4 overreactions after Texas's commanding shutout win vs. CSU

No. 4 Texas football opened up the 2024 regular season with a dominant shutout 52-0 victory over head coach Jay Norvell and the Colorado State Rams at home on Aug. 31. Texas looked really good on both sides of the ball after a couple of hiccups for the offense early in the first quarter on the first two or three drives.

Texas football executes in multiple facets on each side of the ball to shutout Colorado State in Week 1

After putting up points on just one of the first three drives of the game on Saturday against Colorado State, the Longhorns scored on seven consecutive drives between the second and fourth quarters. Six of those seven drives wound up being consecutive touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Longhorns were able to register a season opener shutout for the first time in two decades (since 2004). Texas only punted the ball once and held a Colorado State offense that has some pronounced weapons at the skill positions and a returning starter at quarterback under 200 total yards.

This was a pretty impressive and well-rounded win for head coach Steve Sarkisian's quad on each side of the ball. Texas looks to have the necessary momentum built up entering a decisive high-stakes matchup in Week 2 on the road against the defending National Champion and No. 9 ranked Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Sep. 7.

Here are four overreactions following Texas's 52-0 shutout win over Colorado State in the season opener at home at DKR in Week 1.

Quinn Ewers won't have a primary target in the passing game this season

Redshirt junior quarterback Quinn Ewers had a good performance to kickoff the 2024 season for the Texas offense. Outside of one or two questionable decisions early, namely the bad decision to throw the football while coming under pressure and resulting in a tipped ball interception in the first quarter by Colorado State, Ewers looked like he was in complete control of the offense.

Ewers completed nearly 75 percent of his pass attempts for over 250 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and one interception. He made some really insane throws, especially the no-look touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Matthew Golden, which was shades of Patrick Mahomes with the theatrics and instincts passing the football by Quinn.

Texas was really able to show off its insane talent and depth at the skill positions, more specifically in the receiving corps this weekend in the 50+ point win over Colorado State. The Longhorns spread the ball around effectively to 11 different targets in the passing game. Ewers completed passes to eight different receiving targets alone.

For good measure, no other P4 team had as many receivers with a reception in Week 1 against an FBS opponent as Texas after the win over CSU this weekend (per Stathead).

Ewers looked to have good chemistry with new starting receivers, like Golden and fellow junior transfer wideout Isaiah Bond, in the win over Colorado State yesterday. He had multiple nice passes, including at least one touchdown, to both of Texas's impact starting wideouts from the portal during the offseason.

I think the biggest difference between this season and last year for Ewers is that he doesn't have those big go-to receivers/tight ends to immediately get the ball out to in contested situations, like he had in 2023 with Adonai Mitchell and JT Sanders.

This fall, the Longhorns have six or eight receiving threats between the all the running backs, receivers, and tight ends Sarkisian has in the two-deep to really expand the play-calling and creativity with the offensive playbook.