The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Forty Acres Insider: September 30
09.30.2025 | Forty Acres Insider
Important news happening in and around Texas Athletics compiled by Vice President and Athletics Director Chris Del Conte
Longhorn Nation,
With Football on a bye this past Saturday, we brought that TEXAS FIGHT to Friday instead! And what a night it was on the Forty — highlighted by a TEXAS TWO-STEP OF TOP-25 TRIUMPHS from Soccer and Volleyball. It kicked off with a thrilling, final-seconds Soccer upset as our Horns knocked off No. 13 Vanderbilt, 2-1. Then, Volleyball kept the party rolling with a commanding 3-0 sweep of No. 21 Missouri. From the pitch to the gym, it was Texas Fight through and through — powered by the phenomenal tandem of our sensational teams and energy from the best fans in the land! Now it's on to another exciting week. After the bye, SEC play begins for Football with a historic trip to Gainesville — our first football game there since 1940 — for a showdown with Florida (2:30 p.m. CT/ESPN). Meanwhile, Baseball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Tennis and Volleyball are all in action too. Here we go Longhorns, HERE WE GO!
A #LonghornFriday TWO-STEP: @TexasSoccer takes down No. 13 Vanderbilt AND @TexasVolleyball defeats No. 21 Missouri — its 8th-straight win over a top-25-ranked opponent 🤘🏻🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/18WgOoG2mL
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) September 27, 2025
But before we look ahead, let's take a moment to reflect on LAST WEEK'S VICTORY TOLL. With back-to-back packed houses at The Greg, Coach Elliott and Volleyball put over two more wins to stay perfect at 10-0 — including an eighth-straight triumph over a top-25 opponent (including six via 3-0 sweeps!). Y'all brought the juice at Mike A. Myers Stadium, too, where sophomore sensation Amalia Villarreal buried a penalty kick with just 10 seconds left (in addition to her earlier spectacular goal that made the SportsCenter Top 10!) to lift Soccer past No. 13 Vanderbilt in exhilarating fashion. This young squad is battling and growing every night, and the future is oh so bright for Coach Kelly and our Horns. They'll ride that momentum into a Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown at Texas A&M on Thursday (7 p.m. CT/SEC Network) before returning home Sunday to host Florida (2 p.m. CT/SEC Network+). Meanwhile, Volleyball hits the road for SEC play with a Wednesday match at Georgia (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) followed by a Sunday tilt at Mississippi State (2 p.m. CT/SEC Network+).
Our trip to Gainesville for Saturday's SEC FOOTBALL OPENER IS A HISTORIC ONE. Sure, we welcomed Florida to Austin last November, but it's been a long, long time since we've wrestled with the Gators on their turf (see what I did there?!). This week marks just the fourth-ever gridiron meeting between our two programs — and the first in Gainesville since December 7, 1940. That day, about 12,000 fans saw the Horns roll to a 26-0 victory … a far cry from the 90,000-plus that will pack Ben Hill Griffin Stadium this weekend. We're grateful for every one of you making the trip to The Swamp — one of the most notoriously tough road environments in college football — and we know the rest of Longhorn Nation will be backing us worldwide. Coach Sark and the squad enter Saturday riding a nine-game true road conference winning streak (the second-longest active streak in the FBS, longest among Power Four programs), and they'll look to keep that rolling in Gainesville.
Hello, @SEC play 👋🤘 pic.twitter.com/pgEX4wi2zD
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 29, 2025
But wait … there's so much more happening this week across the Forty Acres and beyond. Men's Golf is completing its final round at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational presented by Charles Schwab up in Fort Worth. Softball Fall Ball is here for our defending National Champions as we'll host Temple College on Tuesday (6 p.m. CT) and Texas State on Friday (6 p.m. CT) at Red & Charline McCombs Field. Baseball is also in fall action — fresh off a 9-3 win over Texas Tech at Dell Diamond — and they'll welcome Lamar to UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Friday (6:30 p.m. CT). Women's Tennis is competing in USTA events in California all week, while Men's Tennis heads to Waco for the Big 12/SEC Challenge (Friday-Sunday). Cross Country will race at the Chile Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville on Saturday. It's ALL Longhorns, ALL the time, my friends. Let's get those Horns Up and HOOK 'EM!
