AUSTIN — Brenden Brady rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown and also tossed a TD pass, but Bijan Robinson ran for 183 yards and three scores to lead No. 20 Texas to a 41-20 victory over UTSA on Saturday night before 102,520 fans at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Playing in front of the largest crowd in their 12-year history, the Roadrunners (1-2) led the Longhorns (2-1) by 10 points in the first half in a contest that was tied at halftime before Texas pulled away for the 21-point victory in the first meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.
Brady carried 21 times for 70 yards to lead the UTSA ground game, while Frank Harris completed 24 of 35 passes for 222 yards and ran for 38 more to help the Roadrunners pile up 408 yards on the Texas defense.
Clifford Chattman paced the defense with six tackles, while Brandon Matterson added five stops. Trevor Harmanson posted four tackles — including two for a loss — to reach 200 for his career, while Jamal Ligon, Corey Mayfield Jr., Avery Morris and Rashad Wisdom recorded four apiece.
UTSA got on the board first, going 74 yards in 20 plays — a school record for a scoring drive — and taking 8:27 off the clock on a march that was capped by a 24-yard Jared Sackett field goal with 3:28 left in the opening quarter.
Texas answered with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Hudson Card to Roschon Johnson early in the second stanza, putting an end to a 10-play, 75-yard drive.
The Roadrunners reclaimed the lead on a 2-yard TD plunge by Brady that was set up by a pass interference penalty call in the end zone.
UTSA then pulled out the trick plays, going with an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff that was recovered by Jimmori Robinson. After a 17-yard pass from Harris to Joshua Cephus, Brady took a lateral and then threw downfield to Zakhari Franklin for a 35-yard scoring connection to help give the visitors a 17-7 lead. Cephus finished with seven catches for 80 yards and Franklin caught six for 84 yards.
The Longhorns cut the deficit to three on a 3-yard touchdown run by Robinson with 5:20 left until halftime and then knotted things up on a 44-yard field goal by Bert Auburn with 12 seconds showing on the clock.
Texas took its first lead since early in the second quarter when Robinson got loose for a 78-yard dash on the home side's first possession of the second half.
Sackett drilled his second field goal of the night, this one a 30-yard field goal that made it 24-20 with 3:21 remaining in the third quarter.
The Longhorns took advantage of an errant pass late in the third, as Jahdae Barron returned an interception 44 yards for a TD to increase the advantage to 31-20.
Robinson found the end zone for a third time with a 41-yard dash with 9:36 left to play and then Auburn split the uprights from 26 yards to provide the final margin.
Card threw for 161 yards on 15-of-23 passing and Johnson added 81 yards on the ground, as Texas posted 459 yards of offense.
The Roadrunners will return home to host Texas Southern next Saturday, Sept. 24. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. at the Alamodome and the game will air on Stadium and Ticket 760 AM. Tickets are available by calling or texting 210-458-UTSA (8872) or visiting goUTSA.com/tickets.
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