Texas Football: The last time the Longhorns... (Pt. 2)
How well-versed are you on Texas football and the last time that certain statistics or milestones were accomplished or surrendered?
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Well, we are betting that there’s a handful of facts and figures and dates that may have fallen out of your collective memory banks. Hey, that’s easy to understand with all that recruiting news and potential coaching hires and whatnot rolling around in your head.
Judging from the response we received on the first story in this series, there’s plenty of milestones that might have been forgotten.
The sports information office at every university has the job of keeping up with every bit of minutia surrounding the teams they publicize, and the staff at Texas is one of the best, if not the best, in the nation at the task. There are two pages of “Last Times” in the Longhorns’ football media guide, one for Texas accomplishments and the other for record against Texas.
We’ve picked out five more really tough “last times” and five others that will be easier to answer if you are ever asked in a discussion with friends…or Aggies. This is the second in series, and there’s enough to keep this going for a while.
And away we go, again.
The tough ones
When was the last time Texas…
Had two or more defensive touchdowns in a game
That would be Sept. 26, 2015 at home against Oklahoma State, when Hassan Ridgeway had a 34-yard fumble return for a score and Holton Hill took a pick-six 41 yards to the end zone. It’s been 92 games since. By the way – the Longhorns still lost the game, 30-27, when Oklahoma State kicked a 40-yard field goal with 6 seconds left after Texas punter Michael Dickson dropped a snap inside the UT 10 yard line and was able to get off only a 10-yard punt.
Scored a one-point safety
This one is one of the really lengthy “last times,” as it’s been 230 games since Nov. 26, 2004 in a 26-13 win at home over Texas A&M. After a Texas special teams TD, kicker Dusty Mangum tried to kick a dropped snap on the PAT that never got off the ground. The ensuing scrum ended with the Aggies’ Jaxson Appel with the ball in the end zone, then out of the end zone, then back in the end zone giving the Longhorns a rare one-point safety.
Had a single player amass four or more sacks in the same game
It has been 125 games since Dec. 29, 2012 when Alex Okafor riddled the Oregon State offense for four and a half sacks in Texas win over the Beavers in the Valero Alamo Bowl. That performance is not even a single game record for the Longhorns as Shane Dronett had five sacks in a win against Texas Tech in 1990.
Allowed more than 300 yards rushing to a single player
It’s been 365 games since that dubious non-performance on Oct. 1, 1994 when Colorado’s Rashaan Salaam racked up 317 yards against the Longhorns’ defense in a 37-34 Buffaloes’ win. Salaam was responsible for 61 of the 73 yards on the final drive that ended with a 24-yard, game-winning field goal with 1 second to play.
Surrendered a field goal of more than 60 yards
That would be on Oct. 15, 1977 when Arkansas’ Steve Little booted an NCAA Division I-record 67-yarder in a 13-9 loss to Texas. Little used a now-outlawed two-inch tee to tie the mark set two weeks earlier by the Longhorns’ Russell Erxleben in a win over Rice. Erxleben used the tee, too.
The easier ones
When was the last time Texas…
Allowed a run of 80 yards or more
That was just this season when Alabama’s Jase McClellan swept around right end and went untouched for an 81-yard touchdown run in the 20-19 victory for the Crimson Tide. McClellan’s run ended up being more than half of Alabama’s rushing total for game.
Had an opposing player intercept two passes in the same game
That was also just this year, and a span of five games, when Jason Taylor II nabbed two picks Oklahoma State’s 41-34 win in Stillwater. Taylor’s second interception came with 1:23 to play; Texas got the ball back but Quinn Ewers was intercepted again, this time by Kendall Daniels at the OSU 38-yard line, with 8 seconds remaining
Had four players run for a touchdown in the same game
That happened on Sept. 18, 2021, a span of 21 games, when Texas beat Rice 58-0 in Austin. Bijan Robinson had three of the rushing TDs, while Roschon Johnson, Keilan Robinson and Jonathan Brooks had one each.
Had one player record 15 tackles in the same game
That happened this season, when Jaylen Ford racked up 15 tackles in the Longhorns’ win over UTSA, a span of just 10 games.
Surrendered a pass of 80 yards or more
It’s been since Oct. 3, 2013, a span of 119 games, since the Longhorns’ gave up a 97-yard TD pass to Iowa State’s Quenton Bundrage in a 31-30 win in Ames.
