Longhorns Lead West Virginia Big After First Half

The Longhorns are hitting on all cylinders against the Mountaineers

Matt Galatzan | Oct 1, 2022

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AUSTIN - Coming into their Saturday night matchup with the West Virginia Mountaineers in Austin, many questions surrounded the Texas Longhorns and how they would respond to their disappointing blown lead to Texas Tech last week.

Well, if the first half of play was any indication, the Longhorns have answered those doubts in emphatic fashion, leading the Mountaineers 28-7 heading into the locker room at halftime.

And as to be expected with a Steve Sarkisian-coached team, the offense took all the headlines early.

In the passing game, quarterback Hudson Card has gotten off to a tremendous start, completing 13 of 17 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns, while wideout Xavier Worthy also hit a 33-yard touchdown pass of his own to Ja'Tavion Sanders in the first quarter.

That touchdown pass was one of two caught by Sanders in the first half, with the other coming from Card midway through the second quarter. Sanders currently sits with four catches for 68 yards and two scores.

Worthy has also been a major factor on the receiving end, catching three passes for 65 yards and a touchdown.

With all that said, the Longhorns' defense has arguably been just as impressive as the offense through one half, holding the Mountaineers to just seven points and 163 yards of total offense.

They have also sacked Mountaineers quarterback JT Daniels two times, and allowed West Virginia to rush for just 21 yards.

Of course, the question heading into the second half will be whether or not the Horns can hold on to their double-digit lead and come away with the win.

Texas will hope to answer those questions and shut down the doubters heading in the final 30 minutes.

You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan

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Published Oct 1, 2022

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.