Bloodthirsty Texas defense had itself a huge opening day | Golden

The Texas Longhorns will go as far as their explosive offense will take them but it would be a huge mistake to overlook what’s happening on the other side the ball.

The defense opened the season like a bunch of hungry lions who were promised all the steak they could eat if they delivered a battering of the opposition.

In this case it was ram meat.

Quinn Ewers and that explosive receiving corps will get the most shine but the defense laid the beatdown on in Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and Co. in a rousing 2024 opener.

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Freshman cornerback Wardell Mack’s diving interception in the end zone was not the difference between a win or a loss — but you would never know that had you been watching the Texas bench.

They went wild.

“We wanted to keep that zero up there,” linebacker Anthony Hill said.

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Mack’s pick came with 46 seconds left and preserved a 52-0 shutout, the program’s first in an opener since a 65-point win over North Texas in 2004. The Horns celebrated Saturday’s by actually stabbing a football with a sword, a turnover celebration secondary coach former four-year starter Blake Gideon created.

“We get turnovers and turnovers are really a key part of the game so we have to celebrate it,” linebacker David Gbenda said. “It was a good implementation because I feel like we need to celebrate those turnovers more.”

The Horns put the clamps on Colorado’s Air Raid offense and held the opponent to 59 yards passing and nearly as impressive was limiting the Rams ’ star wideout Tory Horton to just five catches for 31 yards. The 192 yards allowed was similar to the 37-10 win over Rice in last season’s opener. Texas allowed 176 yards that day but the difference is this defense delivered a goose egg.

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Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski coached in his first game since his Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. riddled his secondary for 430 yards and two touchdowns in the College Football Playoff semifinal loss. But there were no problems in this one. The Horns potentially scary pass rush did not record a sack but put enough pressure on Fowler-Nicolosi to make for an easy day for the defense.

The defensive line held up its end, albeit against an opponent that’s several levels behind defending national champion Michigan, who Texas will face next. Steve Sarkisian played 21 players on defense and was liberal with his rotation up front in the Central Texas heat.

The Horns, playing without 2023 starters T'Vondre Sweat, Byron Murphy, Jaylan Ford and Ryan Watts — who were all drafted into the NFL — looked the part of a team that expects to be playing in January. But a huge nonconference challenge awaits.

“Going to Michigan is a heck of a challenge,” Sarkisian said. “I know everyone will put out that they lost 13 draft picks but we lost 11. I think good programs reload. They’ve been to the College Football Playoff three times in a row and then they won it. The Big House environment has change. It’s louder. We’re going to need a great week of preparation.”

Expect a low-scoring turf battle in Ann Arbor. Either way, the Horns will be heading up north with a ton of confidence.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Bloodthirsty Texas defense had itself a huge opening day | Golden