The new era of Texas football got off to a scorching start on Saturday. Literally.

No. 21 Texas and No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette were battling over 100 degree heat in Austin to kick off the 2021 season. The Longhorns played very sound football and controlled the game in all three phases, ultimately defeating the Ragin’ Cajuns by 20 points.

It was Steve Sarkisian’s head coaching debut for Texas and redshirt freshman quarterback Hudson Card’s first career start. After a shaky first drive to begin the game, Sarkisian and Card found their groove and seemingly moved the ball down the field with ease.

Card played roughly three and a half quarters and finished with 224 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. Most importantly, he protected the football. Texas’ offense did not turn the ball over once in the season opener.

Next, Card will have to make his first road start in a hostile environment at Arkansas on Sept. 11. It’s certainly realistic to expect growing pains with a young and inexperienced quarterback under center, but his first performance against Louisiana proved that Texas has a promising future with Card leading the way.

Here’s how Texas’ last several quarterbacks fared in their first career start.

Case McCoy

Thomas Campbell-US Presswire

Sept. 17, 2011 vs. UCLA

12/15 (80.8%), 168 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions

David Ash

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Oct. 8, 2011 vs. Oklahoma (co-started at QB alongside Case McCoy)

11/20 (55.0%), 107 passing yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions

Tyrone Swoops

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 6, 2014 vs. BYU

20/31 (64.5%), 176 passing yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception

Jerrod Heard

Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 12, 2015 vs. Rice 

4/7 (57.1%), 120 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions

Shane Buechele

Chris Covatta/Getty Images

Sept. 4, 2016 vs. Notre Dame

16/26 (61.5%), 280 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception

Sam Ehlinger

Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 9, 2017 vs. San Jose State

15/27 (55.6%), 222 passing yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions

Hudson Card

Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 4, 2021 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

14/21 (66.7%), 224 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions