OXFORD — David Ash threw for a career-high 326 yards and four touchdowns Saturday night to lead the No. 14 University of Texas football team to a 66-31 victory against the University of Mississippi.
Ash connected on touchdown passes of 46 and 55 yards as the Longhorns gained 676 total yards. Mike Davis caught five passes for 124 yards and a touchdown while Marquise Goodwin rushed for 80 yards, caught two passes for 102 yards and scored two touchdowns.
Texas (3-0) led 31-10 by halftime and 52-24 by the end of the third quarter. It was the most points given up by Ole Miss in a game since 1917.
Ole Miss (2-1) couldn’t match the Longhorns’ speed or strength. Texas scored on seven straight possessions at one point, including touchdowns on six of those drives.
Bo Wallace threw for 178 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions for the Rebels. Donte Moncrief caught seven passes for 144 yards and a touchdown.
It was obvious from the beginning that Texas was the bigger and faster team. The Longhorns used their twin battering rams — running backs Joe Bergeron and Malcolm Brown — to pound away at the Ole Miss defensive line early in the game.
And when the Rebels finally made some progress stopping the smash-mouth approach, Texas responded with a pair of big plays from Goodwin. He rushed for a 69-yard touchdown on a sweep to give Texas a 17-7 lead and then made a 47-yard catch on the next drive that set up another touchdown and pushed the Longhorns ahead 24-10.
Texas took a 31-10 lead by halftime.
Ole Miss managed to keep things close for a little while, thanks to an 89-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter that ended with Randall Mackey’s 3-yard touchdown run. But the Rebels rarely gave Wallace much time to throw, and that contributed to his three interceptions and generally inconsistent night.
Texas didn’t waste any time putting the game away in the second half, scoring on a 10-yard run by D.J. Monroe and a 5-yard run by Malcolm Brown. By the end of the third quarter, the Longhorns had a 52-24 lead and the 61,797 in attendance started streaming for the exits. It was the fourth-largest crowd in Vaught-Hemingway history.
Those that stuck around watched Ole Miss freshman Jaylen Walton return a kickoff for a 100-yard touchdown.
But that did little to stop Texas from cruising to the victory. The Longhorns could have scored more than 70 points, but took a knee on their final two offensive plays rather than try to punch in one last touchdown.
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