Roschon Johnson calls 24-21 Texas victory over Iowa State a ‘5-star win’

Two years ago, the Iowa State Cyclones scored the final 13 points in a 23-20 victory over the Texas Longhorns, prompting an infamous claim by running back Breece Hall that it was “five-star culture versus five-star players.”

In scoring the 27 unanswered points against the Longhorns last year in Ames, Hall and the Cyclones backed that statement up as Texas dropped a fourth-straight game, prompting defensive line coach Bo Davis to put into stark perspective the cultural issues still present in the program.

Eleven months later, the Longhorns are trending in a different direction with three straight wins on the 2022 Revenge Tour and a culture-defining 24-21 win over the Cyclones.

Following the win, senior running back Roschon Johnson minced no words about it in an obvious nod to Hall’s comment.

With 11 carries for 71 yards and a big hit on kickoff coverage, the Texas team leader was at the forefront of that culture building and late-game toughness, including three carries for 37 yards on the game-winning drive for the Longhorns that spanned 6:15 and featured nine running plays and only two passes.

On a hot mid-October day down on Campbell-Williams Field, Texas was the tougher team in the fourth quarter as Johnson closed it out by powering through multiple defenders to convert a 3rd and 1 and set up the victory formation as the clock ticked out on Iowa State’s cultural advantage on the football field over the Horns.

“This was a gritty, good team win,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “I thought that we did not play our best football today, clearly. But I think that that’s a sign of a pretty good team when you can fight through and persevere and find a way to win when you’re not playing your best. And I think a lot of this game speaks to our culture that we hung tight together, we fought together, we found a way to make plays at critical moments. And you know, I don’t mind saying that a year ago, I don’t know if we win this game, and this year, we found a way to win it.”