No. 20 Texas just kept finding new ways, and people, to do it.

Colorado stopped the early onslaught. It knocked Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger out of the game. The Buffaloes even found a spark in their own backup quarterback.

None of it mattered, as Texas rode its quarterback of the future and an ever-shifting plan of attack to topple Colorado 55-23 in the Alamo Bowl on Tuesday night in San Antonio.

Sophomore Casey Thompson replaced Ehlinger, who left at halftime with a shoulder injury, and launched what will surely be an offseason’s worth of buzz with an electric 20 minutes of action. Thompson completed 8 of 10 passes for 170 yards, including plays that saw him elude pressure and put balls in tight spots for his receivers. His four touchdown passes, all thrown between halftime and the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter, set an Alamo Bowl record.

Before Thompson arrived on the scene, Colorado had given itself a chance.

Texas stormed to a 14-0 lead on scoring drives of four and six plays — each covering 74-plus yards — while stymieing the Buffaloes. At one point Texas was averaging more than 10 yards per play and the Colorado fewer than 1 yard.

The Longhorns built that early lead in large part behind the work of true freshman running back Bijan Robinson, who ran for 183 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown and caught two passes for 23 yards and two more scores.

But when it looked like a jump-start season for Colorado under new coach Karl Dorrell would stall out in the first quarter, the Buffaloes defense began to dominate and freshman quarterback Brandon Lewis made the most of a chance to run the offense.

Lewis led the first scoring drive — capped by a spinning, gritty 2-yard run from Jarek Broussard on fourth down — and the game changed. Briefly.

Broussard capped his breakout season with 82 yards on 27 carries and two touchdowns for Colorado.

Lewis, seeing his first collegiate action, finished 6-of-8 passing for 95 yards and ran seven times for 72 yards and a touchdown.

Buffs starter Sam Noyer went 8 of 23 for 101 yards and was intercepted twice.

Behind Lewis and a defense that held Texas to 1 of 7 on third-down tries in the first half, Colorado closed the gap to 17-10 at halftime.

Texas (7-3) went back to the running game, scored on a two-play drive to open the third quarter, and then turned it over to Thompson to expand the lead.

The Longhorns finished with more than 630 total yards, compared to 378 for Colorado.

Colorado (4-2) closed Dorrell’s first season with consecutive losses.