a look at this week 🤘#HookEm | @seatgeek pic.twitter.com/ardStswMnJ
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 30, 2025
We also had an exciting announcement last week as the SEC UNVEILED FUTURE FOOTBALL OPPONENTS and game sites for the 2026-29 seasons. Each school will have three annual opponents locked in for the next four years — and for us, no shocker there, it's our longtime rivals Arkansas, Oklahoma (in Dallas), and Texas A&M. The real beauty? The SEC is moving to a nine-game league slate, which means every SEC team will play at DKR over that four-year span. Think about it — every school will face every other school at least once every two years, and every opponent both home and away across the cycle. That's big-time games, balance and variety … and that's a whole lot of Texas Fight coming to Austin. And don't forget, we've also got Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame on tap as well. Put it all together, and the coming years are going to bring some truly memorable matchups to the ATX and DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium!
Plan accordingly, Longhorn Nation 🫡🤘 pic.twitter.com/v98bwzLR6S
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 23, 2025
The full slate is HERE 🤘 pic.twitter.com/adMaxyiIHk
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 23, 2025
Speaking of big announcements, we've got to send a huge thank you and emphatic Hook 'Em to our great friends Jason and Kisha Itkin. Earlier today, we announced their transformative $10 million gift in support of the new Silver Spurs Center that will be part of the state-of-the-art Texas Football Training facility currently under development adjacent to DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. They are such incredible supporters; loyal members of our Longhorn Family and we are beyond grateful for all they do for Texas Athletics. In recognition of their extraordinary generosity, the space will be recognized as the JASON & KISHA ITKIN SILVER SPURS CENTER, creating a lasting legacy that will benefit generations of Longhorns. Their gift ensures that our football program and the Silver Spurs organization will have a world-class destination that matches the excellence of The University of Texas. We can't thank you enough my friends!
And before we get to the notes, how cool was it to have ARCH'S UNCLE ELI ON CAMPUS shooting an episode of his popular show Eli's Places. Coach Sark joined in on the fun and our guy Colt McCoy gave Eli a look at many of our awesome Longhorn traditions as well as an introduction to the Big Guy, Bevo XV! You can stream the episode from ESPN+ on Watch ESPN.
Come back anytime, @EliManning 🤘 pic.twitter.com/9s3Z3GI2lE
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 25, 2025
Volleyball stays perfect at 10-0!
There's no surprise to what I'm about to say, but we really do have the best fans around. Y'all sold out The Greg TWICE last week to help our No. 2 Longhorns remain undefeated this season and win our first two matches in SEC play. The Horns are off to incredible start having swept their last five opponents, including last week's victories over Vanderbilt on Wednesday and No. 21 Missouri on Friday. Torrey Stafford was on another level in the win against the Commodores, leading the team with 14 kills and five digs while hitting a staggering .609! Texas was right back to work on Friday and earned another sweep against the Tigers. Ella Swindle returned to the lineup and was QB1 out there distributing the ball to six different Horns who recorded at least three or more kills. Not only was she dealing on offense, but Ella added 10 digs to go along with 37 assists to notch her second double-double of the year! How cool is it to see our outstanding program record our 1,400th all-time win last week?! Did you know that 44-percent of those wins have come under Coach Elliott? Wow, that's impressive. Now we'll look to keep it rolling this week as our ladies head to Athens to face Georgia on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) before taking on Mississippi State in Stark Vegas on Sunday (2 p.m. CT/SEC Network+).
The Longhorns love to sweep 🧹
— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) September 27, 2025
No. 2 @TexasVolleyball defeats No. 21 Missouri, 3-0!#NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/M4qC4ByxGJ
4EVER Texas Career & Internship Fair was once again a huge success!
