By Steve Habel/Associate Editor
AUSTIN — Two weeks ago on the plains of Manhattan after being shut out by Kansas State, Texas looked like a team without an identity or a rudder or much of anything on which to hang its hat.
That’s all changed in a fortnight, the latest example being the Longhorns’ dominating 33-16 win over No. 23 West Virginia Saturday before a sun-splashed crowd of 95,714 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
All of a sudden, Texas is a team [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]with which to be reckoned, a group finding its stride along with its confidence and moxie just in time to make a late-season run into bowl eligibility.
The Longhorns (5-5 overall, 4-3 in Big 12 play) beat a deep and talented West Virginia team with a combination of bend-but-don’t-break defense and a powerful rushing offense, the latter of which ran over, around and through the Mountaineers in building a 24-3 lead at halftime and holding on when in the second half when things got tight. Johnathan Gray led the Texas rushing attack with his three touchdown runs and 10 carries for 104 yards.
“Week by week we continue to get better,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said afterward, minutes after he was picked up like a rag doll by his players and thrown around in the locker room. “It was a really big game for our team and the process we’ve been going through.”
The final stats will show that West Virginia (6-4 overall, and 4-3 in Big 12 play) outgained the Horns 448-351 and wasted a ton of scoring chances, especially in the first half. But the Mountaineers had to run 90 offensive plays to get those yards and actually ended up averaging less per snap (5.0) than Texas did (5.2).
West Virginia had five trips into the red zone but only got points out of three of them, and one of those was a field goal. Texas was inside the 20 three times and scored touchdowns on each of them, the difference in a 17-point win that should help define the Horns’ season.
“People are gonna say that this was a signature win for us because we beat a ranked team and got back to even on the season,” Texas defensive tackle Malcom Brown said. “But we think we should have already had some signature wins – we could have beat Baylor and Oklahoma. This is just another game we won like we should have.”
Texas scored on its first possession, moving 90 yards in 11 plays to a 2-yard TD pass from Tyrone Swoopes to Geoff Swaim. The key plays on the drive were a conversion on third down and 15 on a pass from Swoopes to Jaxon Shipley and jump ball pass to John Harris that ended up gaining 29 yards when the Horns’ receiver out-muscled West Virginia cornerback Daryl Worley for a 50/50 throw into the wind.
West Virginia had a chance to answer on its ensuing possession, which began with a 48-yard kickoff return to the UT 45 by Mario Alford. The Mountaineers moved to the UT 1 and was lined up try for the tying touchdown when tight end Russ Haughton-James was whistled for a false start, pushing West Virginia back to the UT 6 and facilitating a 22-yard field goal from Josh Lambert that cut the Texas lead to 7-3 with 3:10 to play in the first quarter.
From that point forward, the Horns ruled the first half. Texas pushed its advantage to 14-3 with 8:56 to play in the second quarter on a juking, 39-yard run by Johnathan Gray. Gray leaped into the pylon in the front corner of the end zone as he was being pushed out of bound to finish the impressive run.
Two more long runs set the table for a third UT touchdown in the half, one for 25 yards by Malcolm Brown and another by Gray for 40 yards, most of which came after he planted his right foot while carrying a full head of steam and cut right past West Virginia safety Karl Joseph.
After a fluttering pass by Swoopes toward Harris enticed a pass interference call in the end zone on WVU’s Ishmael Banks, Gray burst over right tackle untouched for a 2-yard TD run and a 21-3 Texas advantage.
The Horns added to their lead with a 39-yard field goal by Nick Rose that came three plays after Texas cornerback Quandre Diggs intercepted WVU quarterback Clint Trickett and returned the pick to the 22-yard line.
Texas outgained West Virginia 266-141 in the half and 174-49 in the second quarter, when they outscored the Mountaineers 17-0.
The Horns’ offense did next to nothing after the band left the field, gaining just 85 total yards after halftime thanks to a blitzing West Virginia defense and ultra-conservative play-calling. But its defense continued to shine, holding the Mountaineers out of the end zone until a Dreamius Smith 9-yard run at the 13:25 mark of the third quarter.
Texas’ defense even found a way to score when a resurgent Cedric Reed tackled Trickett for a safety after a punt had pinned the Mountaineers at their own 1-yard line.
West Virginia cut the Texas lead to 26-16 at the 6:38 mark of the final quarter on Wendell Smallwood’s 3-yard scoring run after Smith’s 62-yard run set the table. But the end game belonged to the Longhorns, who added a TD on a Gray 15-yard run with 3:06 remaining after the Texas defense forced the ball over on downs at the WVU 15.
The Longhorns will bring a full head of steam into their final road game of the season on Nov. 15 at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys (5-4, 3-3 in league play) have lost three straight Big 12 games (by an average of 30 points), including a 24-point loss at home to West Virginia.
It might be the best time for Texas, one win away from the postseason, to be hitting Stillwater.
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