How the Texas Longhorns football graded out in their 35-6 win over the BYU Cougars

The potential traps were all over the place for Texas on Saturday, which put the ball in a redshirt freshman's hands to start at quarterback, hadn't shown much in terms of recent pass rush success and was hobbled in the secondary as it faced pass-heavy BYU that rolled into Austin as a 20-point underdog.

But as it turned out, the Longhorns controlled the Cougars throughout the 35-6 win, stuffing BYU defensively, lifting Maalik Murphy offensively past a rough early start and striking big on special teams.

That all point to a positive report card. Here's how the Longhorns graded out:

Quarterbacks: B

As it turns out, Texas didn't need to see Arch Manning in action because Murphy overcame his two early turnovers and relied on his running game and his defense. He finished 16-of-25 for 170 yards and a pair of touchdown to Adonai Mitchell. He was picked off once — it certainly looked like a poor into double coverage off his back foot, though head coach Steve Sarkisian said after the game that perhaps there was confusion among the receivers — and lost a fumble on a sack in the red zone. And we heard all week that he has a better arm than Ewers, but a lot of his throws seemed to unnecessarily float or loft: the first touchdown to Mitchell was a high one, and his second score to Mitchell, a slant route, was on the high end as well. Those kinds of floaters will eventually come back to bite him. It was an up and down day for Murphy, but he settled things down, managed Texas through the final three quarters and got the W. The Horns will take that for however long Ewers is out.

Go figure: Murphy became the 19th freshman quarterback in UT history to lead the team to a win.

Season average: B+ (Rice B, Alabama A+, Wyoming C, Baylor A-, Kansas A, Oklahoma B, Houston B, BYU B)

Running backs: B+

For the second straight week, Jonathon Brooks finished just shy of the 100-yard mark — 99 vs. Houston, 98 vs. BYU. But no complaints. He averaged 6.1 yards a carry, scored his seventh touchdown of the season and tied for the team lead with four catches. There was a Keilan Robinson sighting (a 23-yard run), CJ Baxter had nine carries and Jaydon Blue broke off a 34-yarder in relief of Brooks late. We figured Sarkisian would either lean on the running game to get through this one or let Murphy air it out. We got the running game lean.

Go figure: Brooks has had a rushing touchdown in five of his last six games.

Season average: B (Rice C, Alabama C, Wyoming A-, Baylor A-, Kansas A, Oklahoma B, Houston B+, BYU B+)

Wide receivers: B-

This would have been a C had not Mitchell finished with his two touchdowns. Xavier Worthy produced Texas' longest score of the season, but it came on a punt return. Murphy threw his way 10 times, so it wasn't for lack of targets, but Worthy finished with just four completions for 27 yards. He tripped on one route, wasn't near Murph's pick that was thrown into double coverage, couldn't come up with a pass thrown slightly behind him and saw a BYU defender make a nice play in the end zone. No targets for Jordan Whittington, who was quiet last week as well. In fact, only five Longhorns caught a pass on Saturday and only two of them were receivers. We'll give the unit a pass since Texas concentrated on the run and didn't need Murphy's arm to win this one.

Go figure: Mitchell has scored seven touchdowns in his first eight games as a Longhorn.

Season average: B (Rice B, Alabama A, Wyoming B, Baylor B, Kansas A-, Oklahoma B, Houston B, Houston B, BYU B-)

Tight ends: B-

The grade was for complete performance, not final stats. Ja'Tavion Sanders looked better than he has in several weeks, though, running faster, looking crisper on routes and finishing with four catches for 37 yards, including a 20-yarder. He also was the one who sprung Robinson's 23-yard run with a solid block. So it wasn't a numbers thing. It was about impact. On a day when Murphy needed all his weapons available, Sanders was there.

Go figure: Sanders moved up to No. 5 on UT's all-time tight ends receptions list (74) and No. 6 on career tight end receiving yards (970).

Season average: B- (Rice A-, Alabama A, Wyoming D, Baylor A-, Kansas D, Oklahoma B, Houston C, BYU B-)

The offensive line: B

Outside of Murphy, maybe the offensive line faced the most pressure on Saturday as it was charged with protecting the new quarterback but also powering the running game. There were more hits than misses. Right tackle Christian Jones suffered a pair of rare mistakes on the same drive late in the first quarter, committing a 5-yard false start penalty that turned a third-and-1 play into a third-and-6, which Texas, converted on Baxter's 8-yard run, but also gave up the sack that resulted in Murphy's fumble. But that's the bad. Kelvin Banks Jr. had a strong day over on the left side and Texas' interior blocking was very effective, springing Brooks for a couple of nice gains. Murphy was sacked just the one time.

