Austin, TX – David Ash completed 25-of-31 passes for 364 yards and two touchdowns, lifting the 19th-ranked Texas Longhorns over the Iowa State Cyclones, 33-7.
Johnathan Gray carried the ball 14 times for 74 yards and two scores for the Longhorns (8-2, 5-2 Big 12), who have won four in a row. Joe Bergeron rushed for 86 yards on 12 carries.
Jaxon Shipley caught eight passes for 137 yards and Mike Davis hauled in seven passes for 113 yards and a touchdown for Texas, which racked up 609 yards of total offense.
Steele Jantz connected on 15-of-29 passes for 133 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for the Cyclones (5-5, 2-5), who have dropped two straight.
"I said going into the week that I thought Texas was a very hot football team, and they are," Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said. "They've now won four in a row, so congratulations to them."
Texas honored former coach Darrell Royal, who passed away on Wednesday, by lining up in the wishbone formation on its first offensive play of the game. Royal introduced the wishbone to college football in 1968. Instead of a run, the Longhorns ran a trick play that resulted in a 47-yard catch by Greg Daniels. Texas ended up punting the ball away.
"Well, what we wanted to do was just honor Coach (Royal) anyway we could, and even if we had taken the timeout all the kids were going to point to the sky and say, "Thank you, Coach," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "But it couldn't be any better than that. I think they told me ESPN stopped all production to look at that play, so they got their money's worth too."
The Longhorns, though, did score a touchdown on their second possession of the game. Ash completed passes to Davis, Shipley and Gray. Daje Johnson followed with a 16-yard run to move the ball to the five. Gray's 5-yard TD run made it a 7-0 game.
After Iowa State went three-and-out, Ash threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Davis.
The Longhorns had a chance to add to their lead following Carrington Byndom's interception of Jantz. However, Anthony Fera's 32-yard field goal was blocked early in the second quarter.
The Cyclones tried to get on the board with a field goal, but Edwin Arceo's 53-yarder was off the mark.
Texas followed with a 9-play, 65-yard scoring drive. Davis caught a 14-yard pass on 3rd-and-6 near midfield, while Shipley hauled in a 26-yard pass on 3rd-and-7 from the Iowa State 34. Barrett Matthews capped the march with a 3- yard TD catch. Fera missed the extra point to keep it 20-0 with 2:53 left.
The Cyclones finally got on the board on the ensuing possession, as Quenton Bundrage caught a 14-yard touchdown pass.
Nick Jordan made a 37-yard field goal early in the third stanza to make it a 23-7 game.
Gray's 13-yard TD run with 12:32 remaining in the fourth made it 30-7. Jordan added a 25-yard field goal later in the period to account for the final margin.
Game Notes
Texas leads the all-time series by a 9-1 margin ... Royal, who was 88 years old, is Texas' all-time winningest coach.
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