We're all about the holistic development of our student-athletes and preparing them to set out and change the world during and after their playing days. What a special night it was last Monday in the Frank Denius Family University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame as we hosted our ANNUAL 4EVER TEXAS CAREER & INTERNSHIP FAIR. Over 60 companies — from industries ranging from education to communications, finance, government, healthcare, real estate, software/technology, and much more — were on hand visiting with a packed house of 172 of our student-athletes representing every sports program about opportunities during & after their days of competition. And as an added bonus, some of the companies were represented by student-athletes that were hired from last year's 4EVER TEXAS Career & Internship Fair to help recruit this year (talk about What Starts Here!). It's such an awesome time seeing them all interact, learn, and get exposed to so many great people that will serve as valuable resources for them during their time at Texas and beyond. They clearly enjoyed it as more than 100 student-athletes responded to our feedback survey with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars! I've got to give a huge shoutout and emphatic Hook 'Em, Horns to our incredible 4EVER TEXAS staff for pulling it all together and always pouring into our student-athletes!
✨ Style meets success at the 4EVER TEXAS Career & Internship Fair! Our student-athletes showed up in standout professional looks, ready to network and own their future. #4EVERTexas #CareerReady #StudentAthleteStyle pic.twitter.com/7xXzpimAIG
— 4EVER TEXAS (@be4evertexas) September 26, 2025
Hook 'Em Horns,
P.S. — You know it, we're the BIGGEST & BADDEST BRAND in College Sports!
the numbers don't lie - Texas has the highest social media brand value in college sports 🤘📱#HookEm | @Zoomph pic.twitter.com/SzASGDthTx
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 25, 2025
P.S. — Fun times at Dell Diamond, thanks for having us!
had ourselves a day 🤘#HookEm | @TexasLonghorns pic.twitter.com/DK8rI62ppz
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) September 28, 2025
P.S. — We see ya Bijan! What Starts Here, my friend!!
📚🏟️ The BijanReads Foundation, founded by @AtlantaFalcons football star Bijan Robinson, hosted a special book fair at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for APS students in grades 1–3! 🎒✨Students enjoyed story time with Bijan and the Alliance Theatre, received books, backpacks, pajamas,… pic.twitter.com/HamUpVas5a
— ATL Public Schools (@apsupdate) September 23, 2025
P.S. — What a run by Carmen Herea to the ITA All-Americans singles final!
Congrats to Carmen Herea on a great run to the #ITAAllAmericans singles final and becoming the fourth player in program history to become a finalist in the tournament! #HookEm 🤘🎾 pic.twitter.com/m8uCMip1rG
— Texas Women's Tennis (@TexasWTN) September 28, 2025
P.S. — Hoops season is just around the corner!
first practice, always compete 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/mlaRpBOTTz
— Texas Men's Basketball (@TexasMBB) September 26, 2025
P.S. — You love to see it!
we clean up pretty good 😆🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/1RD0o4GmRt
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) September 25, 2025
P.S. — All class from our guy Scottie Scheffler!
The U.S. team means everything to Scottie Scheffler. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/c7Ka6RS26M
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 28, 2025
P.S. — Horns Up for one of the best Football scholar-athletes in the nation!
One of the best football scholar-athletes in the nation 🤘 pic.twitter.com/Ni5dVNwFbV
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 24, 2025
P.S. — Gotta love this!
hold and save for Wallpaper Wednesday 🤘📸#HookEm pic.twitter.com/HAboP4uVdP
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 24, 2025
HEADLINES:
Hook 'Em's Community Heroes – September 2025:
Video: Steve Sarkisian press conference (Week 6 – at Florida):
No. 2 Volleyball's Stafford and Vander Wal earn SEC weekly honors:
Soccer's Villarreal garners SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors:
Women's Tennis' Herea finishes as runner-up at ITA All-Americans:
Video: Sean Miller appears on The Sideline with Andy Katz:
No. 10/7 Football's Trey Moore named Campbell Trophy semifinalist:
Video: Vic Schaefer media availability (Sept. 24):
Comegys named SEC Men's Co-Golfer of the Week:
No. 2 Volleyball's Spears named AVCA Player of the Week: