Five Questions: Kansas

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — There’s little doubt that, as Texas coach Tom Herman reminds anyone who will listen, winning is hard.

Likewise, nobody who is familiar with college football is going to argue that the grind of a season that can stretch more than four months can take its toll, especially when you’re fielding a team, like the Longhorns, that’s trying to rebuild.

But those understandings don’t explain UT’s level of difficulty in beating hapless Kansas, which went toe to toe with the bigger, stronger and more talented [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]Longhorns once again before succumbing, 42-27, Saturday in a dreadful Big 12 Conference game at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Yes, it was a win for Texas, but there was very little that was pretty or even very satisfying about it. If that’s the way the Longhorns have to scrap to beat a team that’s won once against an FBS team since 2014, well so be it.

Oh, that team the Jayhawks beat? That was the Longhorns last season in what was likely the beginning of the death knell for the Charlie Strong tenure on the 40 Acres.

Asked after the game if it was upsetting that his team didn’t have a more comfortable win over a Kansas team that it should be able to dominate, Herman said no, and did so emphatically.

“There’s no lack of confidence. There’s no issue with perception,” Herman said. “Winning for us right now is going to be hard, especially with where we are with this program, and that’s OK, as long as we win.”

Sophomore quarterback Shane Buechele passed for 249 yards and a touchdown to lead the Texas offense. Texas (5-5 overall, 4-3 in Big 12 play) outlasted the Jayhawks despite the fact the game was statistically even in nearly every category. Kansas turned the ball over four times — including three interceptions by quarterback Carter Stanley — and that ultimately proved to be its undoing.

Stanley passed for 268 yards and three touchdowns in the loss, KU’s ninth in a row after a season-opening win over Southeast Missouri.

“We left a lot of chances out there,” Kansas coach David Beaty said. “What’s disappointing is that we had an opportunity and we weren’t able to take advantage of it. Turnovers, and being able to capitalize on them, tells the story in games, right?”

Texas took little time to get on the scoreboard, as Buechele hit Lorenzo Joe with a 49-yard touchdown bomb on the first snap of the game. Then the Longhorns’ defense added to the lead as little-used safety Antwuan Davis intercepted a pass thrown directly to him by Stanley and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown that pushed the lead to 14-0 at the 8:05 mark of the first quarter.

The Jayhawks responded with a six-play, 56-yard drive that was extended on a third-down, pass interference call on Texas cornerback Kris Boyd and ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Stanley to Steven Sims that cut the Horns’ lead to 14-7.

UT running back Toneil Carter turned in a nifty, shifty 23-yard run for a touchdown to cap off the Longhorns’ ensuing possession that covered 60 yards on five plays — all of which were runs — and extended their advantage to 21-7.

Jason Hall then intercepted Stanley at the KU 34 and returned it 25 yards to set up a short field for the Longhorns, who made short work of the opportunity and expanded their lead to 28-7 with 1:55 still to play in the first quarter when freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger connected with freshman tight end Cade Brewer on an 8-yard touchdown pass.

The Jayhawks (1-9, 07 in Big 12) showed surprising resilience, pulling to within 28-17 midway through the second quarter via a dynamite 8-yard touchdown pass from Stanley to Earl Bostick, who was surrounded by three Texas defenders, and a 36-yard field goal by Gabriel Rui, the latter after Boyd fumbled a kickoff at the UT 24-yard line.

Kansas returned the favor later in the second quarter, fumbling a punt that Davis jumped on at the KU 22. The Longhorns used nine plays to drive to a 1-yard touchdown run by Lil’Jordan Humphrey out of the Wildcat formation to push their lead to 35-17 at halftime.

In the third quarter the game fell into a pattern of missed opportunities for both teams and slowed to a crawl, thanks to eight different stoppages for reviews of plays by the officials.

Rui added a 32-yard field goal midway through the third quarter for Kansas. The Longhorns’ Chris Warren III rammed into the end zone from the 1 with 5:34 to play to finally finish off the Jayhawks.

Kansas scored a garbage-time touchdown with 11 seconds left on a 18-yard pass from Stanley to Chase Harrell but it was far too little, too late.

Next up for the Longhorns is a trip to Morgantown, West Virginia and a battle next Saturday against the now-No. 23 Mountaineers. Texas needs to win against WVU or the night after Thanksgiving at home to earn a spot in a bowl game.

 

Why did the offense struggle after the first quarter?

Herman and offensive coordinator Tim Beck hit Kansas in the mouth with the touchdown bomb from Buechele to Joe to set the tone for the game, but UT’s other scores were either a dividend of the short field created by the Longhorn defense or a grind-it-out situation.

