Game 28 Report – Texas Longhorns
Pregame
Georgia (5-1; 3-1 SEC) at Texas (6-0; 2-0 SEC)
October 19th, 2024, 6:45 PM CT
DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas
Weather – Mostly Clear, 82 degrees
Game Recap
#5 Georgia 30 – #1 Texas 15
This game started off as a defensive battle. In fact, Texas picked off Carson Beck twice in the first quarter. Unfortunately, they were not able to cash that in. The Longhorns had a three and out after the first interception and a Quinn Ewers fumble on the second.
That fumble recovery is what it took to get the Georgia offense going. The Bulldogs scored on four straight possessions to take a 20-0 lead. At that point late in the second quarter, Ewers was pulled for Arch Manning. This did not do much for the Texas offense. Georgia got one more field goal to end the half up 23-0.
Texas finally got something together to start the second half with Ewers back in at quarterback. They got their first score of the game on their first drive to pull within 23-7. Then, the controversy came into play.
On third and ten, Carson Beck through an interception that was brought back to the 9-yard line. A pass interference penalty was called on the play that was a little sketchy. So much so that that Texas student section started throwing bottle on the field causing a delay. During the long delay the referees decided to pick up the flag and award the ball to Texas. The Longhorns would get a touchdown and two-point conversion and suddenly it was 23-15.
Just as it was looking to be a ball game again, the Bulldogs went on an 11-play, 89-yard drive to score a touchdown early in the fourth to extend the lead to 30-15. Texas had a couple more changes but were not able to score again leading to the final score.
Final: Georgia 30 – Texas 15
Stadium Overview

Because this was such an anticipated game and such a large stadium to begin with, it made it hard to go around and take as many pregame pictures as usual. There was an attendance of over 105,000, the largest in stadium history.
My seat was in the upper section, which means I had to take a large set of escalators to get to the top of the stadium. Once I got there, the first thing I noticed was how steep the upper deck was. As someone scared of heights is spooked me a little. Luckily, after other people started filling in, I felt a lot better.
The lower part of the section was a bowl shape. In the south end zone was the large longhorn shaped tunnel the team came out of. The upper deck was a horseshoe shape leaving the south side open. The video board at least once was, if not still, the largest college football board in the country. There were also banner video boards between the two decks
There were huge pregame activities outside the stadium before the gates opened. This was probably the biggest pregame bash I have seen in person. On the north side of the stadium, they had Smokey’s Midway, which had a lot of things for kids like a Ferris wheel and a small zipline. They also had dozens of food trucks with food items and beer for sale.
They also had the team walk in through the area on the way to the stadium. This made it really hard to walkaround for a while. The gates opened right after the team walk so that made it a little hard to get to the gates to get into the stadium.

The big highlight with the stadium festivities was the drone show at the end of the third quarter. They had a large set of multicolored drones rise in two areas of the sky. In another display, they were able to create Bevo, a Longhorn hand symbol, and the Texas flag. They even had fireworks come out of Bevo’s nose to make it look like he was blowing steam.
Hot dog – $4.00
Bottled Soda – $5.00
Canned Domestic Beer – Unknown, couldn’t find posted price
Other Sporting Event – Women’s Soccer
#5 Arkansas 4 – #23 Texas 3

I was excited about seeing a match-up between two Top 25 teams. The game was played at Mike A. Myers Stadium. It is a large stadium that is also used for track and fields. There are seats on both sidelines, though only one sideline was actually open for the game.
One thing that I found a little annoying was a samba drum corps that played basically the entire game non-stop. I am all for having some atmosphere but not having any down time got very tiring.
The game was free to the public. However, due to a Simone Biles gymnastics event occurring at the Moody Center next door, the parking was $30.

