Early in the fourth quarter, when the visiting Tulsa Golden Hurricane used a 48-yard pass to set up a short touchdown run, the juice went out of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium with the Texas Longhorns clinging to a 21-14 lead in the home opener. The debut of Bevo Bvld. and new student ticketing policies produced a palpable buzz in the stadium at the start of the game that belied the opponent and the season-opening loss last weekend on the road against Maryland. But then the offense went cold in the third quarter, thanks to several holding penalties and a fumble by sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger that gave Tulsa momentum, even though the Longhorns defense held on a short field. Ultimately, Texas needed a four-minute drill to ice the game following a grinding offensive drive in response to Tulsa narrowing a 21-0 halftime deficit to one score. In between, the Golden Hurricane took advantage of further poor run defense on jet sweeps and a 35-yard touchdown pass that continued the struggles of redshirt freshman cornerback Kobe Boyce, who gave up multiple big plays against the Terrapins. The big plays for Tulsa finally came when the visiting team stopped making mistakes — quarterback Luke Skipper threw two interceptions in the first half, including one on the first play, and two Golden Hurricane kickers missed three first-half field goals. A running into the kicker penalty on Texas senior cornerback Kris Boyd afforded another opportunity for a fourth miss. Tulsa wide receivers also dropped two touchdown passes spanning the first and second half. So there were plenty of opportunities to produce a road upset. Considering that head coach Phillip Montgomery’s team went 1-10 last season and struggled to beat FCS school Central Arkansas last week at home, the result was a significant disappointment for a program that hasn’t done much but disappoint fans in recent seasons. The start was certainly positive, as freshman safety Caden Sterns intercepted a pass to start the game, which led to a quick Longhorns touchdown when Ehlinger hit junior wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey for a 36-yard pass down the seam. On the following play, he kept a zone read for a one-yard touchdown run to score less than a minute into the game. After getting nearly crossing the goal line with a run by graduate transfer Tre Watson, Ehlinger kept another zone read and lost yardage before Texas failed to convert on fourth down. A 29-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Keaontay Ingram stretched the lead to 14-0 late in the fourth quarter as the Carthage product once again showed his electric ability. The half finished with an impressive 40-yard touchdown pass from Ehlinger to Humphrey that featured multiple missed tackles and seemingly put the Longhorns in control of the game after all the missed field goals by the Golden Hurricane. Humphrey finished with seven catches for 109 yards and that touchdown in addition to 19 yards on two carries on direct snaps. In the third quarter, after head coach Tom Herman said he was hard on his team at halftime, the Texas offense stalled. Holding penalties on graduate transfer left tackle Calvin Anderson and sophomore tight end Cade Brewer killed drives, sandwiched around a fumble by Ehlinger on a scramble when he tried to throw a pass when running the football was probably a better option. Backed up near the goal line, another shanked punt by freshman Ryan Bujcevski gave Tulsa a short field and a fourth-down scramble by Skipper for 21 yards featured a stiff arm of linebacker Gary Johnson behind the line of scrimmage to set up a touchdown. The first touchdown of the game for the Golden Hurricane. When the following possession produced the touchdown resulting from that long pass, Texas had itself a ballgame. Ehlinger responded, completing all seven passes on the subsequent drive in addition to taking control of the game on the ground. Despite running the ball less this season, Ehlinger converted a 3rd and 3 before overcoming another holding penalty with a 14-yard run on 3rd and 7. Two plays later, he found Watson on a swing pass for an 11-yard touchdown that produced an audible sigh of relief in the stadium. The game wasn’t over, however, as Tulsa scored again, and Texas had to respond to hold onto the 28-21 lead. After chewing up more than six minutes of offense on the previous drive, the Horns were able to ice the game with nearly five minutes remaining. Ehlinger picked up another first down with his legs on third down before sophomore running back Daniel Young trucked a Tulsa defender on his second attempt before gaining 30 yards. Against an opponent like Tulsa, the way the game went certainly wasn’t ideal — disappointing even — but the offense did respond late in the game and the defense did have to overcome multiple injuries in the secondary. Can the Longhorns beat the Trojans next week? Well, that’s a question for next Saturday.