Surveying the wrecking-ball damage of his three-interception performance against Rutgers, Texas middle linebacker Aaron Humphrey was all smiles afterward. As well he should have been.
But there turned out to be something that turned his smile upside down quicker than the Longhorns defensive front did Scarlet Knights quarterbacks Mike Jones and Brendon Edmonds Saturday night.
"How many yards did they get on us?," Humphrey asked with a hint of hope that UT's new 4-3 defensive front had held Rutgers running back Jacki Crooks under the century mark.
When Humphrey heard the answer he didn't want to hear there was no need to run for cover, but Crooks' 109 rushing yards total was still enough to make the sophomore disappointingly shake his head.
"That's not very good for us," he said. "We don't want anybody to have 100 yards rushing on us as a team let alone one running back. That's one of our goals. The Big 12 is a running conference, and we wanted to work on shutting down the run. We don't want to have anyone get 100 yards on us."
Save for Crooks' performance and some first-quarter jitters, there wasn't much that the much-anticipated 4-3 front did wrong. After the Longhorns finished 86th in the nation last season against the run, UT scrapped the passive mentality that was all bark and entrusted Bobby Jack Wright to install a defense with some bite.
The result was a seven-man front that pressured and harassed Rutgers' signal callers all evening. Texas had 10 tackles for a loss of 31 yards, which included two sacks by outside linebacker Dusty Renfro, along with 20 quarterback pressures. Rutgers, whose offense couldn't be confused with Florida's or Nebraska's, was forced into six punts and lost possession on downs twice.
Texas struggled in the first half as Rutgers converted a crucial fourth-and-three in a drive that ended in a botched field goal, and following an interception of UT quarterback James Brown, Jones converted a tight third-and-three by finding Crooks in the right flat for nine yards.
Two plays later, the Longhorns showed flashes of the past three years as Crooks busted up the middle for 14 yards to the goal line before fullback Gary Fauntleroy punched in the touchdown with 7:11 to play in the first quarter.
"I think that it just took some time to see what they were doing," UT defensive tackle Chris Akins said. "After that first series where they scored a touchdown, I think we dominated inside except for the counter play. But I think we had a good read on their guards and we started shutting down the middle."
Because of Jones' and Edmonds' poor throwing ability, the Longhorns' new secondary didn't get a fair test, as many are still curious to see how the new four starters handle the spotlight. Rutgers had 184 passing yards, but because of the way that the "West Coast" offense is designed to spread the ball around, the longest pass was a 27-yarder late in the game.
"My first couple of series, I was shaking a little bit," safety Aaron Babino said. "We gave up passes on third down and fourth down, but once I got into the game and started playing, it was just like practice really except it was a different atmosphere and a whole bunch of people."
The light workload gave the coaching staff a chance to get talented freshmen Greg Brown, Joe Walker and Quentin Jammer into the lineup, a luxury they may not be afforded in future match-ups.
But the entire defensive unit's play was keyed by the defensive line. Wright still believes that this corps is the strongest unit on the team, and it was their pressure that freed Humphrey to roam the secondary for his three interceptions.
"We're nowhere near where I want us to be. We're nowhere near where they want to be," Wright said of the improvement that still needs to be made.
"Those D-linemen were so mad at themselves for not getting those sacks that I didn't have to say a word. They were more disappointed in themselves than I was."
Humphrey, who is sure that he's not ready for the moniker "Mr. Hands," now only needs two more interception to break the single-season record of four interceptions by a linebacker. That's after easily breaking the single-game record for interceptions by a linebacker.
"I've never had one in a game let alone three," Humphrey said after admitting that his teammates kidded with him, saying he should move to tight end.
"It's something that I never would have expected, and it never would have been one of my goals to have three interceptions in one night. I was more concerned with stopping the runs, but I just dropped back into the zones and they threw it right to me."
Defenses and Heisman Trophy candidates across the country may not have been too frightened by the way that Texas' Ricky Williams tore apart the Rutgers defense for 155 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday.
What the junior running back said after his performance, however, probably has them shaking in their boots.
