Robinson shows his promise
Sophomore running back steps on the gas with 176 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns
AUSTIN — For Texas, Saturday was about new beginnings.
New head coach. New starting quarterback. An audacious new south end zone renovation that cost $175 million and features luxury suites, sparkling athletic department offices and a ginormous Longhorns logo carved into the stands.
It also marked the beginning of a new honest-togoodness Heisman Trophy campaign, the first around these parts since Colt McCoy roamed the Forty Acres more than a decade ago. Running atop a turf field named in honor of Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams, sophomore tailback Bijan Robinson marketed himself to the voters with 103 rushing yards, 73 receiving yards and two touchdowns in No. 21 Texas’ 38-18 win over No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
Steve Sarkisian vowed not to leave the Lamborghini parked in the garage this season. And in his first game as Texas’ coach — and first game leading a team since October 2015 — he kept that promise, getting Robinson a careerhigh 24 touches against a Ragin’ Cajuns (0-1) defense that started wilting in the afternoon’s oppressive triple-digit heat and heavy air.
“I think one of the questions I kept getting was, ‘How many touches for Bijon?’ ” Sarkisian said Saturday night following the win. “And I kept saying somewhere around 20 you know, I didn’t know exactly. But you know, nearly 180 yards of total offense. That’s a good day at work. I mean, that’s utilizing him.”
Sarkisian made it easy on Robinson’s first touchdown, suctioning the defense to the right side of the field by sweeping the tight ends across the middle and leaving an entire swath of the red zone available for Texas’ star tailback. That 18-yard touchdown reception put Texas (1-0) ahead 7-3 late in the first quarter.
On his second score, Robinson side-stepped one lunging defender, chugged through a halfhearted arm tackle like it was a light breeze and jogged into the end zone for the 7-yard score. That put Texas up 21-7 early in the second half.
“Man, it’s entertaining,” transfer linebacker Ovie Oghoufo said of watching Robinson. “Because Bijan’s a hard dude to tackle and a hard dude to grasp. And going against him in practice every day makes us better. And to see him go out there and cut it loose against the other team, like we already knew what was about to happen.”
Robinson headlined, but plenty of his teammates helped start the Sarkisian era with a key win over a dangerous ranked opponent.
Sophomore receiver Jordan Whittington defined elusiveness with his sevencatch, 113-yard performance, juking defenders, rattling knees and extending plays. He even dropped one Louisiana-Lafayette linebacker with a pseudo Dream Shake on one 11yard reception inside the red zone.
Linebackers DeMavion Overshown and Luke Brockermeyer combined for 23 tackles, 2.0 for loss and a sack. Edge defenders Jett Bush and Ray Thornton both scored late sacks. And super senior Cade Brewer hauled in a tightwindow touchdown to stretch Texas’ lead to 14-3 with two minutes left in the first half.
Redshirt freshman Hudson Card, making his first start at quarterback, completed 14 of 21 passes for 224 yards with two touchdowns, one rushing score and no turnovers.
Junior quarterback Casey Thompson also handled a couple drives and led Texas to a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. He completed four of five passes for 41 yards and found Whittington for a 14yard touchdown to put the Longhorns up 35-12 with about 12 minutes remaining.
Overall, Texas outgained Louisiana-Lafayette (0-1) 435-359 and limited the Ragin’ Cajuns to just 2.7 yards per rush and four third-down conversation on 12 attempts. The Longhorns will now prepare to hit the road to face Arkansas (1-0) next Saturday.
“Bijan did a great job setting the tone,” Sarkisian said. “And then obviously Jordan Whittington on third-down, making plays for us. Both Hudson and Casey were really efficient, both extended drives and both made their plays when they had their opportunities.
“But in the end, it was controlling the ball, controlling the line of scrimmage, time of possession and limiting their plays. And then, getting off the field on third down on defense was big and really kind of set the stage and for us to get the lead, control the ballgame and get the win.”