By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — Now this is more like it.
There’s nothing like a blowout win over an overmatched opponent to rekindle hope, and Texas’ 56-0 victory Saturday over San Jose State before a sun-splashed crowd of 88,117 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium felt like more than just a token beatdown.
Instead, it felt like an awakening of sorts, just a week later than the Longhorns, their alpha male coach Tom Herman and the fans expected.
This win also acted as a rebooting [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]of the impact of Texas running back Chris Warren III, who scored twice and racked up 166 of Texas’ 406 yards on the ground as the Longhorns shrugged off a ragged start and swamped a clearly-out-of-its-league San Jose State team.
The victory was Texas’ first of Herman era, as the Longhorns’ overall depth, size and talent overwhelmed the Spartans. Texas outgained San Jose State, 623-171, and had six rushing touchdowns.
“That was what it’s supposed to look like when you’re playing well on both sides of the ball,” Herman said afterward. “I’m really, really proud of our guys for tuning out all the noise and tuning out all the distractions that they could have allowed to creep in after last week’s showing.
“They came to work ready to go, focused, locked in, but relaxed. There was a quiet confidence in them.”
The Longhorns (1-1) struggled early on but used its rushing attack — and namely sophomore Warren III and third-string quarterback Jerrod Heard — to take control of the game with three touchdowns in the first half.
Heard, who has worked mostly as a wide receiver this season, ran 9 yards for Texas’ first touchdown at the 2:56 mark of the first quarter as the Longhorns forged a 7-0 lead.
Warren then ran 41 yards for a score 2:12 into the second quarter to push Texas’ advantage to 14-0. Heard added to the lead with a 3-yard touchdown run with 16 seconds to play before halftime as the Longhorns built a 21-point cushion at intermission.
True freshman Sam Ehlinger (15-of-27 passing for 222 yards a one touchdown) got the start for the Longhorns in place of sophomore Shane Buechele, who bruised his throwing shoulder last week in UT’s 51-41 loss to Maryland and was ruled out of the game about 30 minutes before kickoff.
Montel Aaron led the Spartans (1-2) with 104 yards passing.
“Obviously, Texas is better than us,” San Jose State coach Brent Brennan said. “There were some chances there for us in the first half when we could have made it interesting, but they kicked our butts, fair and square. Texas called some really good plays in the run game and we missed tackles at the point of attack.”
Texas outgained San Jose State, 310-100, in the first half, including a 186-38 advantage on the ground, and owned 19:48-10:12 edge in time of possession before halftime.
The Longhorns kept their foot to the pedal in the third quarter, driving 92 yards in 16 plays to a Kyle Porter 3-yard touchdown run that extended their lead to 28-0. Texas held the ball for 6:35 of the quarter during the march, which featured 12 runs and two short completions.
Texas’ defense also got in on the fun, scoring on a 45-yard Holton Hill interception return with 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter. It was Hill’s third touchdown this season on a return (he had touchdowns after an interception and a blocked field goal in the opener against Maryland); Texas had no defensive or special teams score in the 2016 campaign.
Warren added his second touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter, carrying a defender and guard Patrick Hudson into the end zone on a 9-yard touchdown run.
Ehlinger got the first touchdown pass of his Texas career early in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard shovel pass to Armanti Foreman and another true freshman, running back Toneil Carter, scored the final points of the game on a 4-yard run with 2:46 to play and the starters for both teams on the bench.
The Longhorns take a lot of momentum, and a week-too-late-wake-up-call, with them to the West Coast next Saturday when they battle No. 4 Southern California in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
How Texas plays in that game — and expect UT to be a two-touchdown or more underdog — truly could determine the direction of this team, much more than a shutout win over an outmatched San Jose State team would.
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