"I was unusually fatigued tonight," Williams said. "I felt like my legs were dead and I didn't have much energy."
He sure could have fooled the Scarlet Knights. Williams tirelessly alternated between bruising carries inside and lightning-quick sprints on the outside during the first three quarters of the Horns' 48-14 romp.
The highlight of Williams' night, on which he averaged over eight yards a carry, was a 74-yard scoring dash in the first quarter that tied the score at seven. Williams took advantage of a great trap block by Jay Humphrey, burst through Rutgers' overloaded defensive front, and sprinted down the right sideline for the game-tying score.
"They were playing an eight-man front, and I saw that the safety was across the field and no one else was back there," Williams said of the play. "So I knew if I could get past the line of scrimmage that I would have a lot of room to run."
And when Williams has room to run, as the Knights discovered, it usually requires a monumental effort to slow him down. The Heisman candidate earned his claim to fame by bowling over would-be tacklers in an Earl Campbell-like fashion, but Texas coach John Mackovic said that he's more impressed with another facet of Williams' game.
"A lot of people are fooled by how fast he really is," Mackovic said. "Once he breaks one, he rarely gets caught."
Unfortunately, Williams' counterpart in the offensive backfield did get caught on Saturday.
Quarterback James Brown, who was just beginning to get into a rhythm after completing five of his first 11 passes for 74 yards, was flushed out of the pocket by Chris Cebula with just over seven minutes left in the second quarter. Cebula, who was set free because of a missed blocking assignment, chased Brown to midfield before finally bringing him down and falling on his left ankle.
Brown did not return after the play, despite the fact that trainers attempted to tape the ankle on the Texas sideline. Mackovic called Brown's injury a "bad bruise," and X-rays showed no broken bones.
The Horns' all-time passing leader watched the rest of the contest while leaning on crutches and wearing a large boot to support the ankle, which he had previously injured two years ago.
"I never even saw the guy that hit me, but I know whoever it was fell down on me pretty hard," Brown said. "They tried to retape it and ice it, and if I had to I would have gone in there and tried, but Richard [Walton] did a good job."
As of Sunday, Brown's condition was still listed as uncertain. He reported to the team's facilities on Sunday morning for treatment, but Mackovic said that it was impossible to speculate about whether the star quarterback would be in action against UCLA next week.
"We'll just have to see how he responds and play it by ear," Mackovic said. "But I do know that if there's anybody in college football that can come back and play, it's James Brown."
But Brown said his rehabilitation effort won't simply be relegated to his injury. He explained that the bruise came at a time when he was still trying to approach midseason form, and the injury is likely to hinder that process.
"I kind of needed this game to get into a game mode, rather than just practicing," Brown said. "But things happen and now I just have to get ready for UCLA."
Jeff McDonald
Daily Texan Staff
No surprises here.
The 12th-ranked Texas Longhorns, 37-point favorites entering the contest, utilized a big play offense and opportunistic defense to storm past Rutgers 48-14 in their season opener Saturday at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
Texas' game was hardly flawless -- hallmarked by interceptions, missed tackles, a fumble, and one drive of -8 yards --- but the Horns still had enough firepower to breeze to their fourth consecutive opening day victory.
"It's good to get that first game out of the way," UT head coach John Mackovic said. "I hope its true that a team makes the most improvement between its first and second game, because we have a lot of room for improvement."
The Texas victory was all but gift-wrapped by the Scarlet Knights, who committed five turnovers that led to 23 Texas points.
Sophomore Aaron Humphrey set a new UT linebackers record with three interceptions, including a diving snag of a tipped Brendon Edmonds pass midway through the third quarter.
Humphrey, playing his first collegiate game at middle linebacker after starting his career as an outside rush backer, said he had never before picked off a pass, at any level.
"I saw the ball coming to me, and I didn't know what to expect," Humphrey said. "I just did what I had to do. Sometimes it looked like [the quarterback] was throwing the ball right to me."
Rounding out the turnover totals were cornerback Tony Holmes, who also got his first career interception in the third quarter, and lineman Will Goodloe who fell on a fumble by Knight fullback Gary Fauntleroy.
