The Cougars pulled out another win against the Texas Longhorns on Friday night at Texas Memorial Stadium, beating them back-to-back years. With Taysom Hill rushing for three touchdowns and Adam Hine rushing for two, BYU came up big in this year’s 41-7 rematch victory over Texas.
Hill demonstrated that his performance last year wasn’t a fluke, completing 18 of his 27 passes and rushing for 99 yards and three touchdowns. He led the Cougars to a revisitation of last year’s game against the Longhorns.
Stellar defense made the first half of the game a close one. Texas had the first opportunity to score on its second drive but missed a field goal wide.
BYU’s offense was able to reach the red zone multiple times in the first half but had to settle for two field goals. Kicker Trevor Samson drilled a 21-yard field goal in the first quarter and a 29-yard field goal in the second to give BYU a six-point lead.
Entering the locker room at halftime, BYU led Texas 6-0. BYU’s offense failed to get into the end zone in the first half but quickly became familiar with it in the second half.
“The biggest difference in the game right now is not having field goals in the red zone but having touchdowns,” BYU Coach Bronco Mendenhall said at halftime. “We need to be better in that area.”
In the second half, BYU did just that.
On the opening drive of the second half, BYU’s offense marched 75 yards in nine plays. The drive resulted in a 30-yard run by Taysom Hill, where Hill hurdled a defender into the end zone to give BYU a 13-0 lead.
That was just the beginning of the second-half massacre.
On BYU’s next possession, wide receiver Jordan Leslie made a spectacular catch, setting up Hine for a rushing touchdown from 16 yards out. The touchdown was Hine’s career second and gave BYU a 20-0 lead.
Big runs from Jamaal Williams and Taysom Hill led to a two-yard touchdown run by Hill on BYU’s next possession, pushing BYU’s lead to 27.
On the ensuing kickoff, Texas’ kick returner Demarco Cobbs fumbled the ball, giving BYU possession once again. An accurate pass from Hill to wide receiver Mitch Mathews put the ball on Texas’ one-yard line, setting up a Hill touchdown run. It was his third and final touchdown of the night, giving BYU a 34-point lead.
Texas eventually answered back with a 75-yard drive that resulted in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Tyrone Swoopes to John Harris, putting Texas on the scoreboard. But Hine finished the Texas slaughter with an eight-yard touchdown run with 3:35 left to play in the fourth quarter to seal the deal.
“The way to be respected nationally is to play as many of these games and win,” BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “Upward mobility depends so much on quarterback play. I like our chances.”
BYU outgained Texas 429 yards to 258 yards and controlled the run game with five rushing touchdowns and 248 rushing yards.
After the game, Texas coach Charlie Strong was not pleased with his team.
“I knew during the warm-ups we weren’t ready to play,” Strong said. “I called the team up and told them we weren’t ready to play. Our focus isn’t there. We’re getting ready to play a really good football team and we’re going to get embarrassed if we don’t watch out, and that’s what happened tonight. We just didn’t play well.”
This win makes the Cougars 2-0 on the season, also making this weeks’ AP poll at No. 25. BYU football comes home this Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at LaVell Edwards Stadium, where they will host the Houston Cougars.
