist capped one of the best seasons in PGA TOUR history by winning the TOUR Championship. That victory was his seventh title of the year and helped Scottie secure his first career FedExCup title. Way to go my friend!

Simply the best 🤘#TakeDeadAim | @PGATOUR pic.twitter.com/fCmosCAJu1
— Texas Men's Golf (@TexasMGolf) September 1, 2024

Football starts the season in style

Folks, it doesn't get much better than a 52-point SHUTOUT to open up the 2024 campaign in front of beautiful sea of Burnt Orange! Even Mother Nature dialed back the temperatures at least a couple of notches for us, and wow, what a show Coach Sarkisian and our lads put on against Colorado State! We had the first season opening shutout since 2004, with our defense flying all over the field like Jahdae in his new No. 7 jersey (shoutout Michael Huff), our guy Quinn did Quinn things and racked up three TD passes (come on, now, a no look TD pass?), Arch Manning added his first and later ran for one, three different players caught a TD pass, and then three other players ran in a TD (including our frosh Jerrick Gibson who was literally dragged in by none other than big Cam Williams, who won our first ever SEC weekly award as the co-Offensive Lineman of the Week!) We really had that Coach Sark complimentary football cookin' on all fronts from defense to offense to special teams, I tell ya! And nothing is more telling about a team's culture than to look on the sideline and see the faces of our great lettermen, many of whom were just drafted into the NFL, I might add, right back at home on the 40 cheering on their program! The whole day was just an awesome sight to behold, and although we're heading on the road for a big one this week, we'll be hosting three more "family reunions" back-to-back-to-back right after that, so we'll see you all there! Speaking of the road, though, it will be a spectacle this week, as for the just the second time EVER two of the most storied programs in college football history will be lining it up when we head up to Ann Arbor for the first time to take on the defending champs and top-10 Michigan! GameDay will be there, Big Noon Kickoff will be there, and we hope as many of you in Longhorn Nation as possible will join us, too! But if you can't, tune into FOX at 11 a.m. CT and cheer your hearts out until we can hear you all the way in the north!

Grab some ☕️

Monday morning highlights are back 🤘 pic.twitter.com/6yQkz9rgF4
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 2, 2024

Texas. Michigan. Big Noon Kickoff 🤘

📅 Saturday, Sept. 7 | 11 AM CT
📍 Ann Arbor, Michigan
📺 FOX @CFBONFOX pic.twitter.com/DCivyrWAKW
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 2, 2024

Volleyball back in The Greg for pair of matches this week!

Our back-to-back National Champions got back on the court for the first time this season, splitting a pair of matches at the State Farm Women's College Volleyball Showcase in Milwaukee, Wis. In the season opener on Sunday, it truly was a showcase as the Longhorns took down No. 3 Wisconsin in front of 14,035 fans and a FOX national television audience. Then on Monday night against No. 18 Minnesota, the Longhorns showed tremendous fight but came up short in five sets. A pair of Horns also picked up their first SEC weekly awards as Jenna Wenaas was named the SEC Player of the Week and Offensive Player of the Week and Emma Halter earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week. Now it's time to turn our attention to the much-anticipated home opener at The Greg against Indiana on Thursday (8 p.m. CT/SEC Network). It'll be a celebration inside Gregory Gym with the unveiling of the 2023 National Championship banner during a pregame ceremony. Following that match, Texas plays host to Miami on Saturday (4 p.m. CT/SEC Network+).

SURE FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/Fc0TohDd4W
— Texas Volleyball (@TexasVolleyball) September 1, 2024

Soccer continues its winning ways!

Our No. 14 Soccer team earned a hard-fought 2-0 victory on Sunday by keeping Central Michigan off of the scoreboard. What a job Mia Justus and her defensive front has done through the first five matches, as Justus has recorded four shutouts to open the season. Having yet to lose a match so far this season, Coach Kelly's squad will host San Diego State on Thursday (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) and Long Beach State on Sunday (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network+). Let's all meet up at Mike A. Myers Stadium to cheer on the Longhorns as they look to extend our unbeaten streak at home!

career number 48 @MissimoLexi 🤘#HookEm | #RunWithTexas pic.twitter.com/s7Xb0gFPe8
— Texas Soccer (@TexasSoccer) September 1, 2024

Cross Country dominates in season opener

Talk about complete domination to start the season! Our Men's and Women's Cross Country teams swept the Stormy Seas Opener just up the road in Georgetown on Friday morning. The No. 24 men ran the top-14 times in the 5K, led by junior Hudson Heikkinen who crossed the finish line first with his personal-best time of 15:09.54. On the women's side, graduate student Olivia Howell paced our group with her time of 17:15.12. And get this, our women finished with 21 of the top 22 finishes in the 5K. What a season opener!

What a finish by the men in the 5K at the Stormy Seas Invite 🤘 pic.twitter.com/fFRT1j0SKg
— Texas T&F/XC (@TexasTFXC) August 30, 2024

Olivia Howell wins the women's 5K to start off the season 🤘 pic.twitter.com/PcSPuqT69x
— Texas T&F/XC (@TexasTFXC) August 30, 2024

Memorial service set for Edith Royal

A memorial service for Edith Royal, the wife of legendary Longhorn Head Football Coach and Athletics Director Darrell Royal, will be held on Wednesday, September 4. The service is set to begin at 3 p.m. CT at Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church (7127 Bee Cave Road in Austin). Edith Royal passed away peacefully in Austin on Monday, August 26 at the age of 98. Memorial contributions may be made to the Darrell K Royal Fund for Alzheimer's Research or to Caritas of Austin or to the Center for Child Protection.

Hook 'Em Horns,

Chris Del Conte

P.S. — Horns Up!

no better way to end the day than with our 🤘⬆️#HookEm pic.twitter.com/JnxwNpqvL9
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) August 31, 2024

P.S. — Love Coach Corso and fired up that he and the GameDay game will be in the house in Ann Arbor

See you next week, @CollegeGameDay 🤘 pic.twitter.com/J9DEVnFbUp
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) August 31, 2024

P.S. — We'll be celebrating the 100th Anniversary of our majestic stadium all season long!

Celebrating 100 years of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium 🤘 pic.twitter.com/OevrOIznWN
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) August 28, 2024

P.S. — Appreciate y'all coming back to support your Horns fellas!

Pro Horns 🤘@J_Whitt3 @2brookss @KeondreCoburn99 @TvondreSweat pic.twitter.com/DXBCkNd4DG
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) August 31, 2024

P.S. — We see ya, President Hartzell!

On a really fun day at DKR-TMS, it was an honor to spend time with two of our incredible Olympians from @TexasTFXC, Ms. Julien Alfred & Ms. Rhasidat Adeleke. Amazing Longhorns - we're so proud! 🤘 pic.twitter.com/QSG2o56CNU
— Jay Hartzell (@JCHartzell) September 1, 2024

P.S. — Lighting the Tower for our National Champs!