<doc-sep>After falling to the Maryland Terrapins last Saturday, the Texas Longhorns will welcome the Tulsa Golden Hurricane this evening in hopes of securing their first win of the 2018 slate. The meeting will mark the first ever matchup between the two programs, and the first time that Texas will take the field at Darrell K Royal—Texas Memorial Stadium this season after opening on the road last week. Texas enters as the heavy favorite, but the Horns will be without several members of the two-deep, including starting safety Brandon Jones (ankle) and starting center Zach Shackelford (foot). Injuries aside, though, Texas should be able to end the night with a fairly comfortable victory if Todd Orlando’s defense can contain Tulsa’s rushing attack. Of course, for a Texas team still trying to find its footing under Tom Herman, earning a comfortable win over an overmatched foe is easier said than done, but Tulsa is quite likely the most manageable matchup the Longhorns will see the season. Texas vs. Tulsa is set to get underway at 7 p.m. CT on Longhorn Network. Welcome to your Texas-Tulsa game thread.<doc-sep>Texas will have a chance to redeem itself from the Week 1 embarrassing loss to Maryland Saturday when the Longhorns host Tulsa for the home opener at Darrell K. Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns will enter Saturday's home game against the Golden Hurricane as a heavy favorite, with the opening spread starting at 22 points. With the Week 2 kick off right around the corner, Horns247 has all of the TV game details, including time, broadcast network and pregame and post game coverage below. Texas Longhorns vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricane: Game Details Kickoff: 7 p.m. CT Location: Darrell K. Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium (Austin, Texas) TV: Longhorn Network Local Radio: Longhorn IMG Radio Network, 104.9 FM in Austin. Check other local affiliates here. Satellite Radio: Sirius 132, XM 199, and Online Ch. 953 Audio Stream: TexasSports.com Live Stats: Side Arm Stats Longhorn Network Pre-Game and Post Game: Longhorn Network will begin its in-studio coverage with Texas GameDay two hours prior to kickoff, at 5 p.m. CT. LHN will return immediately following the game for Texas GameDay Final. Inside the All-Time Series Overall: Saturday will mark the first meeting between the Longhorns and the Golden Hurricane. Herman's Record against the Golden Hurricane: Head coach Tom Herman is 2-0 in his career against Tulsa dating back to his time as head coach of Houston. Dominant in Home Openers: Texas is 107-15-3 (.868) all-time in home openers. UT has won 17 of its last 18 home openers. Solid Showings at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium: The Longhorns are 74-17-3 (.803) all-time in openers at Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium, dating back to the first game in the middle of the 1924 season. Key Storylines to Watch OddsShark.com Spread: Texas -23.5 (as of Noon Thursday) OddsShark.com Predicted Score: Texas 34.7, Tulsa 18.7 (As of Noon Thursday) Texas Offense Looks to Rebound: Sophomore quarterback Ehlinger will once against hold the reins of the Longhorns' offense in the 2018 home opener. Horns247 Staff Predictions: Will Texas bounce back after the Week 1 upset by Maryland? Coaches Preview: Tom Herman looks ahead to the Longhorns' Week 2 home opener against Tulsa. What's next for the Texas Longhorns? Make sure you stay in the loop by signing up for a FREE seven-day trial to Horns247 now! Gameday Schedule For those attending Saturday's home game, here's a schedule of pre-game events happening on the Forty Acres. 7 a.m. -- Parking lots open 11 a.m. -- Gameday ticket office opens outside Gate 8 on the northwest corner of DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium 2 p.m. -- Bevo Blvd. opens along San Jacinto Blvd. 3 p.m. -- Longhorn City Limits opens on the LBJ Lawn 3 p.m. -- 104.9 FM "The Horn" broadcasts their pregame show live from Bevo Blvd. 3:30 p.m. -- The Nightowls concert on the Longhorn City Limits stage 3:30 p.m. -- Bevo's arrival parade at the south entrance to Bevo Blvd (San Jacinto and E. 20th St.). Bevo enters the stadium at Gate 1. 4 p.m. -- Autographs from Texas Baseball on Bevo Blvd. 4:30 p.m. -- Stadium Stampede: Join the official pregame stadium walk as Texas Football arrives at the north entrance to Bevo Blvd. 4:30 p.m. -- Champions Club and east entrance to the Longhorn Corral Club open 5 p.m. -- Jimmie Vaughn concert on the Longhorn City Limits stage 5 p.m. -- Autographs from Texas Men's Basketball, Soccer, and Women's Tennis on Bevo Blvd. 5 p.m. -- All stadium gates and Longhorn Foundation hospitality areas open 5:10 p.m. -- The Midnight River Choir concert on the Coors Light Silver Bullet Stage inside Gate 25 6:30 p.m. -- Bevo Blvd. closes 6:49 p.m. -- The Hook 'Em Herd runs from north tunnel to south tunnel of stadium 6:50 p.m. -- New Longhorn Band pregame show 6:55 p.m. -- Moment of silence for Mr. Frank