No. 22 Texas football will need more of the same this week at Iowa State

By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Longhorns had just about all of their proverbial ducks in a row Saturday when they beat No. 16 Kansas State, 27-24, to stay alive in the Big 12 championship picture, and they had to do so to win.

It’s a beautiful thing when a plan comes together, and the Longhorns’ ability to produce a game in which the offense, defense and special teams worked together, at least for one game, made followers harken back to the beginning of the season and the promise of a step forward and into the sun for the Texas program.

Texas coach Tom Herman was [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]quick to laud his team for pulling together to find a way to beat the Wildcats in a performance that moved the Longhorns back into the Associated Press top 25, at No. 22 (UT is No. 24 in the Amway Coaches Poll). In his media availability Monday, Herman reiterated that the way his team played Saturday was more in line with what he expected and envisioned.

“Playing complementary football, to be able to beat Kansas State the way that we did, in terms of time of possession and running the football and stopping the run, is exciting,” Herman explained. “Obviously we’ve got to replicate that throughout these coming weeks.”

Texas (6-3 overall, 4-2 in Big 12 play) will be hard-pressed to follow up its performance from last week when it travels to Ames this Saturday to face hungry and talented Iowa State.

The Cyclones are just 5-4 overall and 3-3 in Big 12 games, but they have played well enough to win most of their games and face Texas after a 42-41 loss at Oklahoma that came down to a failed two-point conversion attempt in the final seconds.

“I don’t know what their attitudes in Ames are toward Texas right now,” said Herman, who had a three-year stint for Iowa State as offensive coordinator from 2009-11. “I’m worried about Texas, to be honest with you. But when I was there, every game was big.”

UT’s special teams were a big part of the win over Kansas State, with Cameron Dicker’s 26-yard field goal the difference in the game.

“When you have a kicker and a battery (holder and deep snapper), if you will, that’s been as good as they have been, it is a luxury,” Herman said. “We’ve got a ton of confidence in those guys.”

But there also was Brandon Jones’ 51-yard punt return earlier in the fourth quarter, which was possible because of stellar blocking and set the table for a Keaontay Ingram 12-yard touchdown run.

“Obviously the punt return … good individual effort by Brandon, certainly, but if you want to see a guy embody the level of effort and tenacity that we want all of our players to play with, go watch Roschon Johnson (block) on that play,” Herman said. “It’s impressive. I say that because obviously it took a lot of other guys to make that play happen, not just Brandon, but he certainly did his part.”

There will need to be plenty of effort like Texas gave against Kansas State for the Longhorns to win in Ames. But, after last week, there’s a positive vibe around the team again.
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