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Texas swaggers into SEC and midseason break undefeated and in best shape in more than a decade

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Texas swaggers into SEC and midseason break undefeated and in best shape in more than a decade


AUSTIN, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 28: Malik Muhammad during a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Grant Wild/The University of Texas Athletics/University Imag

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — When Texas hosted a football recruiting weekend last summer, prospective players walked a burnt orange carpet flanked by nearly a dozen Lamborghinis with engines revving and growling and music blaring.

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It was an homage to coach Steve Sarkisian’s motto since he arrived four years ago — “All gas, no brakes” — and what the program hopes to be able to deliver in the new era of excess in college football: substance with style.

Following a slow ramp-up that nearly ran off the road when Sarkisian started, Texas has hit full speed.

After winning last season’s Big 12 title in the program’s final season in that league and making the College Football Playoff for the first time, Texas entered this season ranked No. 3 in the AP Top 25. By Week 3, the Longhorns were No. 1 for the first time in 16 years. Their long-awaited Southeastern Conference debut was a smashing success, led by backup quarterback Arch Manning, the scion of one of America’s most famous football families.

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Texas, which returned to No. 1 on Sunday, is 5-0 and heading into its Oct. 12 rivalry game with Oklahoma in Dallas. And from the Lamborghinis in June to the “TexCalibur” turnover sword that debuted on the sideline this year, these Longhorns are fully enjoying the program’s rejuvenation.

“I love that our personality is coming out of this team. I think we’ve got a pretty cool swagger about us right now,” Sarkisian said before Texas beat Mississippi State 35-13 to earn the program’s first SEC victory. “But that swagger has been earned.”

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Longhorns arrive

Texas roared into the SEC this year on the heels of winning 15 of the Big 12’s regular-season or tournament championships across all sports in the Longhorns’ final year in that league. The volleyball team is the two-time defending national champion. The rowing team has won three of the last four national titles.

Overall, Texas has won three of the last four Directors’ Cups, awarded to the nation’s most successful athletic department.

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“A united Texas,” athletic director Chris Del Conte likes to say, “is a reckoning.”

“There’s a standard here that is very high, and there’s an expectation of performance, and it’s not just in football, it’s in every sport,” said Sarkisian, a previous head coach at both Washington and Southern California. “So the conference may have changed, but our standard and our expectations really haven’t … The SEC slogan, ‘It just means more,’ matters. But I feel like at Texas, when you take this job, it just means more here, too.”

Texas has even poked at old rival Texas A&M a couple of times already. Shortly after Texas A&M lost in the College World Series, Del Conte swooped in and hired away Aggies head coach Jim Schlossnagle. Last week, a crowd of nearly 10,000 packed A&M’s Reed Arena for Texas’ SEC debut in volleyball, the largest in state history for a volleyball match, only to watch the Longhorns leave with a 3-1 victory.

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But football is the Lamborghini of college sports, and after hitting some early speed bumps, Sarkisian has the program humming after more than a decade of not being in contention for national titles.

Texas went 5-7 in Sarkisian’s first year, a season that included a six-game losing skid, the program’s worst in 65 years. Texas rebounded to 8-5 a year later, then went 11-1 in the regular season in 2023, won the Big 12 crown and was one play away from the national championship game.

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Cashing in

Texas gave Sarkisian a four-year contract extension to keep him through 2030 in a contract that pays him more than $10 million per year and makes him one of the highest-paid coaches in the business.

Sarkisian has to keep winning and keep pulling in the recruits and transfers in the new era of athletes being able to cash in on the use of their name, image and likeness. Few programs, if any, are better positioned to do that.

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Texas has been among the most aggressive in the country in the NIL era, from the initial launch of the Clark Field Collective (now known as Clark Field Creative) and the Pancake Factory, a nonprofit that pledged $50,000 annually to scholarship offensive linemen in late 2021, just before Sarkisian signed his first recruiting class.

Those entities, and NIL projects supporting baseball and golf, were all rolled under the umbrella of the Texas One Fund in late 2022. In August, Texas announced that donations to the Texas One Fund will be rewarded with “loyalty points” within the Longhorn Foundation, that can be used toward season tickets and other perks.

“Texas has one of the best NIL situations in college sports,” said sports law attorney Mit Winter, who tracks the evolving NIL marketplace and how schools are operating.

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“Money isn’t an issue, and they have their donors and supporters all on the same page,” Winter said. “Talent wins in college sports and Texas and its collective are doing everything necessary to ensure Texas continues to have the best talent.”

The Texas brand itself helps Longhorns players cash in.

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Starting quarterback quarterback Quinn Ewers’ endorsements have included deals with video game, apparel and beverage companies. Another gives him use of a private jet. According to On3.com, Ewers ranks No. 6 overall and No. 5 among college football players with a valuation of $2.1 million.

Ranked just above him: backup quarterback Arch Manning at No. 4 and $3.1 million.

With his program humming and players cashing in, Sarkisian was on the road recruiting this weekend, with swagger to spare.

