McCoy and Shipley still deadly duo as No. 2 Texas rolls past ULM 59-20

McCoy leads No. 2 Texas to 59-20 romp of ULM

AUSTIN, Texas — Colt McCoy passed for 317 yards and two touchdowns and No. 2 Texas romped past Louisiana-Monroe 59-20 on Saturday night.

Last season’s runner-up for the Heisman Trophy connected with Jordan Shipley for a 78-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Cody Johnson scored Texas’ first three touchdowns on short runs and freshman D.J. Monroe returned a kickoff 89 yards for a TD.

Texas got exactly what it paid the Warhawks $850,000 for: A much-needed tuneup that quickly turned into a rout in the opener for both teams.

Trey Revell passed for 197 yards and a 75-yard touchdown to Luther Ambrose for Louisiana-Monroe.

The Longhorns weren’t without their miscues on a night a record crowd of 101,096 jammed into refurbished Royal-Memorial Stadium to watch the start of what they hope is a repeat of the 2005 national championship season. Many of those who stayed to the end gave a large roar at the news of rival No. 3 Oklahoma’s loss to No. 20 BYU.

McCoy’s seven incompletions in the first half were more or equal to what he had in eight games last year when he set an NCAA record with a 76.7 percent completion rate. Three came on dropped balls and he threw an interception.

Texas’ new starting tailback Vondrell McGee fumbled twice, likely putting his position in jeopardy despite rushing for a game-high 70 and a late touchdown. Until his two drops, Texas had gone 17 games without a lost fumble by a running back.

On defense, broken coverage led to Louisiana-Monroe’s long touchdown pass in the second quarter.

Even with those problems, there was plenty for Texas to like against an overmatched opponent from the Sun Belt Conference.

While McCoy tries to break in young receivers, he and Shipley are as in-sync as ever. Granted a sixth year of eligibility after losing two seasons to injuries, Shipley had a career-high 180 yards on eight catches. The 78-yard TD was the longest of his career.

Johnson scored 12 touchdowns last season and showed why he remains so valuable in short-yardage situations, scoring Texas’ first three TDs with 1-yard runs.

Monroe, a freshman, used his first career touch of the ball to show the speed Texas coaches hinted about in training camp.

After the Warhawks hit the long touchdown to pull within 21-10, Monroe took the kickoff on the right hashmark, split through a seam and bolted to the end zone nearly untouched for a 28-10 lead.

And quarterback-turned-receiver John Chiles shook off an early drop to catch a 14-yard touchdown in the third.

McCoy finally came out early in the fourth with Texas leading 52-10. Freshman Garrett Gilbert, a former high school All-American, showed a bit of McCoy’s style by completing 4 of 5 passes and capping his only drive with a 12-yard touchdown run.