Go figure: Texas produced eight plays that went 20 or more yards, including three touchdowns.

Season average: B (Rice C, Alabama A, Wyoming B-, Baylor B, Kansas A, Oklahoma C, Houston B, BYU B)

The defensive line: A

As expected, BYU's running game didn't do much. Texas held the Cougars to 95 rushing yards, BYU averaged 3.8 yards per carry and had just one run over 20 yards — a quarterback scramble. Justice Finkley got the start at edge opposite Barryn Sorrell in place of Ethan Burke and was a pleasant surprise, finishing with five tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, a quarterback hurry and a forced fumble. He shined. So did T'Vondre Sweat, who had seven stops and 1.5 tackles for loss. The front controlled things, slowed down the Cougars' running game and Slovis was harried all afternoon, preventing BYU from hurting Texas through the air. It's been a few weeks since we've seen that kind of spark.

Go figure: The 6 points were the fewest BYU has scored in a game since 2019.

Season average: B (Rice A, Alabama A, Wyoming B, Baylor A, Kansas B, Oklahoma C, Houston B, BYU A)

Linebackers: B

Jaylan Ford finished with 11 tackles — his most productive game yet in terms of raw stops — and he was a backfield disruptor for sure, adding a tackle for loss and two quarterback hurries. No turnovers, but that's OK since the secondary produced two and the front line one. Anthony Hill Jr. and Sweat combined to snuff out a third-down short pass midway through the second, though BYU converted its fourth down. Also, after back-to-back games where he committed costly 15-yard penalties, Hill played a clean game. He's only going to keep getting better for this defense.

Go figure: For the season, Ford has a 15-tackle lead over Jahdae Barron for the team lead in stops.

Season average: B (Rice B, Alabama A-, Wyoming C+, Baylor B+, Kansas B, Oklahoma C-, Houston B+, BYU B)

Defensive backs: A

For those who were worried about the state of the secondary, Texas ended up looking pretty strong on the back end. Michael Taaffe, the former walk-on, had his second interception in as many games playing for the injured Jalen Catalon; last week, he took points away from Houston with a pick in the end zone and against BYU, he returned a tip-drill pick 45 yards to BYU's 8-yard line. That set up Murphy's second touchdown to Mitchell. And Terrance Brooks finished with a pass breakup and the other interception, the first of his career. Jaylan Gilbeau probably dreamed about the 80-yard pick-six that he couldn't hold onto, but that's OK. Texas didn't need it, as it turned out. The big news of the day was how Texas quieted BYU's passing game — remember that in Texas' previous two games, Oklahoma's Dillon Mitchell and Houston's Donovan Smith had combined for 663 passing yards and four scores — and also the return of Ryan Watts, who settled the secondary and had a pass breakup. Texas had six breakups in all, five of them by DBs. Even Sweat's sack on first-and-goal in the second quarter really was a coverage sack.

Go figure: Terrance Brooks' first-quarter interception was his first as a Longhorn.

Season average: B (Rice A, Alabama A, Wyoming A-, Baylor B, Kansas B, Oklahoma C, Houston C, BYU A)

Special teams: A

Was this Texas' best day for special teams? Perhaps. It was a quiet afternoon for Bert Auburn, who wasn't asked to try a field goal (or catch a pass off a fake field goal), but Ryan Sanborn continued to impress by averaging 54 yards on his three punts — a legit 64-yarder without a friendly roll will do that — and the return game finally clicked. Worthy's 74-yard touchdown was an explosive answer to those who have criticized his fielding choices all season and reinforced Sarkisian's season-long laments about how close Texas has been to breaking a long one. Even Savion Red flashed on a 21-yard kickoff return. Kudos to Will Stone, too, who may have saved a touchdown on a kickoff by stopping Keelan Marion after a 38-yard retun in the fourth quarter. Stone had a good day last week, too.

Go figure: Worthy's 74-yard punt return touchdown was the 10th longest in UT history and the first since 2018.

Season average: B- (Rice A, Alabama B, Wyoming B+, Baylor D, Kansas D, Oklahoma B, Houston B+, BYU A)

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Longhorns football vs. BYU report card: How UT graded in win.