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In a clash between two of college football’s most electric young backers, Texas Longhorns sophomore Bijan Robinson got the better of TCU Horned Frogs sophomore Zach Evans, starting early and finishing. strong in a 32-27 victory for the Longhorns at Fort Worth on Saturday.
Texas’ first victory at Amon Carter Stadium since 2013 was won by Robinson, who proved to be the best player on the field by achieving a career-high 35 carries for a career-high 216 yards. It was the first 200-yard performance by a Longhorns backer since D’Onta Foreman in 2015 and moved Texas to 7-0 when Robinson rushed for 100 yards or more.
After TCU used an 87-yard kickoff return to score on opening possession, Robinson helped Texas respond, gaining 43 total yards as the Longhorns scored a field goal and then taking the lead with a 27-yard touchdown run featuring several broken tackles. .
Late in the game, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian relied heavily on Robinson in crucial situations.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Texas held a 26-20 lead over a 3rd and 9th from the TCU’s 41-yard line. With the Horns struggling on the third down, including a 1-for-4 assist from junior quarterback Casey Thompson on the silver, Sarkisian made up the best play for his top player – outside the zone to Robinson. The Arizona product arrived, gaining nine yards to keep the player alive.
In the next play, Thompson found junior wide receiver Jordan Whittington on a glance pass option for a 32-yard touchdown and a 32-20 following a failed two-point conversion.
Unlike recent Texas teams, the Longhorns managed to throw the ball late even when the Horned Frogs knew what was coming.
After a three and a TCU out, Robinson ran for 17 yards, 14 yards, and 17 yards. A false start penalty on red-shirted freshman center Jake Majors put Texas behind the chains and Sarkisian’s bet on the 4th and the TCU’s 1-yard line goal failed to pay off when Robinson was stuck near the goal line.
Even though the game ultimately failed, what Sarkisian communicated to his team was just as important as trying to put the game aside.
“I believed in [Robinson] and I believed in our guys up front, ”Sarkisian said. “Part of that was to send a message to our team – I believe in them and if we scored, if they stopped us, that we would get the save in defense. It didn’t work in our favor today, but part of it is that you send subtle messages to your team that you believe in them, you can count on them.
Even when TCU ran 99 yards and scored a touchdown to preserve some hope for the home side, Robinson helped close the game in the four-minute drill after the Horned Frogs needed 13 plays and more than five minutes to find the end zone.
On 3rd and 6th with TCU out of timeouts, arguably the most important play of the game, Sarkisian returned to Robinson, who broke a tackle and dragged a defender before his offensive linemen arrived to ensure that ‘he picked up the game’s most crucial first try. The next play saw Robinson gain 13 yards to freeze the game.
Sarkisian said Robinson was exhausted by the end – he probably never carried the ball 35 times in high school thanks to regular kicks – but the tenacity of the running back showed when he felt the defense of the TCU couldn’t stop it.
“It’s fun to break the will of a defense,” Robinson noted. “When you know the defense is broken, that’s when it all starts to flow and open up. “
Robinson’s tenacity and tenacity on the offensive line to help their running back complete the last two races of the game is the type of cultural game that allows a team to begin to develop an identity.
“I think it kind of embodies our team – we’re a serious group, we fight hard, we play hard, it wasn’t really pretty today, but we found a way to win and I think it was ‘is a good sign to move forward, ”says Sarkisian.
The Longhorns were able to correct some mistakes from last week despite the absence of senior cornerback Josh Thompson (concussion).
After Texas Tech produced several big passing plays over the Texas defense, TCU tried to shoot, but Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense was able to keep it all in front of them. The longest passing play for Horned Frogs quarterback Max Duggan was 25 yards.
And Evans was largely held in check, even including his 33-yard run and a touchdown run on the opening disc that initially appeared to have stopped near the line of scrimmage.
“I think the back in general has played pretty well,” said Sarkisian. “First of all, we knew that coming into the game, after last week’s game, they were going to try to shoot, they were going to look for shots on the field to try us. And we kept the ball in front of us – the ball didn’t go over our head. I thought Darion [Dunn] and the whole group there for the most part tackled well, a couple kind of spat, but we really downplayed some of the explosive games for the most part.
Three turnovers also played a big part in the result – a fumble on a TCU backhand, a punt and another fumble forced by senior cornerback Anthony Cook in a blitz. Texas could only produce nine points from those turnovers, an area for improvement as the TCU defense forced four field goals in six trips into the red zone for Sarkisian’s offense.
“We have to clean up the red zone attack – it has been so good for us in the first four games,” Sarkisian said. “We just weren’t good today in the red zone. Give them lots of credit. they defended us pretty well.
The Longhorns came into the game with 19 touchdowns in 20 trips to the red zone, including a fourth failed down in the fourth quarter against the Owls.
Penalties were also an issue in a game that featured a lot of bad referees. Texas were flagged for nine penalties that cost the Horns 97 yards, with Sarkisian citing a celebratory penalty in the end zone after Cook’s fumble recovered as his team’s most glaring mistake.
“We can’t do this – we’re not in the National Football League. We can’t run to the end of the field and do that kind of thing, so it’s easy to clean up, ”said Sarkisian. “There are going to be more that we have to look at. “
And for a fifth straight game, the Longhorns struggled to produce big passing plays on the field, with Thompson knocking down open receivers on multiple occasions.
Ultimately, however, the result matters more than the aesthetics of victory.
“I’d rather win ugly than lose beautiful,” Sarkisian said.
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