Notes and quotes for No. 15 Texas-Kansas

Compiled by Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

AUSTIN, Texas – No. 15 Texas will square off against Kansas Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Each team’s most recent game was against Oklahoma (the Jayhawks had an open week Oct. 12), and both lost to the Sooners.

Here are some notes and quotes in advance Saturday’s contest, which kicks off at 6 CDT:

• Texas is 15-3 all-time against the Jayhawks and 2-0 against Kansas under Tom Herman. The Longhorns defeated Kansas, 42-27, in 2017 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas is [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]8-0 all-time against Kansas in Austin, highlighted by a 59-0 victory in 2001, the largest margin of victory for either program in the series.

• The Longhorns have scored an average of 36.6 points per game against the Jayhawks, while allowing only 15.4, in the teams’ previous 18 meetings.

• Texas offensive coordinator Tim Beck on the nine sacks the Longhorns suffered last week: “It’s hard to explain, right? I mean, it’s a combination of things, meaning we could have held the ball too long, or because the quarterback might have not read the coverage right or whatever. It could have been a busted route we could have, you know, the back missed protection or whatever. There’s a variety of things – all of its communication. In big games sometimes you think you see things you but you don’t, I mean, that’s not there.”

• Several Longhorns have had their best individual outings in their home games this year.

Quarterback Sam Ehlinger has accounted for 1,122 yards of total offense (958 pass/164 rush) in his three outings in Austin in 2019. He has thrown 12 touchdown passes and rushed for one score and has passed for four touchdown passes in each of his three outings at DKR this season.

Wide receiver Devin Duvernay has made at least nine catches in every home game this season. In total, he has logged 33 catches for 317 yards and four touchdowns at home and his two 100-yard outings this season have come at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

Wide receiver Brennan Eagles has snagged nine catches for 248 yards (27.6 yards per catch) for four touchdowns when playing in Austin this season. Eagles has logged a 55-yard and 73-yard touchdown reception inside DKR, the two longest catches by a Longhorn in 2019.

Running back Keaontay Ingram has averaged 5.3 yards per carry, totaling 221 yards on 42 carries at home on 2019.

• Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando was asked what has bugged him the most over the first half of the season. “Well, it’s explosive plays, you know. Those are part of it,” he said. “When we have opportunities to make plays, (we have) to finish them. A big part of that is just confidence. With some of the injuries (we have had), and that’s not an excuse, but you know, you get into the point where some of these guys are moving around. The biggest thing that we have to do is just stabilize the guys in their positions and go quite fast.”

• Texas is 9-2 in games following losses in three seasons under Tom Herman. That includes a 48-13 victory over Rice following a seven-point loss to then-No. 6 (now No. 2) LSU earlier this year. The Longhorns also responded to a 39-27 loss to No. 5 Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game last year by knocking off No. 6 Georgia, 28-21, in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. After losses, Texas has averaged 34.7 points per game. In the three seasons prior to Herman’s arrival at Texas, the Longhorns were 9-10 following a loss (does not include season openers following a bowl-game loss).

• Beck on the semi-disappearance of freshman wide receiver Jake Smith in the past two games: “It’s hard when you have the, you know, the leading receiver in the country playing in front of you who’s the leading guy on third downs, and you know, there’s a lot of things about what Devin (Duvernay is) doing right now and you don’t want to take him off the field. It’s not that Jake’s done anything that’s deserved less playing time. It’s just Devin’s really playing well.”

• Orlando on the lack of sacks: “We’ve addressed it. I wasn’t necessarily fired up about some of the rush lanes stuff that we had (against Oklahoma). I think there’s some of the things that we could help with, too.. So it’s a little bit of scheme and it’s a little bit of, you know, us doing a better job of, you know, containing the quarterback.”

• Texas is paying tribute to its 1969 national championship team all season but Saturday will be an extra special opportunity as the squad will be honored during the Kansas game. Members of that undefeated team that won the Southwest Conference, beat No. 6/5 Notre Dame 24-11 in the Cotton Bowl and won the national championship will be recognized on the field at half time this weekend. The 1969 national championship team is one of four national title-winning teams for the Longhorns, joining the squads from 1963, 1970, and 2005.
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