The bottom line is that once Texas took the lead, the Longhorns made sure to maintain their position by keeping things close to the vest and relying on the defense to make plays. Against a team like Kansas, which basically couldn’t get out of its own way long enough to find a chance to win, that strategy worked. However, that same strategy will fail against other teams.

“The momentum thing is real,” Herman said. “With such an inexperienced outfit that we have right now, we have to do a better job of not worrying about what the score is, how the defense is playing and how they stopped us.

“We knew we were going to have to punt every now and again in this game, and we harped on it all week, about making sure we maintain a positive energy on (the offensive) side of the ball, and we did. We have to do a better job on first and second down, and staying ahead of the chains, because as you saw, we’re not built to convert third-and-longs right now. But if we can stay ahead of the chains and stay in third-and-4, third-and-5, we’re able to convert.”

 

How is UT’s struggles in the kicking game affecting the team’s decisions on fourth down?

The Longhorns have been woeful in the kicking game — replacement kicker Mitchell Becker missed his only attempt Saturday, making Texas 7-for-15 for the season — so much so that Herman almost has taken field goals out of the equation unless they’re extra-point length.

That means if the Longhorns advance to the opponents’ 35-yard line or closer, and face a fourth down, Herman will go for it more often than not. Texas went 4-of-6 on fourth downs Saturday, with three of those conversions in the first half.

“The most frustrating one tonight was when we had a fourth-and-6 on the 34, and I’m not going to line up and attempt a 51-yard field goal,” Herman said. “But are you going to punt it from the 34-yard line? That seems silly, as well.”

Not having confidence in the kicking team is hard, but Herman isn’t ready to quit on Joshua Rowland or Becker just yet. However, it’s difficult to imagine either one lining up for a game-winning field goal without a lot of squirming and heavy gum chewing ensuing.

“The plan moving forward is what it is,” Herman said. “We go back to the drawing board. We coach them. We try to correct mistakes the best we can, compete in the week of practice, and if the situation dictates itself, we’ll jog one of them out again.”

 

Who turned the most heads for Texas against Kansas?

There are two candidates and both are from the Longhorns’ secondary: Hall and Davis, who combined to corral all four KU turnovers.

Davis is a story of perseverance and willingness to work and contribute at any level. He stepped into the fray with injuries over the past two games and made the most of his opportunities.

“Anyone paying attention has heard me sing (Davis’) praises numerous times,” Herman said. “This is a guy that needed to pass an ungodly amount of hours in the spring and summer to graduate, and he needed to graduate to be eligible to play this season. He’s a guy who has thrived in his role on special teams and when P.J. [Locke] went down, he filled in well.”

Davis said it’s a great feeling to be out there with this team.

“It was thrilling to know my team had my back the way they did,” he said. “I can tell you almost every guy on the sideline came and told me ‘good job.’ I appreciate that so much. These guys have hung in there with me.”

Then there’s Hall, who has started 28 games at Texas over the past four year but was later passed at his position by DeShon Elliott.

“We had to shuffle that lineup, but it was good to see Jason defending the run,” Herman said.

 

Why didn’t we see more of Ehlinger in this game?

Ehlinger, who was cleared to play after missing the Baylor and TCU games with a concussion, was in for just three series, one of which ended with him throwing his touchdown pass to Brewer at the end of the game in mop-up time.

Herman said it was the plan all along to get Ehlinger into the game but not ask too much of him.

“We said we were going to play Sam for one series at least, and that series would be the fourth series,” Herman said. “I didn’t think it would be fair for him to jog back in after not playing in 21 days in a game. We wanted to see how he’d respond and we thought he did well.

“It would’ve taken some kind of disaster for us to make a switch at that point.”

Meanwhile Buechele, who now has started half of UT’s 10 games this year, said his comfort level with the offense is increasing each week.

“It felt good executing the play with the ball,” Buechele said. “We talk about it all the time — just executing. It’s a knowledge of the game, the defense, getting in film and seeing what they’re doing and being able to adjust if they show some stuff on the field that they didn’t show in film. I’m getting comfortable with it.”

It’s anybody’s guess who will start at quarterback for this team week to week.

 

What’s next for the Longhorns?

Texas travels to Morgantown, West Virginia, for a battle this coming Saturday against the No. 23 Mountaineers, who outlasted Kansas State Saturday. The Longhorns need to win in the Allegheny Mountains or the night after Thanksgiving at home to earn a spot in a bowl game

“We’re down the home stretch here,” Herman said, “and we have an opportunity to go on the road and win our fifth conference game and become bowl-eligible, which is an improvement and something that these seniors truly deserve.”

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