Five Questions – Kansas

Five Questions – Kansas 

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

No matter what ails the Texas football team, the cure always seems to come in the form of a game against hapless Kansas — a squad that can’t get out of its own way long enough to find a way to win.

If getting well with a rout over the Jayhawks was the prescription for the Longhorns, they need to aggressively shake their doctor’s hand. Texas defeated Kansas 59-20 before an announced crowd of 92,529 on Nov. 7 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

There have been times when even good Texas teams, like those in [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] 2004 and 2012, struggled to beat Kansas. Yet, for the past 15 games between the two teams, the Longhorns have used Kansas as fodder to build momentum for more important games and worthy opponents.

And the beat goes on. The Longhorns (4-5 overall, 3-3 in Big 12 play) employed two huge plays at the beginning of each half and four touchdown runs from short-yardage quarterback Tyrone Swoopes to post another walkover against winless Kansas. The Jayhawks, however, didn’t go down without a fight — at least for the first 30 minutes.

Texas scored on its first offensive snap when quarterback Jerrod Heard went deep for an 84-yard touchdown pass to John Burt. The Jayhawks might have seen the play coming (a few of us in the press box did) because Burt bounced out onto the field before the game like he knew he had a chance to make something happen.

“Getting Jerrod some early confidence with his passing was part of the plan to open the game,” head coach Charlie Strong said. “If the quarterback has a good game then the rest of the team will follow. This was a great team win for us because we had to battle through some adversity.”

The Longhorns pushed their lead to 10-0 on their ensuing possession, moving 54 yards in nine plays to Nick Rose’s 29-yard field goal at the 8:56 mark of the first quarter.

Texas looked like it was in cruise control when the team scored again before the end of the quarter. After Dylan Haines intercepted Kansas quarterback Ryan Willis and returned the pick to the Kansas 4-yard line, Swoopes utilized the 18-Wheeler package to ram home the ball within two plays.

But then the Jayhawks came to life, fashioning an 87-yard, nine-play march of their own that produced a touchdown when Shakiem Barbel fell on a fumble by teammate De’Andre Mann in the end zone.

The Longhorns answered with a 17-yard drive and a 1-yard Swoopes scoring dive that followed a muffed punt by Kansas. With 11:58 to play in the second quarter, Texas held a 24-7 lead. But the Jayhawks responded again, driving 59 yards in 12 plays to a Mann 1-yard touchdown run that cut the Texas advantage to 24-14.

The rest of the half belonged to Kansas, and the Jayhawks had two chances to cut further into the lead. Kansas was turned away on a fourth down-and-1 by a Texas goal line stand late in the period, and then missed a 26-yard field goal when kicker Nick Bartolotta plunked the kick off the right upright.

“The goal line stand was huge because that changed their way of thinking and gave us a little breathing room when we needed it,” linebacker Peter Jinkens said.

Kansas actually outgained Texas 236-190 in the first half (the Longhorns had just 33 yards in the second quarter) and had the ball for 18 minutes to Texas’ 12.

Then in the third quarter, with Texas ahead just 24-14 and the game still very much in doubt, running back D’Onta Foreman rolled around left end and sprinted for a 93-yard touchdown. The run was the third longest in Texas football history and the longest since 1967.

Foreman (who led the Longhorns with 157 yards rushing on 12 carries) added a 9-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter at the end of a nine-play, 53-yard march. Foreman’s brother, Armanti, got into the act with a 40-yard touchdown after making a circus catch near the front-left pylon on a pass from Swoopes during the fourth quarter.

Swoopes then got loose on a 44-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter as whatever resolve the Jayhawks had mustered had faded away. Later he picked up a fumble from running back Kirk Johnson and rambled 10 yards for another score.

 

1. 1. Why don’t the Longhorns throw deep on the game’s first play every week?

There has long been an outcry from this corner for the first-snap, deep-ball but offensive coordinator Jay Norvell explained after the game that he was more inclined to take what the defense allows rather than script a bomb every time.

“[Heard] was excited and he liked that play,” Norvell said. “It’s important that he gets off to a good start, so we felt like that was a good play to start with.”

