Replay: No Quinn Ewers? No problem for Maalik Murphy, No. 7 Texas in 35-6 win over BYU
Texas is the No. 7 team in the country, was favored to win by 20 points at home on Saturday, has one of the best running backs in the country and is staring at the prospect of being favored in all four remaining games, which could lead to an 11-1 finish and spot in the Big 12 championship game.
The No. 7 Longhorns turned to redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy to make his first career start in place of the injured Quinn Ewers, who's out with a sprained shoulder. The Longhorns were indeed 20-point favorites over BYU, but the two predominant storylines — how the offense would look with Murphy, whether five-star freshman Arch Manning would take off his redshirt, and how the defense would fare against BYU's pass-heavy attack — made this matchup an interesting one.
This was our thread throughout today's game for live updates, scoring plays and analysis:
It's all over: No. 7 Texas blows by BYU 35-6
The Texas Longhorns have improved to 7-1 and now share the lead in the Big 12 race (4-1) with its 35-6 win over BYU.
Maalik Murphy committed two costly early turnovers, but played the whole way in place of the injured Quinn Ewers and finished 16-of-25 for 170 yards. Jonathon Brooks rushed for 98 yards, Xavier Worthy scored on a 75-yard punt return and the defense was solid from start to finish.
Next week has Texas and Kansas State playing in Austin for at least a share of the Big 12 lead.
Jaydon Blue scores for Texas
Jonathon Brooks looked shaken up slightly on Texas' previous drive, and Jaydon Blue made the most of his opportunity with a 34-yard touchdown that will serve as the proverbial icing on the cake. The Longhorns now lead BYU 35-6 with 1:43 left in the game.
The Longhorns got the ball on a fumble off a sack by Justice Finkley.
Maalik Murphy throws his second TD
For the second straight week, Texas backup safety Michael Taaffe has produced a big interception. Last week it came in the end zone to wipe out a potential UH scoring drive. Today it was off a tip drill, and he returned his pick 45 yards to BYU's 8-yard line.
Maalik Murphy hit Adonai Mitchell for a 13-yard touchdown pass on a slant pattern. There's 9:07 left to play and Texas now leads 28-6.
Another goal-line stand for BYU
There's 13:02 left in the game another Texas drive has stalled in the shadow of the goal line. The Horns still lead 21-6.
The big play of the drive saw Keilan Robinson break loose for a 24-yard gain to BYU's 34-yard line, thanks to a strong block from Ja'Tavion Sanders. A few plays later Murphy, on third-and-11 from the 12-yard line, appeared to throw for a score on a toss to Jonathon Brooks out of the backfield. Brooks ran through two tackles along the way. But a video review had him out at the 2.
That set up fourth-and-1 at the 2. After falling short on the last drive at the same spot, after a Texas timeout to discuss, Brooks had nowhere to run and the Cougars produced their second goal-line stand of the game.
BYU dodges a safety, punts it back
Not many thought the Cougars had a 99-yard drive in them. And they were right. And it resulted in Texas points.
BYU's drive that started at its own 1 advanced only three yards and the Cougars probably happily punted away; a flag was thrown on third down, and a holding penalty would have resulted in a Texas safety. Instead, it was illegal hands to the face, giving the Cougars some life.
Texas will take over after the punt near midfield.
BYU stuffs Texas one yard short on fourth-and-goal
Texas has answered BYU's field goal with a drive that came up 1 yard short. There's 2:04 left in the third quarter and the Longhorns still lead 21-6.
This was a Jonathon Brooks drive. His big 38-yard scamper up the middle moved the Horns to BYU's 40-yard line and was an impressive effort from the offensive line that sprung him. He later added a 17-yard catch out of the backfield to the 20. A bullish xx-yard keeper from Savion Red out of the wildcat set Texas up at BYU's 6-yard line. It was the first of three straight wildcat snaps, which led to third-and-goal from the 2. Maalik Murphy threw incomplete to Adonai Mitchell in the end zone (it was nearly picked off), and Steve Sarkisian's first fourth-down gamble of the day fell one yard short on a short completion to Ja'Tavion Sanders.
BYU will start out at its own 1-yard line.
BYU field goal makes it a 21-6 game
There's 7:58 left in the 3rd quarter, and Texas leads BYU 21-6. The Cougars just added a 32-yard field goal by Will Ferrin.
Darius Lassiter's beautiful 46-yard catch while being tightly defended by Gavin Holmes and, as it turned out, interfered with by Derek Williams Jr., set up the score, as the play ended up at Texas' 13. But Jahdae Barron and Jaylan Ford both made nice plays on back-to-back downs, forcing BYU into a third-and-11 situation at the 14. a third-down shovel pass was sniffed out by Barryn Sorrell and Anthony Hill Jr, and the Cougars settled for another field goal.
