INSIDER: E-Newsletter Game 4 Texas Vs. Kansas State

 

Kansas State Wildcats………………………………………………21

Texas Longhorns  …………………………………………………….31

 

Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium — Austin, Texas    Sept 21, 2013     Attendance: 95,428

By Steve Habel

Every home water heater has a relief valve. This valve controls the heater’s pressure, which may build up from a process upset, instrument or equipment failure. If the valve doesn’t operate properly, the heater can over-pressurize and explode.

(Also See: Jeffcoat, Gray Named Big 12 Players of the Week)

Consider Texas’ 31-21 victory over Kansas State on Sept. 21 a relief valve for the season’s difficult start, alleviating the pressure within the vessel that is Longhorn football.

[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]

Before a crowd of 95,428 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and a national television audience, the Longhorns played their best game this season. Texas beat Kansas State for the first time since 2003, by playing up to the expectations set before the season began.

Texas, now 2-2 overall on the season and 1-0 in Big 12 Conference play, ran and passed the ball with composure, and played solid defense.

“This is the kind of team that I expected to see when we started and expect to see for the rest of the year,” head coach Mack Brown said. “This is a start — not the end. We needed this game tonight to get back on the right track. This can be a great football team before we finish [the season].”

The Longhorns won despite key injuries entering the game. Wide receivers Daje Johnson and Mike Davis, offensive linemen Josh Cochran and Mason Walters and tight end Greg Daniels didn’t play, while quarterback David Ash couldn’t play the second half due to symptoms from a head injury and linebacker Jordan Hicks left in third quarter with an ankle sprain.

Texas’ defense, gouged by the run in losses to Brigham Young and Ole Miss, clamped down on Kansas State. The Longhorns allowed just 115 yard on the ground in 38 attempts. They regularly swarmed to the ball and made solid tackles, two things they struggled with in their defeats.

“I know they’re working hard,” defensive coordinator Greg Robinson said of his charges. “It’s effort with a purpose too. When people think of effort, they think of the way they’re running around. There are some guys that stepped up tonight big, younger and older. Progress can continue to be made. I’d be shocked if they didn’t just keep doing what they’re doing — and that’s getting better. “

The Longhorns set the tone for the game by dominating the first 27 minutes, roaring out to a 17-0 lead. Texas used a balanced attack to grind out an 18-play, 75-yard march on its second possession that ended in a 27-yard field goal by Anthony Fera and a 3-0 lead.

Texas’ running prowess set up a quick-strike, 63-yard touchdown pass from Ash to Kendall Sanders that expanded the Longhorns’ lead to 10-0 with 2:16 to play in the opening quarter.

The lead increased to 17-0 late in the second quarter when Johnathan Gray swept right, shuffled his steps twice to juke defenders, and cut back to the inside at the last instant to finish off a 21-yard scoring run, culminating an 11-play, 76-yard drive.

Up to that point, Kansas State (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) hadn’t made a play in Texas territory. But then they answered, using a dead-in-stride, 47-yard pass from Jake Waters to Tyler Lockett. The play set the table for an eventual 15-yard touchdown run by John Hubert that cut the Longhorns’ lead to 17-7 at the half.

In the third quarter, Kansas State fumbled away the momentum it gained late in the first half when a bad pitch from Waters to Hubert rolled on the ground and into the waiting arms of Desmond Jackson, who was down after being blocked.

Texas, with Case McCoy in at quarterback for the sidelined Ash, kept the ball on the ground for all seven plays. The team eventually scored on a 15-yard run by Gray for a 24-7 lead. The Longhorns converted a 4th-and-2 situation at the Kansas State 48 with an 18-yard run by Alex De La Torre on a fake punt to keep the drive alive.

“[When] you give up big plays, you’re going to lose ball games,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. “You turn the ball over and you’re going to lose ball games. You get penalized too much and you’re going to lose ball games. This isn’t rocket science.”

Everyone knew the Wildcats wouldn’t back down and they didn’t, scoring on a Hubert 4-yard run at the 13:22 mark of the final quarter. But Texas answered as well, setting the table with a 21-yard pass from McCoy to Marcus Johnson and then scoring on a 1-yard run by Malcolm Brown, making the score 31-14 with 9:11 to play.

After a targeting penalty on Texas linebacker Steve Edmond and immediately following a 31-yard pass to Lockett (who ended up with a career-high 13 catches for a school-record 237 yards), Waters scored on a 1-yard sneak.

The Wildcats drove twice into the Texas red zone in the final minutes but the Longhorn defense turned them away both times.

The pressure to succeed will continue and one win over a rebuilding Kansas State team will likely not satiate the Texas naysayers, but there were smiles aplenty on the 40 Acres after the victory.

“The players fought hard for 60 minutes,” Brown said. “We forced three turnovers and didn’t have one. We overcame a lot of adversity during the ballgame. I’m excited about being 1-0 in the Big 12 and happy that we got a 10-day period here so maybe we can get some guys well.”

Texas plays a rare, non-Thanksgiving night Thursday game at Iowa State next. The Cyclones are 2-0 and will play at Tulsa on Thursday, Sept. 26 before the Longhorns come to town.

