Five Questions – Kansas State

 

By Steve Habel, Senior Editor

MANHATTAN, Kansas — Given the setting, the moxie of the opponent and how Texas played in the first half, it’s quite remarkable that Texas had a chance to win against Kansas State with a minute left to play.[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]

Kansas State uncharacteristically granted that opportunity by handing Texas three turnovers, committing eight penalties and forgetting to cover the deep pass.

The Longhorns, however, wasted most of those chances. Texas couldn’t get out of its own way long enough to make the most of the handouts, leading to a Kansas State 24-21 victory on Saturday, before a crowd of 52,338 fans at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

And so Texas left the Flint Hills of Kansas with another loss and even more questions about its preparation, attitude, heart and, ultimately, the future.

Kansas State parlayed an efficient-if-unspectacular first half into a 21-7 lead, finding a way to hold on despite playing its worst half of football this season. The Wildcats scored on runs of 6 and 19 yards by quarterback Jesse Ertz, as well as an 8-yard Ertz to Byron Pringle touchdown pass in the first half. The Wildcats dominated time of possession and kept 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, scoring twice in the final 20 minutes of the game. Tyrone Swoopes scored on an 8-yard run out of the 18-wheeler package with 31 seconds to play in the third quarter. Almost a full quarter later Shane Buechele hit Dorian Leonard on a six-yard touchdown pass with 46 seconds left in the game 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 head 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’ll continue to battle.”

In between Texas’ 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 attempt and another when Armanti Foreman dropped a potential fourth-down touchdown.

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). The Longhorns, however, 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. The Wildcats beat the Longhorns for the fifth straight game and for the 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 playsto 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 didn’t 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 in the midst of a 16-play, 80-yard drive. The drive 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 the Longhorns had a pulse.

Any good feelings generated from Duvernay’s touchdown catch was all but wiped out when Ertz hit Pringle for an eight-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds to play in the half. The score 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.

Kansas State forced a Texas punt on the opening possession of the third quarter and then moved through the Longhorns’ defense 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 (56) by the Wildcats that started in 2015. Kansas State had scored the 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 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. He then scooted around the left end for an 8-yard touchdown run that cut the Wildcats’ lead to 24-14 with 31 seconds to play in the third quarter.

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

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

Texas couldn’t 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 D’Onta Foreman and a 23-yard pass and run by Buechele to Jake Oliver moved the Longhorns to the Kansas State-9. 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.

 

Was Texas ill-prepared for Kansas State?

The Longhorns’ first-half performance almost looked as if the team — especially the defense — didn’t know what to expect from the Wild Cats. The idea is unfathomable, considering Kansas State has done basically the same thing on offense for the entirety of Snyder’s tenure: grind the clock, run the ball, take what the defense gives, let you beat yourself.

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. The Longhorns’ time of possession marked the least amount of time in a half 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.

“You can’t play defense like we did on the road and expect to win,” Strong said.

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?

After the game, the media asked defensive lineman Paul Boyette Jr. if having Strong as a defensive coordinator made a difference. He was honest to a fault.

“It’s like a broken record — that’s all I can say,” Boyette said. “It falls on the players. We can’t come out and play one half. We have to find a way out of this slump, and everybody has to pull their weight. We can’t make any more excuses.”

 

Who was Texas’ best player against the Wildcats?

Without a doubt, D’Onta Foreman is the heart and soul of this team, and was once again Texas’ best player of the week.

Foreman is all but unstoppable, carrying the load for the Longhorns even with a target on his back. Opponents know limiting his carries is the key to stopping Texas.

He eclipsed 100 yards for the eighth game in a row — only Earl Campbell (11 in 1977) has more consecutive 100-yard rushing games in Texas history. Foreman has 855 yards on the season and may become the Longhorns’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Jamaal Charles in 2007.

Foreman also hauled in the pass thrown his way during the Longhorns’ fourth-quarter touchdown drive and turned it into a 20-yard gain. The problem with passing him ball is that he becomes even more exposed to big hits — he already gets plenty of wear and tear by running the ball.

 

What’s going on with Malik Jefferson?

Jefferson was on the sideline for extended periods of time during the Kansas State game.

Seeing the unquestioned defensive leader on the sideline was surprising, especially when he wasn’t injured and the weather conditions weren’t overly taxing.

After the game, when asked if Jefferson was in the doghouse, Strong only said that Jefferson’s sideline time was part of the linebacker rotation. Even a few days after the game, the statement still sounds fishy — the defense needed its best players on the field to stop Kansas State from running right through the line.

According to recent buzz, Jefferson was one of the Longhorns called out by his fellow teammates during a players meeting prior to the Iowa State game. If that’s the case, Jefferson responded, securing six tackles (second most on the team) versus Kansas State after recording four (including a sack and a tackle for a loss) against Iowa State.

Jefferson hasn’t been the transcendent talent and All-American caliber player most expected him to be — at least so far. He’s not even the team’s leading tackler (that nod goes to Wheeler, who has 10 more stops than Jefferson), but he’s undoubtedly the most important player on the defense.

 

What were the biggest plays of this game?

Three plays come to mind. If executed successfully, any one of the three plays could’ve made the difference in the game.

First, Domingue’s missed 35-yard field goal attempt was a dagger to the team. These kicks should account for an easy 3 points for the Longhorns.

Secondly, Leonard’s drop of a slant pass early in the third quarter on fourth-down-and-2 was critical. The wide receiver had a step up on the Kansas State defense. The Wildcats crowded the line to stop a probable run by Foreman and left no one in the backfield to chase down Leonard.

“Big play there,” Strong said. “Leonard was wide open. He was so excited to start running he didn’t secure the ball.”

Armanti Foreman’s drop of a perfectly thrown pass deep into coverage on fourth down late in the game rounds out the top three plays of the game.

“That was an incredible pass and it was right in Foreman’s hands,” Strong said. “He couldn’t bring it in.”

 

What’s next for the Longhorns?

Speculation about Strong’s longevity on the 40 Acres and questions regarding the continual underperformance of his team will run rampant this week as the Longhorns return home to face Baylor on Saturday.

If the Texas defense struggled against the likes of plain-ole-vanilla Kansas State, it’s hard to imagine the Longhorns will learn how to defend an undefeated hyper-spread offense. Fans should expect an offensive shootout this weekend.

The big picture looks murky for Texas given that it needs to win three of its final five regular-season games to become bowl eligible. The Longhorns still have to play Baylor, West Virginia (the Big 12’s last two undefeated teams) and TCU at home, and then Texas Tech and Kansas on the road.[/s2If] [s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] [article-offer] [/s2If]