Free Daily NCAA Lock Pick, Wednesday October 18th: New Mexico State vs UTEP 9:00pmET
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The 8th-ranked Texas Longhorns make the short in-state trip to Houston to take on the Cougars in the first-ever Big 12 matchup between the two schools. Texas comes in with a record of 5-1 and off of a bye week following a thrilling loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry game two weeks ago. Houston is 3-3 on the season and 1-2 in the Big 12 following last week's miracle last-second Hail Mary Pass win over West Virginia. The opening kick for this in-state rivalry game is slated for 4:00 PM EST on Saturday.
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Texas returns to action this week after a week layoff following the Red River Showdown with Oklahoma two weeks ago. The Longhorns lost their first game of the season, 34-30, to the Sooners. The Texas defense allowed Oklahoma to march down the field in just over a minute to take the lead with 15 seconds to go in the game.
“Okay, I think first of all, hard-fought game. I tip my cap to Oklahoma. It was a nice win for them to battle back in the end the way that they did.I think one thing I never questioned about our group and these guys here is their fight, their resiliency and they absolutely displayed that today when we didn't play our best football today. We turned the ball over three times, we didn't create any turnovers, we had nine penalties, which was very uncharacteristic for us, and one to three in the red area. And in the end, I thinkthat five sacks or something. And then, you know our inability to corra l the quarterback, and his legs really hurt us there, especially in the second half. So it was not our best football. But in the end, not playing our best football, the connectivity these guys have with one another, their fight, their resiliency gave us an opportunity to take the lead late; we just couldn't finish the game. The promising thing is I know we can play better than we played today, and we will. But we need to coach better, and we need to play better than we did today. And we got to take it one game at a time, moving forward now. Proud of the guys and proud of the way they battled and competed. But we need to play better football. We want to be the team that I know we are capable of being.” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said after the tough loss.
The Longhorns were led by quarterback Quinn Ewers who hit on 31-of-37 passes for 346 yards and a touchdown in a losing cause. Wideouts Jordan Whittington and Xavier Worthy both had over 100 yar ds receiving on the day and running back Jonathon Brooks rushed the ball 22 times for 129 yards in what was a balanced Texas attack. In all, Texas rang up 527 yards of total offense and 24 first downs. Ewers was picked off twice in the game for the only turnovers by either team.
On defense, Texas allowed 28 first downs and 486 yards of total offense. The Longhorns defense also allowed Oklahoma to march down the field in less than a minute to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. Texas had five tackles for loss in the game including one sack. The Longhorns did not record a turnover in the loss.
The Texas Longhorns get back to work on Saturday fresh and ready to go after a hardfought loss to Oklahoma two weeks ago. The Longhorns come into this matchup ranked 11th in the country in total offense. They are ranked 23rd on the ground and 21st through the air. The Longhorns have been middle of the road in the red zone, ra nking 68th in the country. On defense, Texas is ranked 20th in total defense in the nation. The Longhorns are 26th against the run and 38th against the pass. Texas is fifth in the country in preventing teams from converting on third down. They are 56th in the country in sack percentage and have the nation's 12th-best red zone defense.
Texas is ranked 51st in the country in turnover differential this season, slightly above average. The Longhorns do not hurt themselves with penalties. They are ranked 34th in the country in penalties per contest.
Injury Report:DB R. Watts (lower body) is questionable. OL J. Majors (ankle), OL C. Hutson (knee), and DL K. Ross (undisclosed) are all out.
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Free Daily NCAA Lock Pick, Wednesday October 18th: New Mexico State vs UTEP 9:00pmET CLICK TO SEE PICK NOW