 

1. Have the Longhorns settled on Gray as their top running back?

If not, perhaps they should. Gray, by setting career-highs in carries (28), yards (141) and touchdowns (two), got stronger the more he carried the ball.

Saying the right things, as always, Gray credited the offensive line but also admitted he liked the workload.

“Backs have to get in a rhythm,” he said. “Our line did a great job and gave us a chance. We took the opportunity and I had some big, open holes. Our job as backs was to hit them, and that’s what we did tonight.”

Malcolm Brown added 40 yards on nine carries and Ash, before he was pulled from the game, scrambled for 27 yards. In all, the Longhorns rushed for 227 yards on 47 totes.

Coach Brown said the key was to keep the offense balanced.

“We opened up passing the ball early and we were more balanced,” he said. “We ran 81 plays and slowed down the game in the fourth quarter. We didn’t do that last week against Ole Miss and we have to.”

Gray may sit as the cream of the Longhorns’ running back crop, but Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron aren’t far behind. Give any of the backs 28 carries and they would succeed as Gray did against Kansas State — but the sophomore has obviously earned his carries.

 

2. How will Ash’s injury affect the team moving forward?

Ash played a great game, arguably his best of the season, until doctors pulled him for the second quarter. He completed 14 of his 25 passes for 166 yards, a touchdown to Sanders and ran the ball without fear, even after taking a huge hit on a scramble in the first quarter.

On the Longhorns’ final drive of the first half, Ash was wincing as if in pain. The doctors then decided not to allow him back on the field for the second half.

“The doctors made that decision — I wouldn’t have made a decision to take him out,” Brown said. “I talked to him and he’s doing okay. With the new concussion rules, if they have symptoms pop back up, they take you out, period.”

McCoy filled in for Ash and passed for 59 yards, but the team — as well as its opponents — knows that McCoy has neither the deep-pass ability of Ash nor, despite his guts and toughness, the sudden running ability.

“Case did a good job on the sideline the first half by paying attention to the game, kind of the complexion the game was carrying,” offensive coordinator Major Applewhite said. “Our defense was playing well. He wasn’t going to impose his will on the game. He did a good job with understanding that.”

 

3. What was the difference on defense?

Robinson said he’s becoming more familiar with his players.

“I don’t call them by their numbers anymore; I’m starting to call them by their names,” he said.  “As a coaching staff, I appreciate the way [defensive assistants] Duane Akina, Bo Davis and Oscar Giles have helped me along. I’m starting to think in their terminology which is helping me and maybe I can infuse some things too. There’s progress being made.  Having a bye this week is really helpful.”

Defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat said the Longhorns are getting familiar with Robinson and starting to understand what he wants to do on defense, as well as what he expects from his players.

“[Beating Kansas State] was a big step,” Jeffcoat said. “We just have to keep our guys motivated and ready to go. We control our effort — the coaches can’t coach effort. We have to go and play hard, execute everything. That’s what we did. We made sure we executed the plays they put in.”

Kansas State totaled just 390 yards, 183 in the first half and 207 in the second, indicating Texas played consistent throughout the game. After halftime, in the losses to BYU and Ole Miss, the Longhorns were outscored 30-7.

“We came out, played together and had fun,” defensive tackle Chris Whaley said. “That’s what we’ve got to do every week.”

4. Who were the game’s breakout stars?

Two come to mind. Sanders and Johnson both stepped up and played like veterans with teammates Jaxon Shipley and Davis on the sideline due to injuries.

Sanders caught three passes for 80 yards including the perfectly-thrown scoring bomb from Ash in the first quarter.

“I looked at it all as a stage, just how I did in high school,” Sanders said. “Freshmen come in and build their way up to their senior year. Then, in college you come in as a freshman and work your way back up.”

Johnson tied with Shipley for game-high catches (five) and racked up 70 yards in his first extended action of the season.

“It was a big thing for Marcus and I,” Sanders said. “This was an opportunity and we needed to seize the moment. We’ve been working hard all summer, so we were just waiting for the chance.”

5. Moving forward, what still needs to get fixed?

The Kansas State game marks the beginning of 2013 conference play and Texas might have found its stride. Can the Longhorns make a run for the Big 12 title? That remains to be determined.

Texas needs to become more consistent on both sides of the ball. The bye week will give the Longhorns time to heal and get in some much needed practice. Defensively, the time-off is priceless.

“The fact that Greg [Robinson] and Duane [Akina] had worked together in 2004 is immeasurable to making [the defense] work,” Brown said. “They’ve done such an amazing job. They argue, they fight, but they did that in ‘04. Then they come up with good stuff. We’ll be better when we get to Iowa State because we’ll have another 10 days to prepare.”

If Ash’s concussion symptoms linger, the time off will also allow Texas to figure out if McCoy or freshman Tyrone Swoopes will get snaps in upcoming, significant games. Then again, every game means something at this point of the season.

Expect the Longhorns to also find a way to get some big plays in the kicking game, and for one of those plays to act as the difference in a close game.
[/s2If]
[s2If current_user_is_not(s2member_level2) OR current_user_is_not(s2member_level3) OR current_user_is_not(s2member_level5) OR current_user_is_not(s2member_level6)OR current_user_is_not(s2member_level7)]

The rest of this article is available to Digital Subscribers only. Login or Subscribe to continue reading.
[/s2If]

#HookEm