Five Questions – Kansas

 

By Steve Habel/Associate Editor

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Years from now, when fans recall Texas’ 23-0 win over Kansas during Charlie Strong’s first season at the helm, they’ll remember that Texas won a contest when it needed to the most.

A win is a win, even if it’s an ugly one against a team that spent more time beating itself during a picture-perfect afternoon at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kan.

The Longhorns found a way to take advantage of Kansas’ many mistakes, including four interceptions by the Jayhawks’ sophomore quarterback Montell Cozart. The Texas defense made [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]  a handful of big plays, allowing the team to walk out of America’s Heartland with its first shutout since 2012.

“It’s tough to go in someone’s place and beat them, especially when they play in your conference,” Strong said. “It’s a big win for us. I tell [the team that] anytime you play on the road you’ve got to pack your defense and your special teams. And those two units played well for us.”

Texas (2-2 overall, 1-0 Big 12) had a short field to navigate for its two touchdowns in the first half.

The first, which came four plays after a game-changing 41-yard punt return by Jaxon Shipley, began on the Kansas 18. The series ended when quarterback Tyrone Swoopes threw an easy 1-yard touchdown to tight end M.J. McFarland — who was alone in the back of the end zone — with just 55 seconds to play in the first quarter.

The Longhorns expanded their lead to 13-0 at the 4:22 mark of the second quarter as Swoopes rumbled 7 yards through the left side of the Jayhawks’ defense for a touchdown.

Cornerback Duke Thomas set the table for that score when he intercepted a pass thrown right to him by Cozart and returned the pick 24 yards. The Longhorns made a three-play march that led to Swoopes’ touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, Nick Rose made a career-long 42-yard field that increased the Longhorns’ lead to 16-0. The drive was set up by another Cozart interception, with this one landing right in the hands of Jordan Hicks.

Rose missed an extra-point kick earlier in the game and Kansas blocked his 46-yard field goal attempt.

After Kansas (2-2 overall, 0-1 in league play) failed to convert on fourth down and four deep in its own territory in the game’s waning moments, Texas poured it on as Swoopes completed passes to John Harris and Marcus Johnson. With the completions, Texas picked up easy yardage on its way to Harris’ 16-yard touchdown.

The touchdown gave the Longhorns’ a three-score lead and officially put away a Kansas team undone by the ineptitude of its offense.

Cozart, often flushed out of the pocket by the blitzing Texas defense that recorded four sacks and six quarterback hurries, completed just 12 of his 31 pass attempts for 140 yards.

“The bottom line is when you lose the turnover ratio like we did, you’re going to lose most games,” Kansas coach Charlie Weis said. “Our Achilles heel on offense is still making productive plays in the passing game, and at the end of the day, that’s what ended up costing us.”

Kansas released Weis from his position the day after the game.

Swoopes managed the game well, hitting on 19 of 34 passes for 218 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for seven yards and a touchdown on nine carries, many of which were improvised when his protection broke down and he was flushed from the pocket.

Texas only outgained Kansas 329-313 in total yards, but had just one turnover — on a botched exchange between center Jake Raulerson and Swoopes near the goal line in the first quarter.

“We drove the ball well in the first half and got a field goal blocked,” Strong summarized. “In the second half we had to find a way to run the football. If we established the run game then the passing game would open up for us.”

“On first and 10 we have to get in front of the chains and get a manageable second down,” he added. “We’ve got to be consistent.”

Texas’ defense employed a bend-but-not-break strategy and was helped by the Jawhawks’ inability to make plays when they needed to the most.

“[The shutout] gives us confidence but we can’t get too big off of this win,” said cornerback Quandre Diggs, who had an interception and blitzing sack. “We have to continue to grind and watch film tomorrow on the next guys.”

Oh yeah, about the next guys.

The Longhorns got the win they so desperately needed against Kansas, but they have little time to celebrate.

The schedule now gets really tough, with consecutive games against the two top teams in the Big 12 Conference — this Saturday at home against Baylor and on Oct. 11 in Dallas against Oklahoma.

 

1. How has Swoopes improved over the past three games?

The sophomore signalcaller is much more poised in the pocket and was less hesitant to take off and run when he didn’t have any other choice. Swoopes is certainly no speed demon, but he’s tough, strong and able to shed tacklers.