As for the game, Arkansas looked like a dominant team from the start. With that said, Texas struck first on a breakaway goal to take a one-nil lead. After Arkansas methodically scored to tie things up the Longhorns got a second breakaway goal. Arkansas scored a tying goal with 23 seconds remaining to go in the half tied at two.
Arkansas took their first lead in the second half scoring twice to take a four-two lead. Just when you were about the count the Longhorns out, they scored a goal at the 78-minute mark to make it 4-3. It was all they could muster though.
Final Score: Arkansas 4 – Texas 3
Campus Overview

The University of Texas is a huge university located right in downtown Austin. As usual, campuses in that type of atmosphere are not my favorite. There were very few green areas to enjoy.
The one part of campus that was really pretty was the area around the Littlefield fountain and the UT Tower. The tower is famous for being lit up at various times of the year although it is currently going through renovations. This is the area the College Gameday was setting up as well, so it was bustling with activity while I was there.

The one thing I appreciated was having all of the athletic fields close to campus. In places like this it’s easy to have things located far away. Everything was in walking distance for students who lived on campus. This makes it easy to walk around to everything that you needed.
Attractions
Texas State Capitol

The Texas State Capitol is located in downtown Austin. With all the events going on in town there were a lot of visitors when I was there. There were a couple of tours going on that had a lot of people walking through.
The first thing to look for at most capitol building are the domes. Texas had one of the prettier ones. From the inside at the top you could see a single star, fitting for the Lone Star state.
During my visit the Senate chamber was not open to the public, but you could go into the upper level of the House chamber. Inside they had pictures of the walls of state senators dating back over 100 years. It’s always interesting to think about how many people had walked through the building and the building of state laws and statutes in the room.

The Texas State Supreme Court was also open to the public. On top of the actual capitol building there were many monuments outside paying tribute to important parts of Texas history.
Bullock Texas State History Museum

Also in downtown Austin is the Bullock Texas State History Museum. It is a very large museum that was very well kept. It was a fun museum to visit although there were a couple large elementary school tours to stay away from while there.
The first floor of the museum focused on the ancient history of the state. It started with some of the Native Americans that originally lived in the areas. There was also focus on the original Europeans, mostly Spanish and French, that came to the area through the Gulf of Mexico.
On the second floor the focus shifted more to how Texas became a state. There was a lot of time spent on how the relationship between Mexico and the United States ebbed and flowed through the years. Also, the impact of Texas in the Civil War was looked at, as well.

Finally, the third floor focused on Texas today. Some areas focused on the industries, such as oil, that Texas has a large hand in. Entertainment and sports based out of Texas had an area of its own. NASA also had a large hand in how Texas STEM is in play today.
LBJ Presidential Library

The LBJ Presidential Library is located on the campus of the University of Texas. It was not in a very interesting area of campus which would make it hard to know it was there just by driving by.
On the first level of the museum there is a ten-minute video to learn about his life and how he ended up becoming President. There was also a large exhibit about the Vietnam War, which was the most pressing issue during his term.
The second level of the museum went into more detail about his life. The major part of his Presidency, at least domestically, was around civil rights across the country. It came to be known as the “Great Society”. This was shown most through the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

There were also exhibits around the space race. The first man landed on the moon while Kennedy was President but LBJ continued the program well into his watch. In the end, he decided not to run for a second term.
Blanton Museum of Art

After arriving early on campus for the football game, it was a good time to check out the Blanton Museum of Art. It was a decent sized museum with a good split between classic art from as far back as the 1500s to contemporary art from today.
What I liked about the contemporary art was how they separated it between art from the United State, Latin America, and International. That way you could see how various artists defined art in their own cultures.
The older art is what I always lean into more though. They also had this separated into different world locations. The European art in particular tends to be my favorite.

One of the unique pieces include a floor with 600,000 pennies. Even outside the museum in the courtyard area there were pillars that let the sun through in artistic ways.
Longhorn Cavern State Park

The Longhorn Cavern is a set of caves with a deep history. They were initial used by the Comanche tribe dating back to the early 1800s. Today, they have them available for tours.
The tours were very popular. They had tours every hour and there were 38 people on the tour I went on. On top of the regular tours, they also have more intensive tours where you can actually crawl through some parts of the cave.
The guide for my tour was very knowledgeable about the cave and its history. There were several young children and he did a good job making the trip fun for them as well. On top of the stories about the Comanches, the caverns were also once used a nightclub in the 1930s.