We'll see your punt with a punt of our own
What did Texas do with its first chance of the second half? A three-and-out punt.
The Longhorns have punted it back — a 64-yard boomer from Ryan Sanborn — and BYU will take over at its own 17.
Texas is back in business
The game has resumed at Royal-Memorial Stadium, and the Texas defense has picked up right where it left off in the first half. Ryan Watts defended a deep shot by Kedon Slovis and Morice Blackwell stuffed a third-down short completion to force a BYU punt.
Texas will take over at its own 23-yard line, up 21-3. Maalik Murphy's back out there at quarterback.
Texas leads BYU 21-3 at halftime
This first half has zipped by. No. 7 Texas, which is favored by 20 points today, leads BYU by 18. It's a 21-3 Longhorns lead.
Maalik Murphy's first career start has been all over the map. He's 10-of-15 for 103 yards, has thrown his first touchdown, has thrown his first interception, and has led Texas to touchdown drives in two of his four chances. Jonathon Brooks has 48 yards and a touchdown on nine carries, CJ Baxter has five runs for 22 yards, Xavier Worthy returned a punt 75 yards to start today's scoring and the defense is having a strong day, just what Texas needed.
Kedon Slovis is 10-of-16 for 70 yards and a pick (Terrance Brooks) for BYU, and the running game is going virtually nowhere.
In terms of numbers, Texas is outgaining BYU 161-113 in yards. Each team has one sack. BYU's leading in time of possession, 16:52 to 13:08.
BYU will get the ball to start the second half.
Murphy-to-Mitchell puts Texas up 21-3
There's 51 seconds left in the half, and Maalik Murphy's first career touchdown pass has Texas up 21-3.
On third-and-8 from BYU's 30, Murphy lofted a high pass to Adonai Mitchell, who hauled it in on a post pattern for the score ahead of BYU's safety.
Wait. Which of these coaches love fourth downs again?
There's 4:57 left in the first half, and BUYU is on the scoreboard: a 24-yard field goal from Will Ferrin.
That ended a whopping 16-play, 64-yard drive that took up nearly 10 minutes of game clock. That drive, which started with the Maalik Murphy fumble, survived a fourth-and-1 test at its own 38-yard line, as well as a third-and-4 at BYU's 46 on a short completion to Darius Lassiter crossing over the middle. And another fourth-and-2 at UT's 39 a little later on, on another pass.
Deion Smith, a Colorado transfer, burned the Horns for an 18-yard run to Texas' 10. On third-and-goal from the 9, Kevon Slovis kept it on a scramble and somersaulted down to the 2. And then, on fourth down,
By the way, Malik Muhammad, who was subbing in for reinjured cornerback Ryan Watts, was shaken up on that third-and-4 play. The Longhorns can ill afford more injuries to the secondary. Muhammad was back in there after a few plays.
And also: Kansas has knocked off No. 6 Oklahoma 38-33 in Lawrence, which led to a crowd eruption at DKR. That sets things up nicely for Texas' Big 12 chances, as now everyone has at least one conference loss.
Arch Manning, anyone?
Texas' offense is at a crossroads here. Lucky that the defense is taking care of things. BYU has yet to make a sting in the passing game and the running game, as expected, is going nowhere.
But Maalik Murphy already has committed two turnovers, one a poorly-thrown pass lofted into double coverage, the second a fumble on a first-and-goal. Is there an opening to see Arch Manning, Texas' prized five-star freshman, to get into this game and see what he can do?
That's open to debate, as there are pros and cons either way. But so far, Murphy is 7-of-11 for 52 yards, one interception and one fumble in his first career start.
Texas' offense has settled into one of the two game plans we saw Steve Sarkisian moving to this week: the thought was that the Horns would either lean on Jonathon Brooks and the running game or let Murphy, who's got a bigger arm than Quinn Ewers anyway, take shots in the passing game. After one quarter, it's the running game that's moving the needle for Texas.
Another disastrous play from Maalik Murphy
There's 14:54 left in the second quarter, and No. 7 Texas is still leading BYU 14-0. But Maalik Murphy has made his second big mistake of the game and it took away points from Texas.
On first-and-goal at the 9, a BYU pass rusher blew past right tackle Christian Jones and forced the ball loose from Murphy. The Cougars recovered back at their own 29-yard line, and that's where their latest drive has started. The turnover killed what was looking like an impressive drive for the Horns.
Texas has the ball back
BYU's latest drive looked good but didn't end well. Kevon Slovis completed two long passes along either sideline, but both were ruled out of bounds. And BYU's punt was a shaky one. The Longhorns, up 14-0 with 2:53 left in the first quarter, are starting out at the Cougars' 40-yard line.