"It was a start, and that's really all it was is a start," UT defensive coordinator Bobby Jack Wright said. "I was pleased with the takeaways, and that's something we've really driven in with this group, to get the ball back and create turnovers for our offense."
Rutgers' West Coast offense turned out to be no day at the beach for quarterbacks Mike Jones and Edmonds, who replaced Jones after the intermission.
Texas' new 4-3 scheme put the two through a 40-minute pressure cooker, recording three sacks in addition to the quartet of interceptions, and both Jones and Edwards were consistently sent scrambling for their lives.
Running back Jacki Crooks had his second straight 100-yard game for RU, finishing with 108 yards on 23 carries, but the UT defense still came up with enough big plays with the chips down.
"Everybody was kind of nervous coming out, and we all had jitters," Humphrey said. "But I think once we got the kinks out, we played well as a defense."
Texas' much-vaunted, high-octane offensive machine got off to a sluggish start, looking rusty and out of sync for most of the first half. On its first three possessions, the Horns suffered a three-yard, three and out series, a James Brown interception that led to a Rutgers touchdown, and a Ricky Williams fumble at the Knights' 25.
After a scoreless opening period, the Horns finally got on the board early in the second stanza when Williams broke through RU's eight-man front untouched and galloped to a 74-yard score. The touchdown run, the second-longest of Williams' career, tied the game at seven.
A minute and a half later, Brown connected with Wane McGarity on a 32-yard pump-and-go, and the Horns took a 13-7 lead into halftime when a bad snap doomed the point after attempt.
"We didn't start the way we expected on offense," McGarity said. "We made a lot of early turnovers, and didn't do a good job picking up their blitzes. We had to adjust to what they were doing and use that to our advantage."
Had it not been for Williams' long TD run, Rutgers would have outgained Texas by 17 yards in the opening two quarters.
The error-filled first half sent the Longhorns into the locker room reeling and quieted the partisan crowd of 70,882, many of whom were expecting the rout to already be on by that point.
"We should have killed that team," Humphrey said. "They played hard and all, but we really should have blown them out early."
Texas, however, busted the game open in the third quarter, putting up 28 points in that 15 minute span. Williams added a pair of touchdowns on one and 12-yard runs, the latter coming 5:46 to play in the period.
Williams, a potential Heisman trophy candidate, finished his first evening of the year with 155 yards on 19 carries and three scores. McGarity was UT's next most productive, hauling in a career-high 105 yards receiving.
"The third quarter was certainly the quarter from hell tonight," said Rutgers coach Terry Shea, whose team also dropped its season opener to Virginia Tech 59-19 last week. "But I saw major strides in our team tonight. I was looking for improvement, and I found some."
Texas place-kicker Phil Dawson, had a game for the history books, racking up 10 points to make himself the school's all-time leading scorer.
Dawson's effort included field goals of 52 and a career-long 54 yards, and gave him 284 career points, eclipsing the mark of former Horn Jeff Ward by two.
"It's something that I'll cherish for the rest of my life; it's unbelievable," Dawson said. "The 54-yarder just made it extra special."
Other than their slow beginning, the only other scare for the Horns came when Brown was sacked by Chris Cebula, who then fell on the quarterback's ankle. The Texas senior did not return, though X-rays showed no damage to the joint.
Brown, whose 74-yard day was one of the worst of his career, was replaced by junior Richard Walton, who threw for 111 yards and a touchdown in the starter's stead.
Starting split end Dustin Armstrong and reserve defensive lineman Damon Luckett came out of the contest with swollen knees, and will undergo MRIs on Monday. Brown, Armstrong, and Luckett are listed as questionable for Saturday's home matchup with UCLA.
The Bruins (0-2) will enter that game a week after giving No. 3 Tennessee a scare before falling 32-27. Texas, 1-0 thus far in 1997, has not met a UCLA squad since 1971, when the Horns opened the season with a 28-10 win over the third-ranked Bruins in Los Angeles.
Phil Dawson knew for months, maybe even years, that his night would come. After all, when a kicker has an entire senior season to score the nine points needed to break his school's career scoring record, it's almost a given that the historic kick will come sooner or later.