Norvell told Heard and Burt that the Longhorns were going to throw deep on the opening snap a few hours before the game and — as explained above — Burt didn’t do a very good job of disguising his feelings about the play when he ran out of the tunnel.

Heard said the play gave him confidence early into the game.

“It was a progression read so I knew I had good options everywhere, but I had a lot of faith in John to make that catch,” Heard explained. “When we were told that we were running that play first, I went straight to my playbook with John and went over the coverage that we were going to expect and what he’d need to do to beat his corner. We really talked about it.”

Here’s hoping the Longhorns will do a little more downfield work as the year rolls on.

 

2. 2. What was the game’s biggest play?

There are plenty of candidates, namely all of the offensive plays listed above. But the play that assured that Texas would fend off any notion that Kansas might have had that it could play with the Longhorns was the fourth-down stop from the Texas-1 midway through the second quarter.

“It was big, because we turned the ball over and we gave it to [Kansas] on the 8,” Strong said. “It was a big fourth-down play. [Linebacker] Pete [Jinkens] stopped the momentum of the ball carrier and he ended up fumbling.  

“It denied them a touchdown that would’ve brought them within three points. It was a big goal line stand.”

Jinkens was credited with the first contact on the play but it was safety Jason Hall who hammered Mann and knocked the ball loose.

“That was a big booster for us — we needed that,” Jinkens said. “Shout out to Jason Hall for that. He did a good job.”

 

3. 3. How can Texas get shut out one week (when it lost 24-0 to Iowa State) and then look like a completely different team the next?

Such are the dangers of Texas putting so much on the plate of mostly unproven players who are still learning to adjust to the college game.

“I needed those points last week — I just needed half of them,” Strong deadpanned. “Last week (Heard) didn’t release the ball when he knew he needed to make the throws and we didn’t take advantage of what Iowa State gave us.”

The Longhorns tried to swoon in the second quarter, but Strong got in the locker room at halftime and got the team back on point — by utilizing the running game.

“I told them at halftime that Kansas was playing harder than we were,” Strong explained. “We can’t allow that to happen. I said there’s no reason for it. We jump up big and we can’t be front-runners. Once we get a lead, we have to continue to play and be aggressive. We are a more talented team and we need to come out for the second half and dominate the game.”

Once the floodgates opened, the Longhorns went with the flow and overwhelmed Kansas

“In the second half, we turned it on,” Strong added. “We had to go out and establish the run because we didn’t rush for many yards in the first half. We got that ball to D’Onta and watched him roll it. Then we got explosive and started making play after play.”

 

4. 4. How does a game (and a win) like this help the Longhorns outside the win-loss ledger?

For a team that thrives on competition and getting significant contributions from its freshmen, the Longhorns were able to get their younger players into the second half of the game.

In short, their time on the field is important.

“Just playing those young guys you see how young and talented we are,” Strong said. “[We enjoy] watching how explosive they are and the more they play, the better they’re going to get.”

With all the impressive performance by Texas’ younger players, one stood out about the rest — freshman safety DeShon Elliott grabbed two interceptions in the second half.

 

5. 5. What’s next for the Longhorns?

Texas heads to Morgantown next Saturday for a do-or-die game against West Virginia. Prior to the season, this contest was the one we chose as the most important game of the year for the Longhorns.

Beating Kansas could give the Longhorns a bit of confidence coming into game, but Strong would rather have his team play as an underdog and with a chip on its collective shoulder.

“We won’t get overly excited about this win because we expected to dominate Kansas,” Strong said. “Playing our best next week is critical. We haven’t played well on the road and we know West Virginia will be a tough opponent.”

Norvell said the key for this week (and for the rest of the season) is to channel the Longhorns’ newfound confidence and continue to add to it with solid preparation and execution.

“We have to push this team,” Norvell said. “We have to ride them and make sure they have the kind of focus and effort that we need out of them.

“This will be another big challenge this week,” he added. “This isn’t a team where we can take anything for granted. We need a breakthrough on the road against a good football team and we haven’t done that yet this year. If we perform the way we’re capable of, we can put together games where we can win against everybody left on our schedule.”

 

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