Complementary football in the first half helps Texas cruise past San Jose State

Five or six good minutes of complementary football can determine the outcome of a sixty minute game.

[Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY for $1 and get the BEST Longhorns coverage!]

From when there was 4:10 left in the first quarter to when there was 12:56 left in the second period, Texas dominated in almost every aspect and put together the complementary football needed to build a 28-point lead as part of the Longhorns’ 38-7 win

It all started with a Parker Livingstone’s 83-yard touchdown reception delivered to him by Arch Manning. That play was a welcome sight after the Longhorns looked disjointed to start the game as they sought to erase memories of last week’s disappointment against Ohio State.

San Jose State’s first offensive snap after the Livingstone touchdown? A turnover. Jelani McDonald tipped a Walker Eget pass and Jaylon Guilbeau grabbed it on the Spartan 34-yard-line for his first career interception. A few plays later, Manning found Livingstone again for another score.

Things continued to go Texas’ way in the second quarter. SJSU’s first snap in the period featured a fumble forced by Ty’Anthony Smith and recovered by Anthony Hill. Those names will be seen again soon.

Texas’ first snap after the fumble? A touchdown pass from Manning to Jack Endries.

On the third play of the next SJSU drive, Hill forced the fumble this time. It was recovered by Trey Moore, who brought it back to the Spartan one. Once again, Manning found Endries for a touchdown a few plays later. In just a few minutes, a 0-0 game turned into a 28-0 affair thanks to high-quality play from all three phases.

“Turnovers are great, but only if you do something with them when you get them,” Steve Sarkisian said postgame. “Right away, the first three turnovers we get, those turn right into 21 points. That’s the momentum of the game.”

The Longhorn defense forced four turnovers for the first time since 2021, and that was just in the first half. That crucial stretch that saw the game go from scoreless tie to four-touchdown game featured a stout performance from the Texas defense. Pete Kwiatkowski’s side of the ball allowed just 1.6 yards per play.

Meanwhile, even with short fields, Texas was moving the ball at 16 yards per play. Remove the 83-yard score, and Texas was still moving the ball 9.3 yards every snap.

“It feels good, we’ve got to reward them with complementary football and scoring points when they force those turnovers,” Manning said. “They did a really good job today.”

In spite of an up-and-down day from the Longhorn offense, that stretch from the 4:10 mark of the first quarter to the 12:56 mark of the second won the Longhorns the game and featured the type of play Sarkisian wants to see more often.

“A lot of positives, we were able to play complementary football,” Sarkisian said. “A week ago, I didn’t think we did a great job of that. When we had opportunities to play complementary as a team, we didn’t. Today, we did. We got turnovers and turned them into points. That was a real positive there.”

The Longhorns felt like they had failed to accomplish one of their weekly tasks at Ohio State when they were unable to force Julian Sayin or any other Buckeye to cough up the football. Not only did they more than make up for it this week with four forced turnovers, the offense capitalized on their newfound opportunities.

And those scores created for a fun environment on the Texas sidelines.

“Now the crowd’s involved, they’re having fun,” Sarkisian said. “It’s all part of the cycle of what creates a home field advantage, and I thought that all showed itself there early in the ballgame.”

Taking the spoils of turnovers to the sideline and implanting San Jose State’s footballs on Texcalibur is a great way to get the sideline going. Scoring shortly after is an even better way. Repeating the process again and again? Better still.

“We were rolling for a little bit,” Ethan Burke said. “It felt really good. Just exciting to be back here with the fans, with my teammates, and everyone’s having a great time. We’re creating turnovers and doing our job well.”

Said Guilbeau, “Us getting turnovers on defense, giving the ball back to the offense, then them going and doing what they do. Very grateful.”

Added Michael Taaffe, “the one thing you’ve got to do is capitalize on turnovers. We were 3-for-4 or 4-for-4 on touchdowns when we had a turnover. That means we’re playing complementary football.”

Getting offense, defense, and special teams working in concert is always a challenge for college football teams. Texas’ ability to do it early against San Jose State was critical in the Longhorns earning their first victory of the season.