Texas Longhorns Week 9 Opponent Preview: BYU Cougars

The Texas Longhorns are 1-4 all-time against the BYU Cougars, while holding an active two-game losing streak.

Matt Galatzan | Oct 23, 2023

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Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns are set to host BYU on Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin at 2:30 p.m., in what will be the first matchup between the two teams as conference opponents.

All time, the Cougars have the edge in the series, leading Texas 4-1, with the lone Longhorns win coming in a 17-16 victory in 2011.

This season, however, the Cougars have not had the year they have wanted thus far.

Sure, they are sitting at 5-2, but have lost both of those games in Big 12 play, including a 44-11 blowout at the hands of TCU.

Defense has particularly been a struggle for the Cougars, who rank 11th in the Big 12 and 98th in the nation in total defense.

BYU Cougars — BYU coach Kalani Sitake / USA TODAY SPORTS

Nevertheless, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is a fan of what BYU can do on that side of the ball.

“It’s a very aggressive style, very attacking," Sarkisian said on Monday. "Attack the line of scrimmage, the defensive line is penetrating. They’re trying to get into the backfield. I think they have a lot of confidence in their players and their scheme. They do a good job on first down, second down of mixing things up and on third down, how can they get to the quarterback. In the end, they’re ball conscious and you see the turnovers when they come and why they come.”

Offensively, the Cougars have struggled even more, ranking 124th in the nation in total offense, and 74th in the country in scoring offense, where they average 27.6 points per game.

That said the Horns could have their own offensive issues on Saturday, with starting quarterback Quinn Ewers set to miss the matchup with a shoulder injury.

Here is a statistical rundown of the Cougars heading into Saturday:

BYU Cougars

2023 Record: 5-2

Head coach: Kalani Sitake

Offensive Leaders:

Passing: QB Kedon Slovis

2023 Stats: 128 of 226 for 1,519 yards and 12 touchdowns

Rushing: LJ Martin

2023 stats: 96 carries, 438 yards, four touchdowns

Receiving: WR Chase Roberts

2023 stats: 29 receptions, 430 yards, 14.8 yards per catch, four touchdowns

Defensive Leaders:

Tackles: LB Max Tooley, 50

Interceptions: CB Jakob Robinson 4

Sacks: DE Tyler Batty 3.5

Published Oct 23, 2023

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.