By the way, that 75-yard punt return touchdown from Xavier Worthy was the longest scoring play of the season so far for Texas. Actually, Worthy's responsible for three of the four longest TDs: this 75-yard punt return and two 44-yard touchdown catches against Wyoming and Alabama; Ja'Tavion Sanders also had a 44-yard scoring catch in the season opener. The second-longest TD of the season was Jonathon Brooks' 54-yard run against Kansas.
Texas goes up 14-0 on Brooks' score
Terrance Brooks' interception has set up Texas' second score of the day, a 4-yard touchdown run from Jonathon Brooks, his seventh score of the season.
Texas moved to the run on this drive, maybe by original design, maybe because of Maalik Murphy's interception on the last drive. Brooks and CJ Baxter produced 13 yards on three straight carries to inside the BYU 10. Murphy zipped a nice pass to Brooks for a first-and-goal at the 4, and Brooks carried it in on the next play.
Oops. Maalik Murphy's first mistake
Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy's first mistake was a big one: a careless throw into double coverage that was picked off by Crew Wakley, who ran it back 55 yards to Texas' 10. But a block in the back penalty negated most of that return, and the Cougars now have the ball on the Texas side of near midfield.
That's the bad news. The good news is that Texas DB Terrance Brooks picked it right back.
It's still Texas 7, BYU 0 with 7 minutes left in the first quarter. And Texas is starting out at BYU's 26.
An early exclamation point from Xavier Worthy
After this game opened with a Texas punt and a BYU punt, Xavier Worthy's explosive 75-yard punt return has No. 7 Texas up early, 7-0.
Worthy, who certainly has had his adventures as a punt returner this season, found an opening and hit the seam running, dodging an early tackle sidestepping a second and then outrunning the punter on his way to the score.
Texas opens with a punt
Maalik Murphy's first drive in his first start: a punt.
Murphy certainly was amped up before his first starter's snap, hopping around, hyping up the crowd. And he completed his first pass, a short one to Ja'Tavion Sanders, though it resulted in a 2-yard loss. But his second was a beaut — a 16-yard slant to Adonai Mitchell. Then his pass to Xavier Worthy ended up a scary one as Worthy tripped to the ground and two or three Cougars were in the area, and his third-and-4 effort to Worthy fell incomplete. Tight window, good coverage.
Ryan Sanborn punted it away, a 55-yard kick, and BYU will start at its 25.
Texas vs. BYU: how we're calling it
First, we all picked Texas to beat BYU in this week's college picks. We've got UT beat writers Danny Davis and Thomas Jones in the press box today along with columnists Kirk Bohls and Cedric Golden. Here's what they said on this matchup:
Kirk Bohls: Texas, 27-21. I do not understand the big point spread favoring Texas by 20, but that tells me Vegas thinks the Longhorns can win this game with Maalik Murphy, Arch Manning or Savion Red plays quarterback. I kinda think all three actually will.
Danny Davis: Texas. The statistics won’t be spectacular — they hardly are in first starts — but Murphy will help keep UT in the Big 12 championship chase.
Cedric Golden: Texas, 38-24. Note to Murphy: Just look around you and notice the bevy of weapons at your disposal. They aren't asking you to be the second coming of VY. Just be a teammate and do your part. It should add up to a win.
Thomas Jones: Texas, 30-17. It won't be all peaches and completions for Murphy in his first start, but he'll lean on a big Texas edge up front on offense as the Longhorns grind out a rare win against BYU..
More about that matchup
BYU ranks No. 130 out of 133 FBS teams nationally in rushing. The Cougars average only 79 rushing yards a game, an with a 2.8-yards-per-carry clip. Like our own Kirk Bohls wrote this week, Houston found out the hard way that Texas' run defense is solid, rushing for only 14 yards against the Horns and averaging 0.7 yards an attempt.
On the flip side, Jonathon Brooks enters the game with 825 yards and a sparkling 6.4 yards per carry, so it's conceivable he'll end up being Steve Sarkisian's latest 1,000-yard rusher by the end of the day.
Two storylines to follow
We're about 20 minute away from kickoff.
About that BYU passing game: Consider that in Texas' last two games, against starting quarterbacks (and not backups), the Horns have given up 58 points and Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel and Houston's Donovan Smith combined for 663 yards and 4 TDs. BYU's Kedon Slovis has 11,492 career passing yards and 80 TDs over 44 starts. And don't forget, Texas' secondary has been banged up; the Horns hope to get starting cornerback Ryan Watts and starting safety Jalen Catalon back today. Because they need them.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Longhorns football vs. BYU: Live scores, updates, game analysis
