Texas El Paso Miners vs Texas Longhorns Box Score on Sep 10, 2016

The Sports Xchange
Sep 10, 2016

AUSTIN, Texas - Freshman quarterback Shane Buechele threw for 244 yards and four touchdowns as 11th-ranked but injury-depleted Texas shrugged off some midgame doldrums and easily defeated UTEP 41-7 on Saturday night before a crowd of 92,863 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Buechele was 22 of 27 passing, did not throw an interception and hit three different Longhorns receivers for touchdowns. Through his first two collegiate games, Buechele has shown a propensity for getting the ball down field and spreading the wealth, with six connections of 20-plus yards and six total touchdowns to five different receivers.

Chris Warren III, normally the Longhorns' co-featured back with D'Onta Foreman, ran for 95 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.

Texas (2-0) outgained UTEP 416-208 and won handily despite having three of their starting offensive linemen (and five that are in the two-deep rotation) and their top ground-gainer from last year and last week (Foreman) on the sidelines with injuries.

UTEP starting quarterback Kavika Johnson managed just 42 passing yards on nine completions while replacing Zach Greenlee, who started for the Miners on Sept. 3 against New Mexico State but missed the Texas game with a MCL injury.

The Miners (1-1) got 123 rushing yards and their only touchdown from Aaron Jones. UTEP has never defeated Texas in the five games between the two teams, four of those in Austin.

Texas moved the ball at will in the early going. Its first drive ended poorly when Jacorey Warrick was stripped of the ball as he crossed the goal line on a potential 11-yard touchdown pass from Buechele, with the loose ball bouncing out of bounds for a touchback.

But the Longhorns got on the board on their next drive when Jerrod Heard, who started 10 games at quarterback for Texas in 2015, hauled in a 29-yard TD strike from Buechele to give the Longhorns a 7-0 lead.

Trent Domingue pushed the Texas advantage to 10-0 with a 22-yard field goal three plays after the Longhorns' Brandon Jones blocked a punt that rolled out of bounds at the UTEP 6-yard line.

Jones' 51-yard touchdown run cut the Texas lead to 10-7 at the 8:28 mark of the second quarter and stunned the Longhorns out of a mini-funk. They responded with a 49-yard drive that netted a second Domingue field goal - this one from 43 yards out - and a 13-7 Texas lead with 4:42 left in the second quarter.

The Longhorns played add-on on their final possession of the first half with a nifty 60-yard drive and an 8-yard touchdown pass from Buechele to Warrick, who just got his left foot down in the end zone before going out of bounds.

NOTES: Texas' No. 11 ranking in the AP Top 25 is its highest ranking since week six of the 2012 season. The Longhorns are also ranked No. 20 in the Coaches Poll. ... Texas quarterback Shane Buechele's start last Sunday against Notre Dame was just the second time a true freshman started the season opener at quarterback for Texas and the first since Bobby Layne in 1944. With 280 yards through the air, Buechele is just the second true freshman in school history to pass for more than 200 yards in a game (Rick McIvor vs. Baylor, 1979). ... UTEP's Aaron Jones entered the game as the nation's leading rusher after amassing 249 yards on a career-high 31 carries on Sept. 3 against New Mexico State. His rushing total was also a career high and third-most in Miners' history.