page_title: 2008 Texas Longhorns football team
section_title: Florida Atlantic
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 Texas Longhorns football team / Game summaries / Florida Atlantic
caption_attribution_description: English: Newly constructed north end zone seating (exterior facade) of [Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium] on the campus of University of Texas at Austin
context_page_description: The 2008 Texas Longhorn football team represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Mack Brown, who has a contract lasting through the 2016 season. The Longhorns play their home games in Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, which during 2006–2008 was undergoing renovations to improve older sections as well as to add extra seating capacity.
  The team entered the season ranked 10th in the USA Today Coaches' Poll. They won their first four games to rise to number 5 in the national rankings. Texas began Big 12 Conference play on October 4, 2008 with a trip to Boulder, Colorado and a win over the Colorado Buffaloes. On October 11, 2008 they defeated the number-one ranked Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl, in Dallas, Texas, in the 103rd Red River Shootout and Texas moved into the number-one spot in the polls the next day. One week later, defending the number-one ranking in a home game for the first time since 1977, the Horns beat the number-eleven ranked Missouri Tigers. The following day, Texas was ranked #1 in the first Bowl Championship Series rankings released during the 2008 season.
context_section_description: The 2008 game marks the first meeting between the Texas Longhorns and the Florida Atlantic Owls.  Florida Atlantic first played football in 2001 and began playing football in the Sun Belt Conference in 2005.  The 2007 Owls won their conference and went on to play in the 2007 New Orleans Bowl.  That set a record for the shortest amount of time between a school starting college football and being invited to a bowl game.  The Owls won the game 44–27.
  Texas began the season with a lack of experience in some positions, such as safety.  The Longhorns entered the week of the game with many questions still remaining about the starting roster.  On the depth chart released to the media, eleven positions still did not have definite starters.  Brown said that he might wait until 48 hours prior to kickoff to decide on key positions such as running back and fullback, and that he may decide on the punter based upon who looks best in pre-game warmups.
  Texas had one player listed on the injury list.  Redshirt freshman running back Fozzy Whittaker suffered a knee injury August 16, 2008 and was listed as "questionable" to be able to play. He had been competing in the off-season for a starting spot with Vondrell McGee and Chris Ogbonnaya. Whittaker is a highly anticipated player for the Longhorns due to his holding the sixth best record for a Texas high school running back.
  The University of Texas retired former Texas quarterback Vince Young's jersey number 10 jersey during the pre-game ceremonies.
  The morning of the game, Las Vegas casinos favored Texas by 24 points.  The weather forecast called for a high of 94 °F (34 °C) and a 20% chance of rain.  The attendance of 98,053 set a new record for the most people to see a football game in the state of Texas.
  Texas kicked off to start the game and the kick went out of bounds for a penalty, an inauspicious beginning to the season.  Due to rule changes for 2008 that gave FAU the ball on their 40-yard line. On the opening drive of the game, the Owls drove the ball 45 yards, including two completions from Rusty Smith to fullback Willie Rose and wide receiver Chris Bonner for 22 yards and 16 yards, respectively.  However, inside the red zone, the drive came to a halt when the snap was botched by center David Matlock, resulting in a 21-yard fumble and turnover.  The proceeding drive for the Owls also reached the red zone, but resulted in another turnover when Rusty Smith threw an interception to Texas freshman defensive back, Earl Thomas.  The missed opportunities to turn successful drives into touchdowns set the tone of the game for the Owls, which would go on to turn into a blowout in favor of 10-ranked Texas.
  Junior quarterback and preseason Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, Rusty Smith threw for 253 yards and completed 15 of 31 pass attempts.  Along with his interception, he threw a touchdown to tight end Rob Housler on a 20-yard hook up.  Kicker Warley Leroy kicked a 31-yard field goal.  Receiver Cortez Gent and tight end Jamari Grant combined for 7 completions and brought in 59 yards and 93 yards, respectively.  Smith threw for more yards than McCoy, who ended with 222 yards, McCoy threw for three touchdowns and zero interceptions.  McCoy also ran for a touchdown.  The Owls running backs ran for 37 yards combined, while McCoy ran for 103 yards.
  In the post-game press conference Schnellenberger said, "I know one thing: they are a lot tougher than we are...I was hoping I could raise the level of consciousness on my football team (so the players) could be as physical as they could become.  I don't know if my remarks helped (Texas). If they did, I apologize to my team."  FAU's losing-streak against ranked opponents ran to five games as the Texas Longhorns beat FAU, 52–10.  The Owls are now 0–5 all-time against ranked opponents.  Mack Brown improved his record for season opening games to 10–1, including nine straight years.
  At approximately 3:00am the night of the game, starting defensive tackle Lamarr Houston was arrested for DWI.  Brown says Houston would miss game two against UTEP, but did
caption: The exterior facade of the newly constructed north end zone seating as it appeared the morning of the 2008 season opener.
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