Forty Acres Insider: September 22

Chris Del Conte head shot 2025

Longhorn Nation,

I must say, Y'ALL ARE JUST THE ABSOLUTE BEST! What a Saturday it was on the Forty Acres and what a night we had in DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, as we celebrated with a packed house of 100,000-plus of our best friends once again. Three-straight home games. Three great Saturdays. Three up, three down for our No. 1-ranked Longhorns. Now that's how you start a season! What a glorious feeling it is seeing and hearing an entire stadium of burnt orange and white on its feet and belting out "Texas Fight" (getting chills just thinking about it!). It makes my heart swell with pride and, as you can see, fires up our team. Y'all make a huge difference and continue to give us an enormous home field advantage — and our Longhorns responded by putting over another emphatic win on Saturday. From "The Eyes" to "The Eyes," you bring the fire, and with the big hits, big plays, fireworks booming, and drone shows lighting up the evening sky, the Forty Acres are absolutely electric. It's such a phenomenal time to be a Longhorn. And the best part … we're just getting started! The non-conference slate is in the books, and now it's time to turn up the heat. SEC season is here — LET'S GO!

drone show never gets old 🤘 #HookEm https://t.co/OFytidJReF
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 20, 2026

THREE-AND OH AND HERE WE GO! We sure did have another incredible night at DKR with y'all on Saturday. The Texas Fight was in full force in the stands and on the field all the livelong day (and night!) as, with Longhorn Nation pumpin' our Horns put a thumpin' on UTSA, 30-6. Our relentless defense slammed the door on the Roadrunners, holding them without a touchdown for the first time in 75 games. Arch and Cam connected on a pair of scores, the ground game stampeded for 200+ yards and, in the end, we put another one in the win column — our 12th-straight at DKR and 23rd in the last 24 home games for our No. 1 Longhorns. Y'all were absolutely awesome, brought the juice from start to finish and, as Coach Sark said after the game, have made DKR THE place to be while showing the world just how great it is to be a Longhorn! And now, the SEC is calling! It's on to conference play with a top-15 matchup at No. 13 Tennessee (11 a.m. CT/ABC). Knoxville here we come! All eyes will be on Texas once again with College GameDay in the house and the nation laser-focused on another big-time battle for the Burnt Orange and White. It's All Gas No Brakes y'all. The SEC ride starts now, so get those Horns Up and LET'S HOOK 'EM!

See you in Knoxville, @CollegeGameDay 🤘 https://t.co/KvacDa7vm9
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 20, 2026

It's road warrior time across several sports with a FULL SLATE OF SEC CLASHES this week. No. 7 Volleyball got a well-deserved break after a rugged non-conference slate and they'll be back in action, serving it up, in Knoxville (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network) the night before the football game. That will be Coach Elliott and our squad's SEC opener and is a top-20 matchup as well with Tennessee coming in ranked 16th. Then it's on to a top-10 matchup at No. 4 Kentucky on Sunday (Noon CT/ESPN) in a nationally televised showdown of two programs always among the nation's elite. Coach Bates and Soccer are underway in SEC play, too, having battled to a 2-2 tie with No. 4 Tennessee at Mike A. Myers Stadium on Friday night. This week, our Horns travel to Florida on Thursday to face the Gators (5 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) followed by a matchup with Ole Miss in Oxford on Sunday (1 p.m. CT/SEC Network+). Cross Country, Golf, Swimming and Diving and Tennis will all be competing this week as well.

a look at the week 🤘 #HookEm | @SeatGeek https://t.co/M6RCbeXr0y
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 22, 2026

Hey, and in closing here's a HUGE SHOUTOUT to our Longhorn Legend Derrick Johnson on his induction into the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame on Sunday. His legacy was honored and his number unveiled in the Ring of Honor at Arrowhead Stadium during the Chiefs' overtime victory over the Colts that night. Talk about What Starts Here Changes the World — DJ is doing just that. A superstar on the Forty Acres, an NFL Great and now a man is making a tremendous impact in his life after football — we couldn't be prouder of our guy. Congrats my friend — College Football Hall of Fame, Texas Athletics Hall of Honor, Texas Sports Hall of Fame, Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and now the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame — it's always a joy seeing you get your flowers. So well deserved, DJ!

Once a Chief, always a Chief. Congratulations to Derrick Johnson on his induction to the Chiefs Hall of Fame! ❤️ https://t.co/35YMCD1V0O
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) September 21, 2026

Texas Athletics Hall of Honor inducts the Class of 2026!
What a weekend it was as we inducted 13 Longhorn Legends into the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor. When you talk about the PRIDE AND WINNING TRADITION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, the honorees selected for this incredible group represent the best of the best to ever wear the Burnt Orange and White. It was so great to spend time with the inductees on Friday night as they celebrated with family, friends, teammates and coaches, before we moved the party over to the LBJ Auditorium and Conference Center for the always entertaining ceremony filled with great stories and memories of what made each of their time on the Forty Acres so special. We capped the festivities with a victory lap on Saturday night, when Longhorn Nation gave the Class of 2026 a standing ovation at DKR.

introducing the 2026 Hall of Honor Class🤘 #HookEm https://t.co/Ht5liLGbxq
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 19, 2026

Hook 'Em Horns,

Chris Del Conte

P.S. — In the locker room: the victory celebration!

Go Horns Go🤘 https://t.co/k1GwEHqQbh
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 20, 2026

P.S. — Our guy Colt!

welcome back, Colt (and fam) 🤘🗣️ #HookEm https://t.co/2KLzSsasox
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 20, 2026

P.S. — What Starts Here! Love our guy Arch!!

After taking multiple hits last night, Arch Manning was up bright and early giving back to cancer patients at Texas Children's... "Puts everything in perspective just that they can be able to be so happy going through a tough time and the family and everything that goes into it, the nurses, it's just really special to be around" #HookEm | #Texas
— Cory Mose (@Cory_Mose) September 20, 2026

P.S. — Thanks for supporting our squads on Bevo Blvd!