• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Wyoming-Texas Preview

Sep 8, 2010 - 9:44 PM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Wyoming (1-0) at No. 2 Texas (1-0), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Like every other home opener, those in attendance at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium will undoubtedly give a loud and prolonged cheer when Texas runs on to the field.

For at least a few moments, the crowd will fall silent before the fifth-ranked Longhorns face Wyoming on Saturday night, as the Cowboys play their first game following the death of Ruben Narcisse.

The 19-year-old freshman linebacker was killed in a one-car accident early Monday morning after he and teammates were returning from visiting friends in Fort Collins, Colo. Narcisse was a passenger in the back seat of a pickup truck driven by cornerback Trey Fox.

"Just a great young man, had a smile on his face all the time," coach Dave Christensen said.

Texas will have a pregame tribute for Narcisse. Texas coach Mack Brown says it will include a moment of silence and Narcisse's photograph on Texas' massive scoreboard video screen. The Texas band will also play a song for the Wyoming team.

Wide receiver Christian Morgan, also in the truck, had surgery on his elbow and is expected to be released Wednesday. Freshman linebacker J.J. Quinlan was treated and released along with Fox.

The highway on which the accident occurred, U.S. 287, is the same road where eight Wyoming track and cross country athletes died in a collision with a pickup driven by a Wyoming rodeo team member Sept. 16, 2001.

Christensen is hoping preparations for the trip to Texas will help ease some of his team's pain.

"We think it will help the kids get their mind on something different at different points of time throughout the day," Christensen said. "And we'll take it one day at a time. There's not a manual on how to do these things. ... What we're trying to do now is just get back on track to do everything we can to prepare to go down to Austin, Texas, and play a very good Texas team."

After topping Southern Utah 28-20 in last week's opener, Wyoming faces a Longhorns squad that opened its season away from home for the first time in 15 years, beating Rice 34-17 at Houston's Reliant Stadium on Saturday.

Led by the NCAA's winningest quarterback over the previous four seasons, the Longhorns showcased an expected different look against the Owls by running nearly twice as much as they passed.

Texas ran 46 times for 197 yards, led by Tre Newton with 61 yards and three touchdowns. Cody Johnson and Foswhitt Whittaker also topped 50 yards.

"We're not near where we are going offensively," Brown said. "What we wanted to do in this game is line up and test the guys and be patient and send the message to them that we may not run it a lot more than we have in the past, but we want to run it better than we have in the last couple of years. We did that."

In his first appearance since replacing the injured Colt McCoy in the BCS title game, Garrett Gilbert went 14 for 23 with 172 yards. McCoy, who won a record 45 games, threw for 337 yards and three TDs in a 41-10 road victory over Wyoming on Sept. 12.

Under Gilbert, the Longhorns offense did not commit a turnover or allow a sack. Brown, however, was frustrated with a number of his team's mistakes.

Texas dropped a pair of potential interceptions, muffed a punt return, missed two field goals and couldn't get into the end zone on its opening drive despite advancing to the 4-yard line.

The Longhorns trailed 3-0 before scoring 24 unanswered points in the second quarter, with Newton scoring twice on short runs.

"As much as we've talked about toughness, I left the field mad," Brown said. "(But) the objective is to win (the first game) and see what we can see. I'd rather be a team that gets better every week."

Wyoming got 319 yards and three touchdowns from Austyn Carta-Samuels, but had to hold off a late rally for its victory. The Cowboys gained 36 yards on 25 attempts against their FCS opponent.

"I think we were ready, but we did some things wrong that we have to fix," Carta-Samuels said. "We know that we still have some things to work on, but we will move forward."

Texas has outscored Wyoming 92-20 in winning all three meetings.