Quinn Ewers throws for 3 touchdowns as No. 3 Texas beats No. 10 Michigan 31-12

ANN ARBOR, Michigan Quinn Ewers has led Texas to road victories in two of the toughest places to play in college football for back-to-back seasons.

Ewers threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns to help No. 3 Texas beat No. 10 Michigan 31-12 on Saturday, a year after the quarterback and the Longhorns beat Alabama.

“I just enjoy the big moments,” he said.

According to Sportradar, Texas became the first school to beat Michigan and Alabama on the road in back-to-back seasons since Notre Dame accomplished the feat in 1979 and 1980 while playing with different quarterbacks.

The Longhorns (2-0) moved the ball freely in the air and on the ground against the defending national champions, whose turnover-prone offense struggled to pass or run the ball effectively.

The Wolverines (1-1) snapped three-game winning streaks in the regular season opener for the traditional college football powers.

Michigan has won a Big Ten-record 29 consecutive regular-season games, a Big Ten record 23 consecutive home games and a national record of 16 straight games since losing to TCU in the 2022 College Football Playoff.

Although the streak has come to an end, defensive end Josaiah Stewart said the Wolverines have not lost their chance to repeat as national champions with the expanded playoffs to 12 teams.

“Our season isn’t over yet, so one loss won’t throw us out of the playoffs like it probably did last year,” he said.

Davis Warren was 22 of 33 for 204 yards, along with a touchdown when the game was out of reach and two interceptions. Preseason All-America tight end Colston Loveland had eight receptions for 70 yards and an unforced fumble for the outnumbered Wolverines.

“It was our fault,” Warren said. “They’re a good football team, they played well today, but we shot ourselves in the foot and let them win that game.”

After the win, center fielder David Gbenda took a white Texas flag with an orange longhorn on it and tried to stick it into the M’s corn block in the middle of the field, but it didn’t stick.

It was the only play the Longhorns did not execute all day.

The Texas team led 24-3 at halftime and did not score a touchdown until Warren threw a 31-yard pass to Semaj Morgan with 1:54 left.

Ewers threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Gunnar Helm in the first quarter. Helm, a senior tight end, set career highs with seven catches for 98 yards while playing against 15 NFL teams.

Late in the second quarter, Ewers passed the ball to Matthew Golden for a 5-yard touchdown run and then to Jaydon Blue for a 7-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to give the Longhorns a comfortable, one-sided victory.

The former Ohio State football quarterback completed 24 of 36 passes without an interception, a week after he rushed for 260 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-0 win over Colorado State.

To go

In its first season as an SEC school, Texas looks like it has a chance to compete for conference and national championships.

“This one game won’t define our season, but I think it could serve as a good barometer of what kind of team we can be,” coach Steve Sarkisian said.

Michigan coach Sherrone Moore’s first mistake as Jim Harbaugh’s successor may be deciding not to trade the veteran quarterback.

He said it

“I never really thought about the growing pains, more about what we could do to get better,” Moore said. “We knew we were a new team. We never tried to rest on our laurels that we won the national championship last year.”

Survey Implications

Voters in AP poll fail to significantly improve Texas’ ratings, but are likely to significantly lower Michigan’s.

Next

Texas will host UTSA on Saturday night.

Michigan will play Arkansas State on Saturday.

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