Capital City Sports Report

Texas dominates UTEP with 64-7 victory

It was over before it ever started. All that remained was how many points the No. 2-ranked Texas Longhorns would score. In the end Texas won in an expected blowout, 64-7 over the UTEP Miners in front of 101,144 on Saturday.

After a pair of slow starts against Wyoming on the road and at home last week against Texas Tech, the Longhorns got off to a fast start against the Miners. After the Texas defense forced a fumble on UTEP’s opening possession, freshman running back Tre Newton capped off the four-play drive that covered 16 yards to put Texas ahead 7-0.

The lone disappointment of the contest for Texas fans came on the next offensive possession when senior quarterback Colt McCoy’s pass intended for Jordan Shipley was intercepted by UTEP’s Melvin Stephenson II and returned 49 yards for a touchdown.

Texas quickly got back on track on the ensuing kickoff as freshman D.J. Monroe’s made his way 91 yards for the score and into the record books as the first player to return two kickoffs for a touchdown in his career. The former Texas high school 100 meters champion’s other TD occurred in the season-opening game against Louisiana-Monroe.

The Texas defense, which had another stellar performance holding UTEP to just seven first downs and 53 total yards for the game, shut down Miners quarterback Trevor Vittatoe and the offense.

McCoy looked precise after the interception leading the Longhorns on six more scoring drives in the first half including a pair of touchdowns to Dan Buckner. In addition to 36- and 15-yard TD passes to Buckner, McCoy hit his roommate in Shipley for a 16-yard completion as the Horns headed into the break with a 47-7 lead.

For the game McCoy finished 28 of 35 for 286 yards and three touchdowns.
The 64 points scored was the most for the Longhorns since the national championship season in 2005 when Texas ran roughshod in a 70-3 win over Colorado in the Big 12 championship.

Posted in NCAA Football