Denius 6:56 p.m. -- National Anthem 6:57 p.m. -- "The Eyes of Texas" featuring Bevo's entrance to the field 6:58 p.m. -- Texas enters the field 6:59 p.m. -- Coin toss 7 p.m. -- Kickoff<doc-sep>AUSTIN, Texas — As has become customary for the Longhorns these days, they can't seem to make anything look easy - not even when two of the nation's best safety recruits in the 2018 class (Sterns & Foster ... more in a second) forced UT's first two turnovers of the season in the first half of a 28-21 win over Tulsa Saturday night. This is how close the game ended up: Tulsa was credited with three missed field goals of 29, 43 and 36 yards and dropped two touchdown passes. A win is a win, and the Longhorns (1-1), who played without starting center Zach Shackelford (foot) and starting safety Brandon Jones (ankle), now turn their attention to USC, which lost to Stanford, 17-3, Saturday. As always, here is the good, bad and ugly from the Longhorns’ performance Saturday night. ... GOOD Sam Ehlinger finished 21 of 27 passing for 237 yards, including touchdown passes of 40 yards to Lil'Jordan Humphrey and 11 yards to running back Tre Watson. Watson led UT’s rushing attack with 18 carries for 74 yards (4.1 ypc). But freshman Keaontay Ingram continues to lead the team in yards per carry after running 10 times for 64 yards (6.4 ypc). Daniel Young absolutely trucked Tulsa safety Manny Bunch (No. 10) on a 30-yard run from the Tulsa 43 to the 13 with just less than a minute to play. Young finished with three carries for 41 yards (13.7 ypc) Humphrey led Texas in receiving with seven catches for 109 yards and the 40-yard TD reception. Texas ran the ball for 241 yards on 47 carries (5.1 ypc). The Texas defense, which did not record a sack against Tulsa’s up-tempo offense, held the Golden Hurricane to 3-of-14 on third down and was led by Anthony Wheeler (7 tackles). The Longhorns won the turnover battle 2-1 after freshman safeties Caden Sterns and B.J. Foster each grabbed interceptions in the first half, turning Sterns’ pickoff into 7 points. TEXAS GOES UP 28-14 WITH 6:25 LEFT: After UT’s first four possessions of the second half resulted in zero points, Texas found itself clinging to a 21-14 lead and reeled off a 13-play, 75-yard drive to a touchdown, converting two third downs on Ehlinger rushes and overcoming second-and-13 after a holding call on Lil'Jordan Humphrey. Ehlinger was 7-of-7 passing on the drive, capped with an 11-yard catch-and-run by Tre Watson down the right sideline into the end zone. P.J. Locke laid out for a hit on Tulsa RB Corey Taylor, causing a fumble recovered by the Golden Hurricane at UT’s 27 with just more than four minutes left in the third quarter. Thanks to sideline-to-sideline, consecutive plays by linebacker Gary Johnson on third and fourth-and-goal from the Texas 5, Tulsa was unable to parlay a strip sack of Ehlinger into points with 6:53 left in the third quarter. At this point in the game, Jeff Howe asked me what the game would look like if Tulsa had a kicker? And I responded, “Or a receiver who could catch?” After Tulsa kicker Nate Walker missed field goal attempts of 29 and 43 yards and suffered what would’ve been his third missed field goal of the game (wide right from 36 yards), Texas’ Kris Boyd was flagged for running into the kicker on a flop by Walker. So Tulsa, took the field goal unit off the field and lined up to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the UT 14, but got flagged for a false start. So Tulsa brought out backup kicker John Parker Romo to try from 36 yards, and Romo also missed wide right. LIL'JORDAN HUMPHREY TD CATCH PUTS TEXAS UP 21-0: Texas capped its first drive of at least 80 yards this season with a 40-yard, catch-and-run touchdown in which Humphrey caught the ball on the 15 and stiff-armed a Tulsa defender all the way into the end zone, putting Texas up 21-0 with 3:28 left in the second quarter. Lost highlight on the play was Tom Herman running down the sideline, pumping both fists as Humphrey ran toward the end zone. Keaontay Ingram made three tacklers miss from point-blank range on a 10-yard run right before Sam Ehlinger hit Lil'Jordan Humphrey on a 40-yard, catch-and-run touchdown in the second quarter. After Tulsa blocked a Texas punt and drove to the UT 12, Kris Boyd broke up a pass into the end zone on second-and-6, and Malcolm Roach broke up a pass on third-and-6, forcing a 29-yard field goal attempt that was wide right with 5:34 left in the second quarter. Texas couldn’t convert an interception by freshman safety B.J. Foster into points, but freshman punter Ryan Bujcevski angled a 38-yard punt toward the right sideline, and it one-hopped at a right angle out of bounds at the Tulsa 5 with 12:46 left in the second quarter. STERNS & FOSTER: Freshman safety Caden Sterns recorded UT’s first turnover of the season on Tulsa’s first offensive play. UT’s second turnover of the season came on an interception by freshman B.J. Foster with 1:23 left in the first quarter. Texas