By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — Halfway into the 2019 college football season, both No. 15-ranked Texas and Kansas are about where pundits expected them to be after six games. But the Longhorns and Jayhawks will have plenty to prove, and improve on, when they meet Saturday evening in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (4-2 overall, 2-1 in Big 12 play) have flirted with being really good, losing only to then-No. 6 LSU (ranked No. 2 in the latest Associated Press poll) in week 2, and fifth-ranked Oklahoma last week, both by just seven points.
But the loss to OU exposed [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]UT on the offensive line and in fundamental defensive play, prompting the Longhorns to return to the basics of blocking, tackling and catching the ball this week in preparation for the Jayhawks (2-4 overall, 0-3 in Big 12).
“I told our team coming off the field just now (that) I feel great,” Texas coach Tom Herman said Thursday evening. “We got back to who we are this week. Guys were eager to prepare. Guys are eager to go show themselves, go show each other who we really are.”
Kansas heads to Austin after its first bye week of the season and on a three-game losing streak, most recently falling at home Oct. 5 to Oklahoma, 45-20.
After that game, Kansas coach Les Miles fired offensive coordinator Les Koenning (a former Texas wide receivers coach under Charlie Strong), and replaced him with Brent Dearmon, who had been on the staff as a senior offensive consultant.
“I thought the initial hire (of Koenning) was the best hire,” Miles explained when asked last week about the move. “I felt like that there needed to be change. Les did a strong job. I think he worked hard. We just needed a change — a change philosophically, as I saw it.”
Through one week, Miles said he has liked what he has seen from Dearmon and how his players are responding to their new coach. “I think they’ve enjoyed the idea that there’s a guy that has youth and enthusiasm and energy,” Miles said Monday.
Herman said Thursday that wide receiver Collin Johnson (head injury) and linebacker Juwan Mitchell (elbow), each of whom had been questionable for the Kansas game, had been cleared to play.
Running back Jordan Whittington (sports hernia) had a surgery follow-up this week after experiencing some inflammation and has no timetable to return to the field.
“The MRI of the procedure looked great — no tears of anything of any kind,” Herman said about Whittington. “When he’s ready, he’s going to play. To say that Jordan Whittington is going to be here five years, I think, is a bit of a stretch.”
Texas has won nine of the past 10 games against the Jayhawks, who never have won in Austin.
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