Longhorns Shaky on Offense, Lead Rice at Halftime

The Texas Longhorns headed into the locker room with a lead after one half of play in Saturday's opener against the Rice Owls.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Longhorns fought off a slow start on offense and headed into halftime of Saturday's opener against the Rice Owls at home with a 16-3 lead.

The Longhorns didn't get off to the most ideal of starts. They turned it over on downs at their own 33-yard line on the game's opening drive. The Owls managed to get three points out of it to take a 3-0 lead on an early field goal.

Once Texas got the ball back, things started clicking. Quinn Ewers hooked up with Xavier Worthy for gains of 13 and 24 yards before running back Jonathon Brooks broke free for a 37-yard touchdown on a screen pass to put the Longhorns in front, 7-3.

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But for Brooks, the good came with the bad. He dropped a would-be touchdown in the second quarter as the Longhorns were knocking on the door of the end zone. Texas settled for a field goal to build a 10-3 lead.

The Longhorns defense highlighted an impressive first half on their end with a pair of second-quarter interceptions by linebacker Jaylan Ford and defensive back Austin Jordan.

Texas drained out the clock in the final few minutes but were halted by the Rice defense after moving past midfield.

Luckily, a timely 11-yard catch-and-run on a third-down screen pass from running back Keilan Robinson got Texas back into field-goal range with just seconds remaining in the first half.

This allowed Bert Auburn a chance at a 49-yard field goal as time expired, which he hit.

The Owls will receive the second-half kickoff.