Texas wastes late chances, falls at Kansas State, 24-21

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

MANHATTAN, Kansas — Texas had the chance to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat against Kansas State on Saturday but — like so many other trips by the Longhorns to the Flint Hills of Kansas — the Longhorns just couldn’t get out of their own way long enough to make it happen.

This time around it was no different as Kansas State parlayed an efficient-if-unspectacular first half into 24-21 victory over the hapless Longhorns before a crowd of 52,338 fans at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

The Wildcats scored on runs of 6 and [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]19 yards by quarterback Jesse Ertz and an 8-yard Ertz to Byron Pringle touchdown pass in the first half in building a 21-7 lead while dominating time of possession and keeping Texas’ potent offense off the field.

The Longhorns trailed, 24-7, at the 4:30 mark of the third quarter but made it close in the final minutes. Tyrone Swoopes scored on an 8-yard run out of the 18-wheeler package with 31 seconds to play in the third quarter and Shane Buechele hit Dorian Leonard on a six-yard touchdown pass with 46 seconds to play to cut the lead to 24-21.

But Texas kicker Trent Domingue, who earlier in the fourth quarter missed a 35-yard field goal, bounced the ball out of bounds on the ensuing onside kick and Kansas State ran off the final seconds of the game.

“We knew what kind of game this was going to be, that (Kansas State) was going to try to grind the ball and we needed to make stops,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said. “We weren’t able to do that in the first half but we bounced back in the second half. We have to learn from this and move on. We’re going to continue to battle and we won’t quit.”

In between UT’s two second-half scores, the Longhorns (3-4 overall, 1-3 in Big 12 play) wasted two scoring opportunities, once on Domingue’s missed field goal and another when a potential fourth-down touchdown was dropped in the end zone by Armanti Foreman.

Buechele ended up 17-of-24 for 222 yards and two touchdowns while D’Onta Foreman, the nation’s No. 2 running back in average yards per game, rushed for 124 yards on 24 carries. Buechele connected with nine different receivers (Collin Johnson led Texas with four catches for 22 yards), but the Longhorns ran just 62 plays, 23 less than their season average.

Kansas State (4-3 overall, 2-2 in Big 12 games), led by Ertz’s 249 total yards (171 yards passing and 78 on the ground on 18 carries), outgained Texas 405-344 and beat the Longhorns for the fifth straight game and seventh time in eight contests in Manhattan despite committing three turnovers and eight penalties.

Kansas State made things look easy on the game’s opening drive, marching 68 yards in nine plays in 5:37 to Ertz’s six-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead. Texas committed three penalties on the drive, two of which resulted in first downs for the Wildcats (who did not need the help) and the Longhorns found themselves in an early hole.

After forcing a Texas punt, the Wildcats took over and ran out the rest of the period while in the midst of a 16-play, 80-yard drive that culminated in Ertz’s 19-yard touchdown run, this time a nifty, pick-his-way effort that gave Kansas State a 14-0 advantage.

Midway through the second quarter Texas went deep on a big play to cut the Wildcats’ lead in half. Buechele pump-faked and hit freshman wide receiver Devin Duvernay in stride down the east sideline for an 80-yard touchdown. The pass, catch and run almost doubled the Texas offensive output to that point (they had 82 yards before the play) and proved that the Longhorns at least had a pulse.

Any good feelings that the bomb to Duvernay created was all but wiped out when Ertz hit Pringle for an eight-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds to play in the half that pushed the Kansas State lead to 21-7. Texas had two more huge penalties on the nine-play, 75-yard march — a pass interference call on John Bonney when he had good coverage on a deep pass and a roughing-the-passer flag on Bryce Cottrell – that aided the drive.

Kansas State dominated the statistics in the first half, outgaining Texas 244-162, running 46 plays to the Longhorns 20 and possessing the ball for 23:18 to just 6:42 for Texas. It was the least time of possession in a half for Texas since 2004 and the third-lowest in the first half for any FBS team this season. The Longhorns had seven assessed penalties for 47 yards in the first 30 minutes and was 0-for-3 on third down conversions.

The Wildcats had almost as many first downs in the first half (19) as Texas had offensive plays — have you ever heard of such a statistic?

Kansas State forced a Texas punt on the opening possession of the third quarter and then moved through the Longhorns’ defense, again, like a hot knife through butter. But the Wildcats’ Charles Jones, heading into the end zone for what looked to be an easy touchdown, lost the ball at the goal line when he was hit by Texas linebacker Anthony Wheeler. The Longhorns recovered for a touchback, allowing them to dodge a huge bullet.

The turnover was just the fifth of the season for Kansas State and ended a streak of red zone scores by the Wildcats that began in 2015 at 56. Kansas State had scored all 31 times it had moved inside its opponents’ 20-yard line this season.

Kansas State added a 35-yard field goal by Matthew McCrane at the 4:30 mark of the third quarter to push its lead to 24-7 and make the mountain Texas needed to climb a little higher. There was no way to know then that McCrane’s kick would be end up being the game’s deciding play.

Texas responded when Swoopes utilized the 18-wheeler package to convert a third-down-and-2 situation at the Kansas State 10 and then scooted around left end for an eight-yard touchdown run that cut the Wildcats’ lead to 24-14 with 31 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Foreman eclipsed 100 yards for the game on the drive, the eighth game in a row he’s reached the century mark. Only Earl Campbell (11 in 1977) has more in Texas history.

Five minutes into the fourth quarter UT’s Edwin Freeman intercepted a wobbly, across-the-body pass from Ertz and returned it 30 yards to the K-State 36. On third down Buechele had the ball knocked out of his passing hand by the Wildcats’ Jordan Willis but the freshman quarterback somehow recovered the loose ball among a sea of purple jerseys.

“We kept thinking that we just needed someone to make a play to get things turned around and give us a chance and we got that,” Strong said. “We had the opportunities but we didn’t take advantage of them. We have young guys that will continue to fight.”

But Texas could not convert on fourth down, as Armanti Foreman failed to haul in Buechele’s pass in the end zone, and wasted the possession and scoring chance.

On the next possession Freeman found the football in a scrum when it was mishandled by Ertz during a quarterback sneak, giving Texas the ball at its own 48 with 7:07 to play. An eight-yard run on third down by Foreman and a 23-yard pass and run by Buechele to Jake Oliver moved the Longhorns to the Kansas State 9-yard line. But a bad snap on third down forced Texas to attempt a 35-yard field goal that was pulled wide left by Domingue.

That set the table for the end game, when Texas had just too little, too late.

The Longhorns return home for to face Baylor on Saturday, with kickoff at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium set for 2:30 p.m.

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