But no one, not even Dawson, ever would have dreamed that it would happen like this.
Dawson connected on a pair of 50-yard-plus field goals for the first time in his career on Saturday night against Rutgers, putting an exclamation point on a night when he scored 10 points and surpassed Jeff Ward on the Horns' all-time scoring list.
"Hitting those two long ones was just like icing on the cake," Dawson said. "I couldn't have written it up any better."
But even though it was apparent that Dawson, who now has 284 career points, was ecstatic on the field, he said the significance of his achievement didn't dawn on him until Sunday morning.
"It really sunk in when I woke up, after I got to think about it," he said. "I started thinking about all the legendary players, and that none of them had scored as many points as me -- it was unbelievable."
In fact, the kick that tied Ward's mark was one of the most memorable moments of the Horns' opening night. After a drive stalled at the Rutgers 37-yard line late in the third quarter, seemingly every set of eyes in Royal-Memorial Stadium was directed at the Texas sideline, waiting to see if Dawson would get the chance at his career-long field goal mark.
And when Dawson got the go-ahead from coach John Mackovic to take the field, it wasn't just the kicker who was nervous.
"Everybody was excited, and [Texas' center] Ryan Fiebiger's hands were shaking," Dawson said. "I just tried to treat it like any other kick."
But the results of the kick were anything but ordinary. Mark Schultis took the snap and placed the ball 54 yards from the goalpost, and as an entire stadium held its breath, Dawson booted the ball on a direct line, clearing the crossbar by only a few feet.
Dawson broke the record moments later by converting an extra-point attempt.
And although Dawson now has one honorable distinction, he still hasn't wrapped up a Lou Groza Award, which goes to the country's best kicker. But as far as those present on Saturday night are concerned, that award is a mere formality.
"Phil Dawson proved tonight that he is the best kicker in America," Mackovic said.
And now, at least 70,882 people agree.
Rutgers 7 0 0 7 -- 14
Texas 0 13 28 7 -- 48
Rutgers Fauntleroy 1 run (Mike-Mayer kick)
Texas Williams 74 run (Dawson kick)
Texas Mcgarity 32 pass from J Brown (kick failed-bad snap)
Texas Williams 1 run (White reception for two-point conversion)
Texas FG Dawson 52
Texas Williams 12 run (Dawson kick)
Texas FG Dawson 54
Texas Lewis 3 pass from Walton (Dawson kick)
Rutgers Fletcher 22 pass from Edmonds (Mike-Mayer kick)
Texas Mitchell 15 run (Dawson kick)
A--70,882.
Rutgers Texas
First Downs 16 20
Rushed-Yards 47-131 30-162
Passing 184 220
Comp-Att-Int 17-35-4 15-29-2
Return Yards 64 19
Punts-Avg 6-39.5 5-40.4
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1
Penalties-Yards 6-60 4-31
Time of Possession 37:37 22:23
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Rutgers - Crooks 24-109, Davis 3-10, Robinson 4-6, Diggs 2-6,
M Jones 2-6, Fauntleroy 5-4, Funderburk 1-3, George-shield 1-1,
Edmonds 5-(-14).
Texas - Williams 19-155, Mitchell 3-23, Ellis 2-9, Clayton 2-4,
Walton 1-3, Coleman 1-2, Mcgarity 1-(-11), J Brown 1-(-23).
PASSING
Rutgers - Edmonds 10-20-2-131, M Jones 7-14-2-53, Crooks 0-1-0-0.
Texas - Walton 7-12-1-111, J Brown 5-11-1-74, Cherry 3-6-0-35.
RECEIVING
Rutgers - Funderburk 3-47, Robinson 2-32, B Woodard 1-27, Fletcher 1-22,
Powell 1-17, Holland 1-12, Crooks 3-9, Hutton 1-8, Harper 1-6,
Diggs 1-6, Fauntleroy 2-(-2).
Texas - Mcgarity 5-105, Clayton 2-40, White 3-31, Aaron 2-24,
Dullnig 1-11, Armstrong 1-6, Lewis 1-3.