A Worthy win: Our takeaways from Texas' win over West Virginia

Hudson Card had his best game yet. Bijan Robinson scored his 30th career touchdown and had his second 100-yard rushing game of the season. Xavier Worthy did it all, topping 100 yards, catching a couple of touchdowns and even throwing a touchdown. The defense pitched a shutout for nearly a half and dominated the night. And as bad as things looked after Lubbock, Texas' 38-20 win over West Virginia tonight should go a long way in soothing the fan base, quieting concerns and entering Texas-OU week with some momentum.

Our takeaways from Texas' win:

How did Texas respond to the loss in Lubbock?

About as well as you hoped the Longhorns would have responded, jumping out to a 28-0 lead, stuffing the Mountaineers on all but one drive in the first half, opening the game with offensive control and defensive intensity and riding Xavier Worthy to the easy win. This one checked all of the boxes: Intensity, defense, no turnovers, trick plays, few mistakes, no injuries.

Hudson Card had a big game: 21-of-27 for 303 yards 3 TDs and no picks.

Bijan Robinson got his touches: 23 of them, and topped 100 yards and scored a TD.

Worthy was the star: Ten targets, seven catches for 119 yards and 2 TDs, plus a 33-yard TD pass.

The Horns had 446 yards of total offense, held West Virginia to 314, and enjoyed a big night defensively. The Horns finished with three sacks, seven tackles for loss and seven pass breakups. West Virginia was able to put together two second half scoring drives, but this game wasn't as close as even the 38-20 final showed.

More:Bohls: A little more anger from the Texas Longhorns could go a long way

So, heading into Oklahoma ...

It's been awhile, but the Longhorns should enter Red River rivalry week feeling much better about themselves than the Sooners — who literally are on the bottom of the Big 12 standings after two games. Every week, Texas has faced a different kind of test: How would Quinn Ewers look in the opener? How would the Longhorns compare to mighty Alabama? How would they respond to the Bama heartbreak against UTSA? Would Texas take care of business with its backup quarterback in Lubbock? And tonight, how would the Horns respond to that overtime loss?

Oklahoma represents a new test: Can Texas keep its foot on the gas and take care of business against the now quite mortal Sooners?

Early Texas-OU storylines:

∙ All eyes — still — will be on Texas' quarterback situation. At this point, it comes down to the strength of Ewers' non-throwing shoulder. Expect him to get the start. Expect him to have some rust. Expect Card to play if needed.

∙ What will the Sooners look like when they're up against the wall, when they're desperate, and playing their archrivals?

∙ Xavier Worthy already has had a huge game against OU. Coming off this performance tonight, what will he do next week?

∙ If Dillon Gabriel can't go, what will OU's backup look like if this Texas defense shows up with its ears pinned like tonight? For that matter, what will Gabriel look like even if he can play?

More:Bohls: Texas better fix stuff fast or adjust its goals for the season

The three biggest plays from today's game

Xavier Worthy's touchdown catch: Up 28-7, Hudson Card lofted a deep pass toward the end zone. Mountaineers defender Hershey McLaurin had a play on the underthrown pass, but the ball ended up tipping off his hands — and into Worthy's even as the wide receiver was on his way down at the back of the end zone. It might have been Worthy's prettiest touchdown catch yet.

Xavier Worthy's touchdown pass: Credit Steve Sarkisian for calling a great play — a trick-play wide receiver pass from Worthy to tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders for a 33-yard touchdown to put the Longhorns up 14-0. It surely was Worthy's prettiest touchdown pass yet.

A fourth down stop!: Texas really struggled in Lubbock on fourth downs, allowing the Red Raiders to convert six first downs in eight chances. That's why the fourth-and-2 stop at Texas' 40-yard line in the first quarter was important. It set the defensive tone for this game.

Can we split the game ball?

Worthy probably gets tonight's game ball. But others who had good nights: Ja'Tavion Sanders (two touchdowns), Bijan Robinson (101 yards and a touchdown), Jaylan Ford (another double-digit tackle night) and just about any defensive back who played.

Texcetera

Bijan Robinson scored his 30th career touchdown. He has 23 all-time rushing scores, seven receiving. ... The game was stopped for more than 10 minutes in the second half when Mountaineers RB CJ Donaldson was injured on a tackle. He ended up being carted off the field. Donaldson is West Virginia's leading rusher this season, and was averaging about 95 yards a game and had scored six touchdowns. ... Dante Stills needed one tackle for loss to tie the school's career mark. He didn't get it. ... "We can't go into this game playing on eggshells," Sarkisian said this week. "We've got to go into this game playing with our hair on fire, playing confident, making our plays, playing physical, playing fast, aggressive with great effort." Done.

Up next for Texas: Oklahoma, 11 a.m. next Saturday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas (ABC)

The Sooners are in a bad way. OU fell to 0-2 to start out Big 12 play with Saturday's 55-24 loss at TCU, and starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel left the game on a late hit and is in concussion protocol, which means he'll be iffy for the Texas game. Davis Beville would get the start if Gabriel can't go; Beville was 7 of 16 for 50 yards in his relief duty today.

OU is ranked No. 18 but figures to drop out of the Top 25 tomorrow. The Sooners are 3-2 overall.

Texas is 1-4 against OU over their last five meetings, the lone win coming during the 2018 regular season. The Sooners ended up beating Texas in that year's Big 12 championship game.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football blasts West Virginia in Big 12: Takeaways from the game