By Steve Habel
Senior Contributing Writer
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — If you found yourself scratching your head a bit while watching Texas dismantle No. 11 Utah, 38-10, in the Valero Alamo Bowl on New Year’s Eve in the Alamodome, well, you are not alone.
The Longhorns played loosely and confidently, unleashing the talent and preparedness across the board that was expected from them heading into the season. The result was[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] a physical, relentless and dominating performance over a Utah team that is one of the roughest and toughest in the nation.
Texas took the game right at the Utes, and it wasn’t even close.
“I know this: Texas is very talented, very prepared and played with a purpose that we did not match,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “They have to be one of the best 7-5 teams I’ve seen.”
Therein lies the rub. How could the Longhorns mostly disappoint through the second half of the regular season but come to life in the bowl?
“We knew that this was probably going to be the most physical team that we played all year,” Texas coach Tom Herman said, “and our guys rose to the occasion. We were about as healthy as we’ve been in quite some time, and we were fresh. When it was time to work, they worked their tails off, had a great few weeks of preparation and couldn’t be prouder of the way they played tonight, not just only in execution but in an effort and physicality.”
Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger passed for 201 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 73 yards and another score in the victory. The win allowed the Longhorns (8-5) to capture their third straight bowl game for the first time since 2006-08.
UT’s defense, working under interim coordinator Craig Naivar after the firing of Todd Orlando at the end of the regular season, dominated the game while the Texas offense gained 438 yards and did enough to keep the Utes off balance.
Ehlinger was just 12-of-18 through the air, but that was plenty. Senior receiver Devin Duvernay hauled in three passes for 92 yards, including the Longhorns’ final passing touchdown on a 15-yard catch midway through the fourth quarter.
Texas running back Keaontay Ingram carried 13 times for 108 yards and a 49-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach. The Longhorns rushed for 231 yards against the defense ranked first in the country against the run.
“We knew coming into the game that they have an incredible front seven,” Ehlinger said. “Our offensive linemen knew that they had to be physical and win their matchups, and that allowed us to open up the run game.”
Utah (11-3) managed just 254 yards of offense and surrendered five sacks. Quarterback Tyler Huntley passed for 126 yards and ran for 33 in the loss for the Utes.
“We didn’t do a good enough job of making Texas pay for their blitzes,” Whittingham said, “and we weren’t able to establish any rhythm on offense. We just didn’t play as well as they did.”
Texas moved 63 yards on 10 plays to a 29-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker on the game’s opening drive.
A 71-yard punt return early in the second quarter by D’Shawn Jamison gave the Longhorns a short field at the Utah 6 and set the table for a 5-yard touchdown pass from Ehlinger to senior receiver Collin Johnson two plays later that produced a 10-0 Texas lead.
Utah ventured past midfield just once in the first half, and even then it was just to the Longhorns’ 48, while being outgained, 185-127, over the first 30 minutes.
“What was going out there was just us having fun, you know, and having confidence in a defensive scheme,” Texas linebacker Joseph Ossai said. “The coaches put a lot of time into preparing this game for us and to put us in the best position in the best situation possible. So we just trusted them. We bought in 100 percent and then we went out there and executed.”
After a failed fourth-down run from near midfield by the Utes early in the third quarter, Texas expanded its lead, moving 43 yards in three plays to Ehlinger’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Ingram at the 10:30 mark.
The Utes finally lit the scoreboard via a 32-yard field goal by Jadon Redding with 4:58 to play in the third quarter after a 60-yard, 11-play drive.
But the Longhorns responded immediately, driving 75 yards in 7 plays to Ehlinger’s 6-yard scoring run that pushed the Texas lead to 24-3.
Utah got into the end zone on a 4-yard pass from Huntley to Demari Simpkins to cut the margin to 24-10 with 11:34 to play.
Texas will take a lot of momentum into the offseason and into spring drills.
“I think this taught a lot of the young guys that when you play together that our talent can take us pretty far,” Ehlinger said, “and when once you add in mistake-free football, watch out.”
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