By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — It’s OK. Just take a deep breath. There, now isn’t that better?
The sound emanating from the throng of 96,851 fans at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium around 8 p.m. or so Saturday evening easily could have been mistaken for a huge exhale as the Longhorns finally found their stride, and scored two touchdowns in eight minutes, on the way to a 27-6 win over hapless Iowa State.
That’s when freshman quarterback Shane Buechele passed for 196 of his 296 yards, leading the theretofore moribund Longhorns on back-to-back-to-back scoring drives that helped propel them to the lead and, ultimately, the victory.
In the process, Texas (3-3 overall, 1-2 in games against Big 12 opponents) snapped [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]a three-game losing streak and won after trailing at halftime for the first time in head coach Charlie Strong’s two-plus seasons in Austin.
“The defense finally stepped up (tonight),” Strong said afterward, still wearing his white flip-top wristband with the Longhorns’ defensive plays listed inside. “I challenged the whole team to play better, to play with confidence and show us all the kind of players we know they are. We have six games left. We have to get better every day, every practice, every game.”
One game (really one good quarter of football against a well-coached but overmatched Iowa State team) does not a turnaround season make, but the Longhorns’ victory has at least helped them right their listing ship.
It took a while, though, and the UT faithful were about at the edge of their patience, especially in the lackluster first two quarters.
That’s when the Longhorns struggled offensively, failing to move the ball on Iowa State’s 102nd-ranked defense. The Cyclones kept to their plan to grind out the clock, take what Texas would give and not make mistakes, and that strategy allowed them to take a 6-0 lead on a pair of Cole Netten field goals.
Iowa State marched 58 yards in 12 plays, using 5:44 of the first quarter before settling for Netten’s first kick, a 39-yarder, and a 3-0 lead at the 3:59 mark of the first quarter.
On the Longhorns’ ensuing possession, workhorse running back D’Onta Foreman, who rushed for 136 yards on a career-high 30 carries, had the ball taken from him by Iowa State’s Willie Harvey, Jr. at the Texas 33-yard line. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on UT’s Caleb Bluiett advanced the ball to the Texas 18, but ISU’s drive stalled at the 8-yard line, forcing another Netten kick, this one a 25-yarder for a 6-0 Cyclone advantage.
The Longhorns finally scored on a 21-yard field goal by Trent Domingue with 15 seconds to play in the half that cut Iowa State’s lead to 6-3. The Cyclones, amazingly, had a chance to answer thanks to 47-yard return by Kene Nwangwu on the ensuing kickoff and a nifty-20 yard pass from backup quarterback Jacob Park to Jhaustin Thomas, but Netten missed a 50-yard field goal attempt as the clock expired for the first half.
Texas owned a 161-140 edge in total offense in the first half and outrushed the Cyclones, 95-55, thanks to three sacks that cost Iowa State big yards. Buechele passed for just 66 yards in the first half, with his longest completion a 16-yard hookup with Dorian Leonard.
The Longhorns finally broke through on the opening possession of the third quarter for its first touchdown in six-plus quarters against Iowa State when Buechele (who ended up 26-of-38 passing for 296 passing yards) found a wide-open Jerrod Heard for a 37-yard scoring pass. After Domingue’s extra point, Texas led, 10-6.
The touchdown pass came one play after Buechele hit Armanti Foremen on a 37-yard play that went into the end zone but was disallowed when both Foreman and the Iowa State defensive back tackling him were called for offsetting facemask penalties.
“We didn’t really change anything from the first half to the second — we just killed ourselves with penalties in the first two quarters that stopped drives, and I missed some guys for big plays that I had wide open,” Buechele said. “We just executed better in the third quarter, and we got some confidence back when we hit that first touchdown pass.”
Texas got rolling for real on its next possession, which began after the Longhorns’ defense stopped Iowa State on a fourth-down-and-two situation at the UT 25. Buechele floated a high pass down the right sideline for Devin Duvernay, who shrugged off a would-be tackler and sprinted for a 75-yard touchdown and a 17-6 Texas lead.
The Longhorns added to their lead in the final minute of the third quarter on D’Onta Foreman’s 18-yard touchdown run, which capped a 13-play, 96-yard drive.
Iowa State, which fell to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in games against Big 12 teams, didn’t have the offense to respond to the Longhorns’ run when the UT offense ultimately kicked into high gear.
The Cyclones’ were led by quarterback Joel Lanning’s 140 passing yards while completing 12 of 22 passes and splitting time behind center with Jacob Park, who connected on 7 of 12 passes for 42 yards. Mike Warren picked up 60 yards on 18 carries for Iowa State.
Texas, which had just a 161-140 edge in total offense in the first half, outscored Iowa State, 21-0, in the third quarter and outgained the Cyclones, 243-71, in the period. The Longhorns ended up with a 505-280 advantage in yards while recording eight sacks among 14 overall tackles for a loss.
“This game and this win is a page from a book we just have to keep turning,” Texas defensive tackle Paul Boyette said. “We have to continue to improve, continue trust each other and keep buying into what we are doing on the field.”
Texas will carry a modicum of momentum into next Saturday’s road game at Kansas State, which lost Saturday to Oklahoma, 38-14, in Norman.
“We know we will have to play better against Kansas State next week, and we can’t afford to have the mistakes, the slow start and especially the penalties we had here tonight,” Strong explained. “It’s all about ourselves — we control our destiny, and we can’t look back or go back and play those games again. We have to live in the present.”
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