Longhorns Ride Run Game to 24-21 Over Win Cyclones

The duo of Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson carried the Longhorns on an off day for Quinn Ewers.

The Texas Longhorns' win over the Iowa State Cyclones was far from pretty, as they escaped with a three-point, 24-21 win on Saturday. Of course, a win is a win and it is much better to win ugly than look good in a game you lose at the end of the day. 

Coming into the game, though, the most pressing question was how the Longhorns would handle the stout Cyclone defense and how they would follow up their 49-0 blowout of the Oklahoma Sooners the week prior. 

Well, its safe to say it was a tale of two weekends for the Longhorns. Quarterback Quinn Ewers was inconsistent, missing on multiple deep shots to receiver Casey Cain. He finished the day completing 17-of-26 passes for 172 yards and three touchdowns. 

While Ewers struggled in the win, the run game for Texas did anything but. It was another video game stat line put up by running back Bijan Robinson, who took 28 carries for 135 yards. 

When Robinson was spelled by Roschon Johnson the Longhorns didn't miss a beat, with Johnson recording 71 yards on 11 carries. The duo of Robinson and Johnson alone outgained the Cyclones on the ground by themselves, 206 yards to Iowa State's 74. 

On days like this, when Ewers is off and the Longhorns struggle to move the ball through the air, having Robinson and Johnson to lean on is huge for the freshman quarterback. 

So no, the win wasn't pretty, nor was it free of controversy. However, a win is a win, and for a Texas team that likely loses this game just one year ago, it will happily take it. 

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You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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