Post-game thoughts: Texas runs all over Kansas State, 69-31
The Longhorns still care about the 2020 season.
That’s plenty apparent after the Longhorns blasted Kansas State, 69-31.
You can’t ask much more from the Texas offense as it basically did anything it wanted against a listless Wildcats defense and scored the most points since the 2005 Big 12 championship game in a 70-3 win over Colorado.
Putting up 69 points against a Big 12 opponent — especially one not called the Jayhawks — is an impressive feat. And while the defense helped with field position and D’Shawn Jamison’s 98-yard kick return to the K-State 1 set up another score, the Longhorns’ offense gets all the credit.
Frankly, with a couple more plays in the first half, Texas could have scored 80 and had more than its 609 yards of total offense.
What’s most impressive is the performance the Longhorns had in the run game, finishing with 334 yards.
Bijan Robinson had 172 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries, while Roschon Johnson went for 139 yards and three scores on 14 carries.
All of this came behind an offensive line that lost Sam Cosmi during the week and Derek Kerstetter in the first half. What was thought to be a big weakness coming into the game turned out to be a huge strength. You can’t overstate how good the offensive line was.
After three good performances, the Texas defense reverted back to early-season form for periods of this game. But it did come up with two interceptions and this game had the feel of an offensive shootout. You never got the feel that K-State was going to come back and win this one.
But giving up 274 yards on the ground is certainly less than ideal.
In an interesting note, Tom Herman is now 4-0 against K-State.
As we said in our halftime thoughts, it’s important for Texas to finish the season strong and get to a bowl game.
It isn’t what Texas fans want, but playing in a bowl is important. It gives a program more practices and more time to develop bench players.
