By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — If you are one of those folks who believes in the value of style points, watching this year’s Texas football team might not be your cup of tea.
But if you’re focused on the bottom line, the winning and losing, the Longhorns found a way to serve up just the beverage you craved Saturday in a 27-24 win over No. 16 Kansas State before a crowd of 97,83 fans at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
For the second time in three games[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)], precocious kicker Cameron Dicker’s right foot was the difference. His 26-yard field goal on the game’s final snap produced the winning points and kept the Longhorns (6-3 overall, 4-2 in Big 12 games) in the running for a chance to play in the league championship game Dec. 7.
But Dicker had plenty of help from his teammates, most notably running back Keaontay Ingram, who rushed for a career-high 139 yards and two touchdowns.
Dicker’s kick would not have even been possible if not for a resurgent performance by the much-maligned Texas defense, which gifted the Wildcats 14 early points and then little else over the final three quarters.
“The win is obviously very important for us and what we wanted to accomplish tonight,” Texas coach Tom Herman said afterward.
“The way that it happened, to go down, 14-0, in the blink of an eye in the first two drives (and) then to outscore them, 27-3, from an offensive and defensive perspective … teams that don’t believe, teams that don’t have confidence, teams that aren’t together and play for each other, that doesn’t happen.”
Dicker’s game-winner culminated a 13-play, 67-yard drive that chewed up the final 6:45 of the contest. It was his third game-winning kick in his 22 games on the 40 Acres over the past two seasons.
“Everybody’s really happy. They’re celebrating this win tonight, but we all know we need to come in and get to work,” Dicker said. “I’m just happy to go out there and kick it through so everybody can celebrate.”
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger completed 22 of 29 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown for Texas (6-3 (overall, 4-2 in Big 12 play). Wide receivers Devin Duvernay (nine catches for 110 yards) and Collin Johnson (seven receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown) both amassed more than 100 yards receiving for the second straight game.
“We pride ourselves on our clock management,” Herman said. “You’ve seen that time and time again. To take possession with 6:45 in a tie ballgame and then get a win and with double zeros on the clock, 13 plays and 67 yards later, that’s pretty impressive.”
Ehlinger lauded his team for bouncing back after losing two of its previous three games and being pummeled by naysayers throughout the past two weeks.
“It would have been really easy for a group of guys that don’t love each other to just give up and say, you know, ‘maybe this season isn’t for us,’ but that’s the opposite of what happened,” Ehlinger said. “We had confidence in each other. We knew that we just stayed the course and did the things that we need to do, we’d be victorious.”
Kansas State quarterback Skylar Thompson passed for a career-high 253 yards and two touchdowns in the loss. He had 217 of those yards and both touchdowns in first half; his previous career-high passing was 218 yards in an entire game.
Kansas State (6-3 overall, 3-3 in Big 12 play) wasted no time establishing itself and the tenor of this game when Thompson hit Malik Knowles on a 70-yard catch-and-run touchdown on the third snap of the opening possession.
The Wildcats added to their lead with an eight-play, 63-yard march on their ensuing possession, scoring on a 19-yard pass from Thompson to Wykeen Gill.
The Longhorns answered with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Ehlinger to Johnson early in the second quarter to climb back to within 14-7
Texas got its needed touchdown to open the second half when Ingram barely stayed inbounds as he ran down the sideline and then leaped and scooted 34 yards for a score that tied the game at 14-14.
Dicker’s 36-yard field goal gave the Longhorns their first lead of the day at 17-14 with 9:02 to play in the third quarter. The biggest play on the drive was a 37-yard pass to Johnson.
A 53-yard punt return by Brandon Jones early in the fourth quarter gave Texas the chance to add to its lead, and Ingram cashed in the opportunity when he scored on a 12-yard touchdown run to make it 24-14 with 12:17 to play.
On the ensuing kickoff, Kansas State’s Joshua Youngblood flipped the script with a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to bring the Wildcats back to within three points.
The Wildcats then tied the game on Blake Lynch’s 45-yard field goal with 6:45 to play in the fourth quarter, setting the stage for the frantic final quarter.
The Texas defense finally showed up, and not a moment too soon. Kansas State started out the game by converting five of its first six third down chances through the middle of the second quarter. The Longhorns held them without another conversion on their next six attempts.
“We played better on first and second down to make those third downs a lot longer,” Herman said. “We executed at a much higher level. We did our jobs. It starts on first and second down and keeping it in third and very manageable for the defense.”
The Longhorns, who are now bowl-eligible, return to action next Saturday when they travel to Ames, Iowa to face dangerous Iowa State.
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