My favorite part was seeing a few bats along the way. They were tri-colored bats which live by themselves. This is in contrast to the Mexican free-tailed bats that group together in the hundreds or thousands that you can see at the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin.
Dining
Matt’s El Rancho

The first thing I noticed as driving to Matt’s El Rancho is how large their parking lot was and how full it was. My first instinct was there would be a long wait. Luckily, there was no wait and I was able to get right to a seat. It was a large restaurant including a very large outdoor patio.
The menu was extensive which it made it hard to choose what to go with. They also had a nice lunch menu to select from. Ultimately, I went with the Beef Combination lunch. This came with a beef enchilada and beef taco along with rice and beans.
While waiting for my meal, the salsa that was served with the chips was top notch. It had good heat, but it was also had a lot of flavor. I definitely put this onto the rice as well once lunch came.

The meal was all about the beef enchilada. This was probably one of my favorite beef enchiladas ever. The Chile con Carne on top was perfect and they put a hardy helping of cheese on top. The taco was good as well, but if I came back, I would likely order the foot-long beef enchilada instead just so I could get more of that Chile con Carne.
Black’s Barbecue

I knew one of the hardest decisions of this trip would be which BBQ place to go to in Austin. They have many famous ones. Franklin’s was near the top of the list, but with both the football game and the F1 series in town the line was going to be crazy. I also drove past Terry Black’s but the parking situation was too tough to get into.
I finally decided on Black’s Barbecue. There is a famous family rivalry between Black’s and Terry Black’s. Luckily, the place was not overly crowded when arriving around opening time and I was able to get right in.
When you walk in, the first thing you order are your sides. For my order I went with sweet potato casserole and mac and cheese. Then you select your meats. I went with the sliced brisket.

The brisket was good, but not anything extraordinary. The sides were amazing though. The mac and cheese was definitely home made and the cheese was thick and gooey. Sweet potatoes had a nice marshmallow topping on top as well.
There was only one thing that I found very disappointing and that was the BBQ sauce. It was served cold. Who wants to dip a hot piece of brisket into cold sauce? That is the one thing keeping this from being a great barbecue restaurant.
P. Terry’s Burger Stand

P. Terry’s is a local fast-food chain founded in the Austin area in 2005. It appeared to be a popular joint as there were always cars in the drive thru as I passed by.
The décor had a very retro feel to it. This was especially true at the soda machine which used old-school logos for the various drinks. I actually had to take a second to look at them to see which one was the Dr. Pepper.
For my meal I went with a double cheeseburger. By default, the burgers come with lettuce, tomato, and a special sauce. As usual, I went without tomato but asked for pickle and onion.
I was not the biggest fan of the burger. There were two things wrong in my opinion. The first is there was too much lettuce that took away from the flavor of the burger. Next, there was not enough sauce on the burger either.

On the flip side, the fries were amazing. They could be the best fast-food fries I have had. They make them fresh and the texture was spot on. I would easily come back to this place just to get fries, just maybe with a different sandwich.
Blue Bonnet Café – Marble Falls

It’s always fun trying a place outside of the major cities. As I was heading to Austin after visiting the Longhorn Cavern State Park the Blue Bonnet Café in Marble Falls fit the bill. It’s a place that had a lot of positive press as a must visit restaurant.
The place definitely had diner vibes. There were many regulars as the waitresses knew a lot of customers by name. For my meal I went with the Wednesday special, meatloaf with three sides. The sides were mashed potatoes, okra, and green beans.
Surprisingly, the meal came out in under five minutes. The meatloaf was good, but not great. My biggest disappointment was with the okra which seemed slightly overcooked. It wasn’t bad, but it made it crispier than I usually like.

As most cafés do, the pie selection is one of the major selling points. I needed to get back on the road, but I ordered a piece of cherry pie to go. When I was able to eat it that night ate the hotel, it became apparent why this place was famous for the pie. It was loaded with cherries and had a great tart taste to it.