When under duress against Kansas, Swoopes’ made good decisions. He has learned to take a loss by holding onto the ball rather than give the defense a chance to make a play, and that’s something that even experienced quarterbacks struggle with.

Teams will continue to make Swoopes beat them with his arm by crowding the box and jamming the running lanes. He’ll need to prove he can hit some long throws to before the defense softens up. He was mostly inaccurate with his deep passes against Kansas, and his passing statistics were padded by the 48-yard strike to Shipley that was thrown up for grabs and brought down by the veteran receiver.

Swoopes will have to take some huge strides forward in the next few weeks for the Longhorns to have any notion of an upset against the strength of the league. He’s improved, but he’ll have to improve even more.

 

2. Who was the key player against Kansas?

That would be Thomas, who had two interceptions and another one that was called back at the end of the first half for a roughing-the-passer penalty. Thomas also had a crucial pass breakup in the third quarter when the game was still in question.

The Jayhawks’ offensive plan was obvious — they attacked Thomas to see how he’d respond, especially after he was victimized for the game-deciding touchdown pass against UCLA on Sept. 13. But the junior cornerback showed he has one of the traits that make for a good defensive back — a short-term memory.

“Duke has a lot of confidence; sometimes he plays with too much of it,” Strong said. “Duke does a great job of covering. He studies receivers during the week so he knows the throws and what’s going to happen.”

Other honorable mentions include Diggs (who sometimes seems to carry Texas with his swagger and toughness), Harris, who recorded a team-high six catches for 81 yards, and Hicks, who led the team with 11 tackles. On Monday the Big 12 named Hicks as the Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Kansas.

 

3. What do the stats from this game show us?

Texas and Kansas had the same amount of first downs (19 each) and the Jayhawks outrushed the Longhorns 173-11 — a stat that Texas must rectify if the team plans to have any chance to beat the likes of Baylor and Oklahoma.

The Longhorns countered that discrepancy by a 218-140 advantage in the passing game.

Kansas had the ball for just a minute more than Texas. The Longhorns possessed the ball for 11:38 of the first quarter — and had just six points to show for it.

The biggest stat was that Kansas ran 82 offensive plays in the game; 44 of those were in Longhorn territory.

Kansas has yet to dent the goal line.

Interesting as well is that Texas’ offense has only six plays this season of at least 29 yards. That stat will also need to change if the Longhorns plan to be successful in the long run.

 

4. What’s the issue with the Longhorns’ running game?

Texas’ two main rushing threats, Johnathan Gray (44 yards on 13 carries) and Malcolm Brown (12 totes for 29 yards), combined for just 73 yards on the ground — 10 yards less than Kansas’ leading rusher De’Andre Mann (17 carries for 83 yards).

Freshman wide receiver Armanti Foreman made Texas’ longest running play (30 yards) on a reverse.

The Longhorns’ three other runners (Gray, Brown and Swoopes) averaged less than 3.4 yards per run.

The key to getting the run game back on track is the continued continuity of the Longhorns’ offensive line, a unit racked by injury (starting center Dominic Espinosa) and suspensions (starting tackles Desmond Harrison and Kennedy Estelle). But the offensive line made enough of a push to get Texas into the end zone three times, and that’s an improvement over the past two games.

“If anything is going to happen, it has to happen within this team,” Strong said. “We have to be together, we have to be disciplined and we have to have focus.”

 

5. Can the Longhorns move forward from this game?

They have to in order to have any chance of winning in the coming weeks.

Yes, this victory gave the Longhorns some confidence — and shortened the learning curve for Swoopes and the young offensive line — but the bottom line is that Texas beat a vastly inferior Kansas team and didn’t look especially dominant or impressive doing it.

At times, Texas looked as if it was happy to let Kansas try to make plays rather than finding a way to expand its lead. The Longhorns had just 16 yards of offense in the third quarter. Maybe the Texas coaching staff felt didn’t want to show anything else to Baylor or future opponents. It was hard to tell, but frustrating to watch.

Asked afterward if a similar performance to the one the Longhorns provided against Kansas would be good enough to beat Baylor or Oklahoma, Strong said, “Well, we’re going to need to score some points.”

That, Coach, is a given. But it’s likely to take a whole lot more.

 

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