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AUSTIN, Texas – Texas senior defensive back Andrew Mukuba has won the Paycom Jim Thorpe Defensive Back of the Week award, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame announced Tuesday. This is Mukuba’s first time winning the prestigious award’s player of the week award.
The road win over #10/9 Michigan snapped the Wolverines’ 16-game winning streak, a Big Ten record 29 regular season wins, 23 home wins (the longest streak since 28 wins from 1969-73), 23 home non-conference wins since 2014, and 15 overall regular season wins in non-conference games. Texas’ 19-point win was the Longhorns’ largest margin of victory on the road against a top-10 team since 1979. That year, UT beat #5/7 Missouri, 21-0, in Columbia. It was also the Longhorns’ largest margin of victory against a top-10 team since 2005, when UT defeated #10/8 Texas Tech, 52-17, in Austin.
The Austin, Texas native recorded his first interception for the Longhorns in the win over Michigan and had four total tackles and two interceptions. He led a defense that held the defending national champions to 284 total yards on their home field, 204 passing yards and 80 rushing yards while forcing three turnovers. Mukuba’s interception came in the second quarter, when he caught a pass batted out of the air by senior DB Jadai Barron, a 2023 Jim Thorpe Trophy semifinalist. The interception allowed Texas’ offense to start at Michigan’s 37-yard line and led to a field goal for a 17-3 lead.
On the second play of the next series, Mukuba was tackled for no gain, but on the first drive of the third quarter, he tackled the running back for a three-yard gain, leading to a punt. Mukuba then recorded one key pass breakup in the third quarter and two in the fourth quarter.
Mukuba and Texas will return to the friendly surroundings of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to take on UTSA on Saturday, September 14th at 6pm CST on ESPN, with Mark Jones (play-by-play), Roddy Jones (commentary) and Quint Kessenich (sideline) providing play-by-play coverage.
