Texas Longhorns Prove They’re Tough Enough in Blowout of FAU

Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger made comments about Texas’ perceived toughness heading into Saturday's non-conference matchup against the Longhorns. Whatever doubts there were quickly disappeared after the first snap in front of the biggest crowd ever to watch a football game in the state of Texas.

The Texas Longhorns started out their 2008 campaign strongly with a 52-10 victory over an overmatched FAU squad before a record crowd of 98,053 at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

Quarterback Colt McCoy led the way through the air (throwing for three touchdowns in a 24-for-29 performance for 222 yards without an interception or sack) and the ground (leading the team with 12 carries for 103 yards). 

The ground game was stagnant at times, but the combination of Vondrell McGee and Chris Ogbannaya did well running and catching the ball out of the backfield. In the passing game, Texas must find a deep threat to contend with the big guys in this year’s Big 12 conference. 

The brightest spot of the game for Texas, besides McCoy, had to be the offensive line. The group gave McCoy all night to throw, not allowing a sack in the game. Texas went two-deep throughout the night and played many players at every position.

Defensively, Texas dealt with some struggles tackling in the secondary. The box score will indicate the night this group had. New defensive coordinator Will Muschamp will be happy with the total points given up, but knows an effort like the one Saturday night will not result in only 10 points scored to the likes of Kansas, Missouri, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma.

The front seven played well for the Longhorns, putting pressure on the quarterback and preventing Florida Atlantic from averaging over 2.0 yards per carry.

After FAU gift-wrapped a turnover because of an errant snap less than three minutes into the game, Texas went right down the field with Cody Johnson running it in to put the Horns on top, 7-0 following the converted extra point. They never looked back, as McCoy added his first touchdown pass of the night to Ogbannaya. 

Texas scored twice more in the second quarter, on a pass to Jordan Shipley from McCoy, and a nice run from McCoy after a good drive. FAU scored its only points of the game in the second when Rusty Smith hooked up with Rob Housler on a seam pass to which safety Earl Thomas arrived too late.

The second half saw Texas dominate. For a young team like Texas, it was good to get snaps for all the young guys. Over 10 true freshmen saw the field. Texas scored seven touchdowns in the game, all by different players. This will be the signature of this team, which lacks bigtime stars. In order to have success, everyone must step up.

And the defense needs to tackle.