Longhorns’ D forces five turnovers, routs Golden Bears 21-10

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For the Texas Longhorns (8-5, 4-5 Big 12), the entire 2011 season has been a quarterback fiasco, but head coach Mack Brown may have a quarterback to build on with David Ash in 2012 as the Longhorns beat the California Golden Bears (7-6, 4-5 Pac-12) soundly in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl, 21-10.

Ash went 14-for-23 in passing for 142 yards and both threw and caught a touchdown, adding his name to the list of BYU’s Steve Young, Texas A&M’s Bucky Richardson and Oregon’s Joey Harrington as quarterbacks to have caught a touchdown in the Holiday Bowl. Harrington was the last quarterback to accomplish the feat in 2000, coincidentally, against the Longhorns, in a 35-30 victory over Coach Brown and the Horns. The offensive coordinator for Oregon at the time was Jeff Tedford, who has since been California’s head coach since 2002.

The play occurred midway through the second quarter when freshman wide receiver Jaxon Shipley, brother of former Texas star wide receiver and current Cincinnati Bengal Jordan Shipley, threw a 4 yard pass to Ash for the touchdown.

Brown said he could not take full credit for calling the play, recognizing co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin for his offensive pedigree.

“Bryan Harsin grew up in that Boise system and that’s the stuff Jeff (Tedford) did with Oregon back in the early 2000s,” Brown said to ESPN after the game. “And it’s one of the reasons why I hired Bryan. He believes in running the football, he believes in being physical, but he’s got toys in the pocket that he’s going to take advantage of things when he can.”

California was first to put points on the board with a 47-yard field goal by Giorgio Tavecchio in the first quarter.

Ash threw his lone touchdown in the third quarter to Marquise Goodwin, a dual-athlete star in track and football, for a 47-yard score, giving the Longhorns a 14-10 lead.

California was not able to produce much offense this game due to the tenacity of the Texas defense. The Longhorns forced a season-high five turnovers along with sacking quarterback Zach Maynard six times, another season-high. Texas caused four fumbles and one interception, coming from the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year cornerback Quandre Diggs, who is the younger brother of San Diego Chargers cornerback Quentin Jammer, who also played at Texas.

Golden Bears junior running back Isi Sofele had the game-high in rushing yards, totaling 52 yards on 20 attempts and scoring a touchdown in the third quarter.

The loss against Texas leave the Bears winless in their five meetings with the Longhorns, going back to their first meeting in 1959.

 

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