In what can only be described as a tale of two halves, David Ash and the Texas Longhorns overcame a disastrous start to beat New Mexico State 56-7 tonight at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in front of just over 99,500 fans.
New Aggie Head Coach Doug Martin brought in a retooled team deemed by many to be the worst program in the Football Bowl Subdivision and had them feeling an upset bid. The Texas opening drive stalled out when senior wide receiver Mike Davis was unable to bring in an almost certain touchdown pass. The Aggies controlled the line of scrimmage and ran the read option as well as any team I’ve seen this weekend in building momentum. David Ash threw two bad interceptions, the Longhorns lost a fumble, and Aggie quarterback Andrew McDonald, whose squad had squandered opportunities to score with sloppy play and a turnover of their own, tossed an 11 yard touchdown pass to Joshua Bowen for a 7-0 lead with 2:28 until the half.  Until that point the highlight of the game was a booming 68 yard punt by Penn State transfer Anthony Fera, which was downed at the New Mexico State 1 yard line.
The only positive one could take away from the game at that point was the Longhorn defense was not missing as many tackles as they had last season (8.6 per game). David Ash looked like the quarterback who’d been benched against Kansas, fans were booing, and social media was on fire for a demand to play freshman backup quarterback Tyrone Swoopes. On the very next drive, David Ash fired an easy pass to John Harris, who missed 2011 with a foot injury and didn’t contribute much last year. Harris raced 54 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 7. Texas got the ball back quickly, and on the following drive Daje Johnson took a pass from David Ash 66 yards for a touchdown, torching the Aggie secondary for a 14-7 Texas lead at the half.
Mack Brown’s halftime interview was what you’d expect, but the facial expressions on the players leads one to believe he gave the squad a furious halftime speech. A much more focused and efficient Longhorns squad came out in the third quarter, marching 53 yards in six plays, capped by Daje Johnson’s second touchdown of the night on a 24 yard scamper for a 21-7 lead.
The Aggies, sensing the game was about to get out of hand, moved 48 yards in 4 plays, but saw what was their last gasp ended by an Adrian Phillips diving interception of McDonald’s pass at the Texas 12. Texas was back on the move in a fast 4 play 88 yard drive. Three solid plays preceded David Ash scrambling down the right sideline, picking up two blocks from wide receiver Jaxon Shipley to spring a 55 yard touchdown run, pushing the Longhorns lead to 28-7.  The Longhorns then forced a punt, and busted coverage by the Aggies allowed running back Malcolm Brown to take a short pass 74 yards for a touchdown to push the Longhorn lead to 35-7.  During a 15 play sequence, Texas scored 35 points and gained 342 yards of total offense.
The route was officially on, as David Ash ended his evening with a 25 yard touchdown pass to Mike Davis, who managed to get one foot down while he drew a pass interference penalty on an amazing grab. The score pushed the Longhorns lead to 42-7. Case McCoy came in to finish the game, going 2/2 for 13 yards with no turnovers, but the story of the 4th quarter was the arrival of Jalen Overstreet. Â For those unfamiliar Overstreet came to Texas from Tatum as a QB, but has learned multiple offensive and defensive positions. We last saw him flying all over the field in the Spring game, and his lightning quick speed was in full display. In his debut drive, Overstreet gained 43 yards capping it off with a 1 yard touchdown run to push the Longhorns lead to 49-7. Â A few Dalton Santos maulings later the offense had the ball back for one final drive, within striking distance of a new school record for total offense. Â With 1:26 to go, Overstreet broke off a 38 yard touchdown run to push the Longhorn lead to 56-7, and set a new school record with 715 yards of total offense.
It’s hard to say what you can take away from this game, as there were extreme highs and lows. For almost two quarters, the Longhorns were being outclassed by a team many thought should have been sent to the FCS. They scored no points and gained minimal yardage against a team who had given up 38.51 points per game the last three seasons, a team Texas State had hung 66 on last year. The offensive line lacked push, nothing was working, and it seemed the demons which haunted Texas in losses last year had came home to roost. I don’t know who pushed the switch, but I feel like this doesn’t happen with Harsin in control instead of Applewhite. David Ash recovered from his interceptions to throw four touchdown passes while hitting eight different receivers. We may not have seen anything close to that recovery last year.
From there, the Longhorns looked every bit the team some believe can contend for a BCS birth. We discovered some stars in the making in Jalen Overstreet and Daje Johnson. We learned the Longhorns have superior RB depth to probably anyone in the country, and we also learned we need Kendall Sanders to come back next week ready to go. Stacy Searles was able to tinker with the lineup all game long and we saw several successful combinations of line out there tonight. Desmond Harrison looks like a killer in the making. No one can sit here tonight and say this was a disaster, but you can not ignore the fact that for almost two quarters, it was a huge disaster.
Defensively, the missed tackles and blown assignments were not nearly as bad as last season. The defensive line held up well, secondary play was good, and I really liked Quandre Diggs in the “go out and tear it up” position. The defense, even when New Mexico State was rolling, managed to keep the team in the game long enough for the offense to get it moving.
There will be much to work on in practice this week before the trip to Provo to play the BYU Cougars, who incidentally lost to Virginia in a rain soaked contest 19-16 earlier in the day. At the end of the day, many people got work, some stars emerged, the team overcame adversity, Mack kept his foot on the gas, and Texas won.
Statistical Leaders for the Game:
Passing: David Ash 20-28 343 yards 4 TDs 2 INTs / 8 carries 91 yards 1 TD
Rushing: Jalen Overstreet – 9 carries 92 yards 2 TDs
Receiving: Malcolm Brown – 3 receptions 109 yards 1 TD