converted Sterns’ interception into a touchdown. UT didn’t capitalize on Foster’s interception. INGRAM TD RUN PUTS TEXAS UP 14-0: Keaontay Ingram made his first touchdown run in DKR a memorable one, juking two defenders and bouncing off a third for a 29-yard run down the right sideline into the end zone. Texas hasn’t had a back with this kind of speed and wiggle since the first decade of the 2000s. We won’t talk about how he might’ve helped Texas in the second half of the Maryland game. Ingram’s TD run came on a four-play, 56-yard drive that put Texas up 14-0 with 1:58 left in the first quarter and included a 13-yard pass from Ehlinger to Collin Johnson. Ehlinger found Brennan Eagles alone down the right sideline for 35 yards to the Tulsa 39 on second-and-10 on UT’s second possession of the game.<doc-sep>
AUSTIN, Texas — An uncomfortably close fourth-quarter contest isn’t what the crowd gathered at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for the 2018 home opener had in mind. Nevertheless, Texas was able to pull away from Tulsa and score a 28-21 win. The Longhorns (1-1) hit an offensive lull in the second half, totaling only 36 yards on their first 18 snaps coming out of halftime. After Tulsa (1-1) scored two second-half touchdowns to cut it to a 21-14 game with 12:38 left in regulation, the Texas offense finally went to work. Sam Ehlinger engineered a 13-play, 75-yard drive where was 7-for-7 throwing the football and converted a pair of third downs with his legs. The drive ended when Ehlinger hit Tre Watson for an 11-yard touchdown, Watson’s first score as a Longhorn and an important as his reception in the flat he turned up the field gave the Longhorns a two-score lead. Even though Tulsa answered the Texas score with a 5-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, the Longhorns held on to claim their first win of the season. The final possession of the night saw Ehlinger covert a third-and-1 with a 3-yard run while Daniel Young, seeing his first action on the night, ripped off a 30-yard run on second-and-1 from the Tulsa 43-yard line to seal the victory. While Texas seemed to fall asleep for large stretches of the second half, there was no slow start akin to the season-opening loss to Maryland in this one as the Longhorns came out sizzling on both sides of the ball. Caden Sterns made a tremendous play on Tulsa’s first play from scrimmage, intercepting a Luke Skipper pass the Golden Hurricane quarterback threw up for grabs along the Texas sideline. Two Tulsa neutral zone infractions got the ensuing drive for the Longhorns started and a 36-yard bomb down the seam from Ehlinger to Lil'Jordan Humphrey was the highlight of a 3-play, 47-yard drive that ended when Ehlinger called his own number and went untouched into the end zone on a 1-yard scoring run. After a failed fourth-and-goal conversion attempt from the Tulsa 2-yard line, the defense forced a punt that got the offense the ball back at their own 44-yard line. A 7-0 lead became a 14-0 advantage four plays later when Keaontay Ingram knifed his way through the Tulsa defense for a 29-yard touchdown on his first carry of the night. While the offense bogged down in the second quarter the defense kept the Longhorns at arm’s length from the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa missed two field goals in the second quarter and Texas was able to overcome Ryan Bujcevski experiencing a blocked punt for the first time in his career thanks to a 5-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Ehlinger to Humphrey for a 21-0 lead with 3:28 left in the half, an advantage the Longhorns took with them into the locker room at intermission. What's next for the Longhorns? Make sure you're in the loop by signing up for our FREE Texas newsletter! Texas won the battle in total yardage (478-353) and on the ground (241-189). Ehlinger, in a performance boosted by his late-game efficiency, was 21-for-27 on the night for 237 yards through the air and two touchdowns to go along with 51 rushing yards on 12 attempts. Watson (18 carries for 74 yards) led all Texas rushers while Ingram (10 carries, 64 yards and a touchdown), Young (41 yards on three carries) and Humphrey (two rushing attempts for 19 yards) made key contributions. Humphrey led all receivers with 109 yards on seven catches; Collin Johnson had 37 yards on four receptions while Brennan Eagles recorded his first career reception with a 35-yard catch in the first half. Defensively, the Longhorns were led by Anthony Wheeler (seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss), P.J. Locke III (five tackles, a forced fumble), Sterns (four tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and an interception), Breckyn Hager (two tackles, one tackle for loss) and B.J. Foster (one interception). Texas will be back home next weekend for a highly-anticipated non-conference tilt against No. 17-ranked USC (7 p.m., FOX). The Trojans (1-1) fell to 10th-ranked Stanford on the road Saturday, 17-3.