Horns are at Crossroads in Key Road Trip to Kansas | Horns Illustrated

Habe on the Horns – By Steve Habel/Associate Editor

Not long ago – say just a couple of seasons back – the Texas football team could consider a game against Kansas as an automatic win and a contest in which statistics could be padded and gushed over for years to come.

That’s all changed now. When the Longhorns travel [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] to Kansas for a Big 12 Conference opener at 3 p.m. Saturday in Lawrence, they will face a team that possesses a better record than they do, albeit against far inferior competition.

Texas (1-2) is coming off back-to-back losses to a pair of teams ranked in the top 20 with a combined record of 8-0 while Kansas has wins over Southeast Missouri and Central Michigan and a 38-point blowout loss to Duke on its resume.

The Longhorns return to the field for the first time in 14 days thanks to an open week, and remain a team in transition, both with a new coaching staff and because of the constant shuffle of players the Horns have brought into action through its first three games due to injuries and suspensions.

The Jayhawks, as meek as their chances have been in the past, will be ready to spring an upset.

Kansas almost found a way to beat Texas the last time the two teams played in Lawrence, a brisk afternoon that the Longhorns survived only with a last-gasp touchdown pass from Case McCoy to D.J. Grant that produced a 21-17 victory.

One of the keys to beating Kansas is to take its fans out of the game early on.

“Every time you go on the road, you have to pack your defense because it can take the crowd out of the game,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said. “This is a good Kansas team and it’s always tough when you go to someone else’s home because you know they will play their best. You have to play together and go and compete at the highest level. We have to play our best to win.”

KU and UT are facing each other for the 14th time in program history, with the Longhorns owning the series record 11-2. The Jayhawks won the first two games of the series, but have since suffered 11 straight setbacks to Texas, dating back to 1938.

But that was then, and this is now. Texas has to look at this game as a must-win situation, especially with games against two teams in the top seven in the nation (Baylor at home on Oct. 4 and Oklahoma in Dallas on Oct. 11) looming.

Strong said his team has not lost confidence after losing its past two games.

“I hope they are not thinking to lose confidence after two (losses),” he said. “You have nine (more games) and you have the conference to go play for now.”

Of the 95 players on KU’s roster, the Jayhawk coaching staff has delved into the Lone Star State to recruit 25 players from Texas. Meanwhile, the Longhorns currently have no player on their roster that is originally from the state of Kansas.

“Obviously this is a big week for our program,” Kansas coach Charlie Weis said. “More than a quarter of our kids are from the state of Texas and it’s our homecoming.

“I’m sure there’s nothing earth shattering that Texas is looking at as it sits there and studies us,” Weis added. “They’re coming off a bye week, and we’re going to have to play really, really well to have a chance. We’re going to figure to try to play into a slugfest and win the game in the fourth quarter.”

If that’s the game Weis and his team wants, then Texas is likely to oblige. For the Horns, this game is the most important on the schedule, and Kansas is no longer the afterthought it’s been in the past.

A loss in this game could derail the Longhorns’ season of reinvention even further, but expect Texas to do enough to win and get a establish some momentum going into the first tough stretch of league play.

Just sayin’, ya know?

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