The Texas Longhorns just blew the roof off the scoreboard at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, putting up 59 points on the Texas State Bobcats, who were only able to answer with 7 points of their own.
Despite the 52-point victory and the 1-0 record to start the season, the first thing that Steve Sarkisian harped on was nothing other than improvement.
"Well, I love the physicality. Obviously, there's gonna be plenty of things that I know we were screaming and yelling on the headset about," Sarkisian said after the game. "It was a good start for the first game; it'll come together."
And he's right. The defensive secondary looked wishy-washy, quarterback Arch Manning wasn't exactly flawless, despite throwing for four touchdowns; and Texas's next opponent, Ohio State, is a lot tougher than the Bobcats.
When asked about facing the Buckeyes, Sarkisian kept it simple: the Horns would have to be better.
"It's a tall task; they're a good team. We gotta play well; we gotta play better than we played today. We've got a lot of work to do this week," Sarkisian said.
Even with room for growth, Week 1 was still a great game for Texas
Of course, with a win in the first week of the season that came with a 52-point margin, Sarkisian wasn't only focused on what needed to improve over the next seven days. He also made sure to praise the big-time plays and playmakers from Saturday afternoon.
"There was a lot of good, don't get me wrong. It was great to see our new, kinda, toys show up in Cam [Coleman], Hollywood [Smothers], and Raleek [Brown]. I think Ryan Wingo really set the tone in the first half," Sarkisian said. "On defense, we create turnovers. Three turnovers to none. Had some fourth-down stops, but also a lot for us to work on and get better at."
Coleman caught two touchdown passes and had 70 receiving yards in his debut for the Longhorns. Wingo earned a whopping 121 receiving yards and another touchdown. Smothers and Brown combined for 104 rushing yards, with Brown scoring twice on the ground and Smothers hauling in receiving touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, even as the Bobcats earned 349 total yards on offense, the Texas defense was disruptive and physical.
"What a punch out by Raheem Biles," Sarkisian said in the postgame press conference.
Biles, a transfer addition to the linebacker room this offseason, forced two turnovers, punching the ball out once in the first half and picking off Texas State quarterback Brad Jackson in the second. Colin Simmons also earned a fumble recovery, because how could the Horns take the field without him making a play?
Simply put, there is undeniably room for improvement, growth, and adjustment, but it was also a double-digit victory for the Horns to start the season, and that's a much better way to kick off the year than what we saw last year.
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