© Scott Wachter, USA TODAY
Longhorns Take Down Louisiana Monroe 52-10 In Season Opener
AUSTIN - The Texas Longhorns are officially back in the win column, taking down the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks 52-10 at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.
The win was expected, with Texas entering the game as prohibitive favorites as 37.5-point favorites.
Either way, the Longhorns have a lot to be happy about after Game 1 on both sides of the ball.
First and foremost offensively was the play of their new starting quarterback, Quinn Ewers, who, after an early interception on the first drive, looked cool, calm and collected, completing 16 of 24 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns in just two and a half quarters.
However, the star of the unit on Saturday was arguably Ja'Tavion Sanders, who exploded onto the scene in his first career start, catching six passes for 85 yards and a touchdown, and displayed uncanny early chemistry with Ewers.
As per usual, Bijan Robinson also had a major impact on the game rushing 10 times for 73 yards with a touchdown and catching three passes for 40 yards and another score.
As a team, the Longhorns were dominant offensive, racking up 383 total yards of offense.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Longhorns were also very impressive, holding the Warhawks to just 259 yards of total offense (167 through the air and 92 on the ground) and 12 first downs.
And as was to be expected, linebacker DeMarvion Overshown was the standout on the defensive side of the ball, finishing with a team-high eight tackles, as well as two tackles for loss.
Edge rusher Barryn Sorrell was also a big-time contributor, finishing with 1.5 sacks on the evening.
However, things will only get more difficult from here for the Horns.
Following the win, the Longhorns will now turn the page to the toughest test of the Steve Sarkisian era to date, when the nation's No. 1 overall team, the Alabama Crimson Tide, comes to the 40 Acres next week.
It will be the first time Sarkisian has faced his former mentor Nick Saban since leaving Tuscaloosa for Austin in 2021.
Kick-off is set for 11 am.
You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan
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