AUSTIN—The Bearkats were blanked Saturday night, suffering a 55-0 blowout loss to the No. 8 Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium. 

Saturday’s loss makes four consecutive losses for Sam Houston to begin the 2025 season.  

“We have some work to do,” Sam Houston head coach Phil Longo said. “There were some things that happened out there that were negative for us that were just about a player across the other side of the line of scrimmage just being better than we are. When we don’t play a clean football game by making mistakes and being out of position, that’s the stuff we want to get fixed as we move forward into Conference USA play.” 

The Bearkats trailed 31-0 at half time. In the first half, the Bearkats only had 50 yards of total offense and just two first downs—they did not get a first down until late in the second quarter. The second half went just as poorly as the first, as the Bearkats only got five first downs and scored zero points.  

Senior quarterback Hunter Watson finished the game with 86 passing yards and also led the Bearkats in rushing with 32 yards.  Sophomore running back Landan Brown led the team in receiving with 37 yards. The Longhorns were led by quarterback Arch Manning, who had three total touchdowns while completing 18 of 21 passes for 309 yards.  

SHSU has now given 171 points through four games this season.

“We have to play cleaner football without question,” Longo said. “It’s not an effort deal, and it isn’t even a physicality piece, but we have to play cleaner football particularly on offense. But we’ve got things to clean up everywhere.” 

Sam Houston will travel to New Mexico to take on the Aggies on Oct.2. After that, they return home for a game against Jacksonville State.