Bijan Robinson racked up 127 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns, and Casey Thompson passed for two scores in the final 1:38 of the first half as host Texas rebounded from a loss a week ago by thrashing undermanned Rice 58-0 on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
Robinson scored on runs on 6, 7 and 62 yards in in the first two quarters as the Longhorns (2-1) bounced back from a poor performance at Arkansas by walloping their former Southwest Conference rival. Texas has now defeated the Owls 15 straight times and shut out an opponent for the first time since early in the 2017 season.
Much of the discussion heading up to the game centered on the Longhorns’ starting quarterback switch from Hudson Card to Thompson, but Texas’ domination on the ground made that all but a moot point. Thompson started and hit on 15 of 18 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns with an interception.
The Longhorns had 241 yards rushing in the first two quarters alone and ended up with a 620-284 edge in total yards, including a 427-156 advantage on the ground.
Roschon Johnson finished with 112 yards on only three carries for Texas.
The Owls (0-3) were forced to play the final two-plus quarters with third-string quarterback Jake Constantine under center after starter Luke McCaffrey and backup Wiley Green suffered injuries.
Rice has been outscored 140-24 in its first three games. Its first two losses were to Arkansas and Houston.
Robinson got the Longhorns’ scoring started with a 6-yard run at the 10:21 mark of the first quarter. Johnson, a former quarterback, then added a 72-yard touchdown run out of the wildcat formation with 1:33 to play in the period.
Texas’ special teams contributed to the rout as well as Keilan Robinson blocked a Rice punt that bounced through the end zone for a safety to push the Longhorns’ lead to 16-0 on the final play of the first quarter.
Thompson hit Jared Wiley and Xavier Worthy for 20 and 13 yards, respectively, in the final minutes of the half to put Texas up 44-0 at halftime.
Texas added a 65-yard TD run by Keilan Robinson and a 17-yard touchdown rush by Jonathon Brooks in the third quarter.
–Field Level Media