AUSTIN, Texas - Heisman Trophy finalist Colt McCoy threw for 317 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 2 Texas past ULM 59-20 in both teams' season opener Saturday night in front of a Texas Memorial Stadium record crowd of 101,096 fans.
Cody Johnson scored the first three touchdowns of the night for the Longhorns (1-0) on 1-yard runs. Texas became the highest-ranked team that the Warhawks (0-1) have squared off against in a season opener.
McCoy, who finished second behind Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford for the Heisman Trophy last year, completed 21-of-29 passes on the night.
"There is no doubt in my mind Texas number one team in the country," ULM head coach Charlie Weatherbie said. "Defensively they got after us pretty good. I think that we hurt ourselves a lot of times by not blocking the right way. I was proud of the way our guys fought. I don't think we played very smart at times, but I thought that we played hard."
In his third career start and first as ULM's number one quarterback, junior Trey Revell completed 14-of-30 passes for 197 yards and one touchdown. Sophomore wide receiver Luther Ambrose showed his big-play capability with a 75-yard touchdown reception, 25 rushing yards and 105 kick return yards.
ULM's new 3-3-5 defense was tested by the high-powered Texas offense, but came up with some big plays. Otis Stamps intercepted McCoy in the second quarter and the Warhawks forced a trio of fumbles and recovered two. Two of Texas' touchdowns came on a short field due to ULM turnovers.
The Warhawks gave Texas the one thing it didn't need, a short field on its first possession of the game. After a bad snap led to a fumble on ULM's second play of the game, Johnson found the end zone four plays later.
Following Johnson's second touchdown of the game and a ULM three-and-out, the senior linebacker duo of Cardia Jackson and Josh Thomas teamed up to give ULM its first scoring opportunity of the night. Jackson forced a Vondrell McGee fumble and Thomas ran it back 29 yards to the Longhorns' 8-yard line.
Radi Jabour gave the Warhawks their first points of the season four plays later connecting on a 24-yard field goal with 4:23 to play in the opening quarter. He would later add a 21-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
Johnson, who finished the game with 27 yards on 11 carries, scored his third touchdown of the night with 11:02 to play in the opening half to stretch the Texas lead out to 21-3.
On the ensuing possession, Revell and Ambrose hooked up for a 75-yard touchdown pass down the ULM sideline - the play was longer than any executed by the Warhawk offense last season.
D.J. Moore quickly killed any momentum ULM had built up taking the following kickoff back 89 yards for a touchdown and a 28-10 Texas lead.
The Warhawks had a prime opportunity to get back into the game after Stamps' interception, which he returned to the Texas 39-yard line, with just over nine minutes to play in the opening half. However, ULM was not able to capitalize on the turnover as the Longhorns forced a punt.
McCoy quickly atoned for his interception as he completed a 14-yard pass on a third-and-long from Texas' 8-yard line and then found Jordan Shipley for a 78-yard touchdown on the very next play. Hunter Lawrence added a 32-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter to give Texas a 38-10 lead at the break.
McCoy moved over the 10,000-yard mark for his career with a 14-yard touchdown pass to John Chiles on the Longhorns opening drive of the second half. McGee tacked on a 4-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter to extend the lead out to 52-10.
The ULM offense found its groove in the fourth quarter putting together a pair of nine-play, 60-plus yard drives. Jabour's second field goal of the night capped the first drive and a 13-yard run by Frank Goodin was the final score of the night.
Texas' freshman quarterback Garrett Gilbert split the two scores with a 12-yard keeper for a touchdown to extend the Longhorns lead to 59-13.
The Warhawks open the home portion of their schedule next Saturday when they host Texas Southern. Kickoff from Malone Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Scoring Summary
UT - Johnson 1-yard run (Lawrence kick), 12:56, 1st 7-0
UT - Johnson 1-yard run (Lawrence kick), 8:53, 1st 14-0
ULM - Jabour 24-yard FG, 4:23, 1st 14-3
UT - Johnson 1-yard run (Lawrence kick), 11:02, 2nd 21-3
ULM - Ambrose 75-yard pass from Revell (Jabour kick), 10:05, 2nd 21-10
UT - Moore 89-yard kickoff return (Lawrence kick), 9:54, 2nd 28-10
UT - Shipley 78-yard pass from McCoy (Lawrence kick), 2:24, 2nd 35-10
UT - Lawrence 32-yard FG, 0:00, 2nd 38-10
UT - Chiles 14-yard pass from McCoy (Lawrence kick), 11:51, 3rd 45-10
UT - McGee 4-yard run (Bailey kick), 14:56, 4th 52-10
ULM - Jabour 21-yard FG, 11:28, 4th 52-13
UT - Gilbert 12-yard run (Bailey kick), 7:16, 4th 59-13
ULM - Goodin 5-yard run (Jabour kick), 2:55, 4th 59-20
ULM Team Notes
-- ULM team captains were QB Trey Revell, LB Josh Thomas, DB James Truxillo, P Scott Love.
-- ULM lost the coin toss and Texas deferred to the second half; ULM chose to receive.
-- Right tackle Jonathan Gill, center Emmanuel Lockett, linebacker Theo Smith, tight end Keavon Milton and kickoff specialist Grant Clayon made their first career starts.
-- Safety Greg James extended his team-leading starts streak out to 33 games; punter Scott Love and linebacker Josh Thomas extended their streaks to 25 games.
-- Alvin Jordan caught the first pass of his career with a nine-yard reception on ULM's second possession of the game.
-- The 101,096 fans in Texas-Memorial Stadium were the second most to watch a ULM game. 107,327 fans watched ULM and Tennessee play in Neyland Stadium back in 2000. Today's game passes the 92,476 that saw ULM and Georgia played at Sanford Stadium in 2005.
-- Luther Ambrose's 75-yard touchdown reception was the longest of his career. He had a 69-yard touchdown reception against North Texas last season.
-- Otis Stamps' interception of a Colt McCoy pass in the second quarter was the second interception of his career.
-- Running back Frank Goodin moved within 140 yards of 10th place on the all-time ULM rushing list with 1,439.
-- Linebacker Cardia Jackson moved within 32 tackles of 10th place on the all-time ULM tackles list with 272.
-- ULM is now 0-11 all-time against members of the Big 12 Conference and 0-17 against ranked opponents.
