No. 7 Texas rolls past BYU 35-6 in first, last Big 12 meeting

AUSTIN, Texas — A rising Big 12 team stunned a top-10 opponent after being an underdog by more than a touchdown and watched as its fans stormed the field, tore down the goal posts, and heaved them to a nearby lake.

But enough about Kansas' 38-33 win over No. 6 Oklahoma.

In BYU's first (and likely last) trip to DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, it was all No. 7 Texas.

Maalik Murphy threw for 170 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in his first collegiate start, and the Longhorns ran roughshod over the Cougars with 354 yards of offense in a 35-6 rout Saturday afternoon in front of 101,670 fans in Austin, Texas.

Of the Longhorns' 11 drives, four ended in a touchdown and three in a punt with two turnovers on downs, a fumble and an interception by Crew Wakley.

Jonathon Brooks added 98 yards and a touchdown and Jaydon Blue 44 yards and a score for Texas (7-1, 4-1 Big 12), which improved to 4-1 in the Big 12 for the first time since 2018.

"Another really versatile team win. I continue to be proud of these guys that different aspects of the game show up," said Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, the former BYU quarterback. "For Maalik making his first career start, I was really proud of him."

BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis completed 24-of-39 passes for 197 yards, but also had two interceptions and a fumble. Aidan Robbins ran for 56 yards on 17 carries for the Cougars, who converted just 2-of-13 third downs while giving up two sacks and 11 tackles for loss while producing 292 yards of offense and just 95 on the ground through Robbins, Deion Smith, Miles Davis and Keelan Marion in the absence of freshman tailback LJ Martin (late scratch).

Texas, by contrast, converted 6-of-11 third downs and faltered on both fourth-down attempts.

"We need to be better on third downs, even from a season perspective," Wakley said. "Any time somebody's going to go for it on fourth down, we like that. It means that they aren't getting points, or that's a turnover for us."

Darius Lassiter caught five passes for 75 yards, including a career-long 47-yard reception, for the Cougars (5-3, 2-3 Big 12), and Keelan Marion added three catches for 30 yards.

BYU's defense held on its first drive, but when the Cougars' offense went to punt moments after, disaster struck.

Down his top gunner on special teams for the second-straight game in Marcus McKenzie, Ryan Rehkow's 55-yard punt was returned 74 yards for a touchdown by Xavier Worthy that gave the Longhorns a 7-0 lead after one possession.

After exchanging interceptions through BYU's Wakley and Texas' Terrance Brooks, Jonathon Brooks doubled the Longhorns' lead with a 4-yard rushing score with 4:10 left in the first quarter.

After Isaiah Bagnah opened the second quarter with his first career fumble recovery, the Cougars got on the board through Will Ferrin's 24-yard field goal — that came after a 16-play, 64-yard driver that took a season-high 9:57 off the clock and ended on the 2-yard line before Sitake opted for the field goal following an illegal timeout.

"That's on coaches," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "That's not on the players. That's on me."

The Longhorns showed they can burn clock, as well, marching 75 yards on 10 plays before Murphy's first career touchdown pass from 30 yards to Adonai Mitchell that put Texas up 21-3 with a minute left in the half.

Jakob Robinson forced a stop on the 1-yard line on fourth-and 2 in the third quarter, but BYU's offense could make nothing of it, punting away just three plays and 64 seconds later.

"In all three phases, we've got to win at least two of them to have a chance," Sitake said. "If we can dominate all three, then we'll have the outcome like what Texas did to us today."

The Cougars added another fourth-down stop near the goal line at the start of the fourth quarter. But again, the Cougars gave the ball back when Slovis' pass tipped off Lassiter and into the arms of Michael Taaffe.

Murphy sealed the win with a 13-yard touchdown to Mitchell, his second of the game to go up 28-6 with 9:07 to go. In all, Mitchell caught three passes for 59 yards and two scores.

Blue added a 34-yard touchdown in the final two minutes for the final margin a the Longhorns scored on offensive drives of six, 10, one and three plays.

Wakley had nine tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and his interception for BYU, and Siale Esera added eight tackles and a tackle for loss. Blake Mangelson added a career-best seven tackles, tied for the third-most on the team with AJ Vongphachanh.

"I think you have to give a lot of credit to Texas," Sitake said. "That's a great team; there's a reason why they're still in playoff contention talk. ... When you're playing against great teams, you can't make the mistakes that we made and hope to get a win. But our guys are resilient and tough. ... I thought our guys fought until the end."

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