The Longhorns have been avoiding costly turnovers this season, capitalizing on gifts from their defense.

They have only coughed up the ball once so far this season — a fumbled snap during the their win against Wyoming, after which the Longhorns’ defense stopped the Cowboys from scoring. On the other hand, the offense has scored 42 points off turnovers created by the defense. Against Ole Miss, the defense generated three turnovers and the offense scored touchdowns on all three.

“We’re winning the turnover battle right now, and it’s helping more than you can even imagine,” head coach Mack Brown said.

Away Game Doesn’t Phase Horns

For what was many of the Longhorns’ first away game, the hostile environment at Ole Mis — admittedly not a powerhouse of the SEC — didn’t seem to phase them at all.

The Longhorns started hitting the Rebels early and ended the first quarter with a 10-0 lead. They will need that confidence in foreign stadiums as they open Big 12 play against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., Sept. 29.

David Ash hasn’t had a lot of experience on the road, with Case McCoy starting against A&M and Baylor away last year, and was able to keep the team in check.

“When you go on the road and you can’t hear — they’re talking about it being one of the biggest games in their school history — as much as we hear about the SEC, with A&M going to the SEC, all that hype with the kids, you don’t know whether it would get to them,” Brown said.

Defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat wouldn’t let the hype of the showdown get to him.

“There are a lot of things people have been trying to hype up,” Jeffcoat said. “But when you look at it, it’s two different teams [coming to] play each other.”

Malcolm Brown Continues His Dominance

Though David Ash’s arm stole the show Saturday night, Malcolm Brown gained 128 yards and two touchdowns. He leads the team with 238 total rushing yards this season.

“When Joe [Bergeron] came out, Malcolm had what I thought was by far his best game,” said head coach Mack Brown.

Malcolm scored on a 5-yard run and then a 12-yard run on Saturday. Last season, the running backs were plagued with injuries, and now that Bergeron has incurred a shoulder injury, Brown may need to continue his dominance.

Coaches Preventing False Confidence

The Longhorns are a young team, and after winning their first three games with relative ease, confidence must be pretty high. But head coach Mack Brown said that confidence must be kept in check.

“I think the environment here is we get too high too fast, we get too low too fast,” Brown said. “I think they pretty much understand what they’ve got ahead of them.”

The Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Oklahoma games won’t be won quite as easily as their first three games.

 Printed on Thursday, September 20, 2012 as: Longhorns stay strong on road, keeping turnovers to minimum