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“It’s always a good thing when you get to go on the road undefeated and recruit,” he said. “It’s kind of like they roll out the red carpet for you.”



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Austin, TX

Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building

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Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building


Emo’s in Austin is on the move again. 

After more than a decade at 2015 E. Riverside Drive (following the original Red River-era venue closing in 2011), Emo’s current Riverside space will be taken over by AEG Presents when the lease ends later this year. The Los Angeles, CA-based company will assume operations in January 2027 and plans to reopen the building under a new name in early 2027 following upgrades, renovations and a full rebrand.

AEG are also opening a new 4,000-cap venue nearby next spring as part of the River Park mixed-use development in southeast Austin.

C3 Presents, who reopened Emo’s at the Riverside location, say this isn’t the end of Emo’s — they’re working on a new home and plan to move the venue back to downtown Austin, with more updates to come.

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AEG Presents Vice President Robin Phillips shared the following:

There’s like no weirdness or any bad blood or anything. It just, you know, new lease and they’ll [Emo’s] go do something great. They have been important to the Austin music scene, so I have a lot of respect for them.

But I don’t think the Austin music scene or legacy is limited to one name. I know people will remember the original Emo’s and this Emo’s as, you know, both great venues… And I don’t think Austin’s music scene is just a name, it’s the artists, in my opinion.

 

A C3 spokesperson added:

Emo’s has a long history in Austin and we’ve been working behind the scenes for some time on a new home for this venue. After we wrap up at this venue in December, we will focus our efforts on our new location.

 

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Emo’s gave the following statement to Austin local news KXAN:

We’re grateful for all of the fans and artists who’ve shaped Emo’s to what it is today: a community of like-minded people who love live music. We have a vision for our future and will be moving into a new building downtown that celebrates our punk rock roots with the new amenities that fans are looking for from a venue. We’ll continue to share updates on the next chapter for Emo’s on social media.





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Austin, TX

Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows

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Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows


State and federal agriculture officials said highly pathogenic avian flu has been found in a herd of dairy cows in Texas.

What we know:

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Officials said the H5N1 virus was confirmed with laboratory tests in late May after cows at an unspecified farm became sick and milk production dropped. The dairy has since been quarantined and an investigation is underway.

This is the first case of avian flu in a Texas dairy herd this year, officials said.

What they’re saying:

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“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating H5N1, and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe,” officials at the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a statement.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026. (Tim Evans/Bloomberg / Getty Images)

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Dig deeper:

H5N1 has a high rate of severe disease and death in animals that become infected.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk to the general public from avian flu is low. Some sporadic human infections have been reported around the world since 1997. There have been no known cases of person-to-person spreading of avian flu.

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The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Animal Health Commission, the USDA, the FDA and the CDC.

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Austin, TX

New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo

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New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo


Self-driving cars have become a common sight on Austin streets, but a new Texas law is adding tougher requirements for the companies behind the wheelless vehicles.

Senate Bill 2807 imposes stricter rules on autonomous vehicle companies operating in the state, including state authorization, emergency response plans for law enforcement, and a public portal where residents can verify operators and file safety complaints.

The changes come as Austin continues to track incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The city’s autonomous vehicle dashboard shows 75 incidents in 2026, including a collision, eight near misses, and seven incidents of ignoring police direction.

Attorney Drew Gibbs, a partner at Slingshot Law, said one crash involved a Waymo vehicle.

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“There was a T-bone collision. A pretty serious T-bone collision where a Waymo just crashed into the side of my client’s vehicle,” Gibbs said.

ALSO| Waymo files voluntary software recall over flooded-lane risks on high-speed roads

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One of the incidents of ignoring police direction happened during the mass shooting on West Sixth Street back in March, when three people died, and 15 others were injured.

Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said autonomous vehicles can struggle in unusual situations.

“It didn’t impede on anything in the moment, but it’s not necessarily uncommon where these vehicles don’t quite know how to deal with these one-off scenarios,” Bullock said.

The new law requires autonomous vehicle companies to be authorized by the state, to provide an emergency response plan for law enforcement, and to participate in a public-facing portal that allows the public to verify operators and submit safety complaints.

Kara Kockelman, a professor of transportation and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, welcomed the added oversight.

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“I’m glad that the state is taking this a bit more seriously now,” she said. “It’s important not to just let others slip in without kind of meeting those basic minimums.”

Bullock said the emergency planning requirement may not make a major difference in fast-moving situations. Asked how impactful it is to have a fully laid out emergency response plan, Bullock said, “These plans are great, but it takes time to work through all of those versus the immediacy of having someone behind the wheel.”

The four autonomous vehicle companies operating in Austin — Waymo, Zoox, AV-Ride, and Tesla — are all state-authorized.

The Texas DMV said an autonomous vehicle company can lose its authorization to operate in Texas if the agency deems the vehicles are operating in a way that endangers public safety.

Waymo was contacted for comment, but had not responded.

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