By Steve Habel/Correspondent
AUSTIN, Texas — There was a time before the 2014 season that Texas coach Charlie Strong considered moving 6-foot-4, 244-pound quarterback Tyrone Swoopes to tight end to take advantage of his soft hands, his size and powerful running ability. Instead, Swoopes started the final 12 games at quarterback for the Longhorns last season and the first contest of 2015 before being relegated to a backup roll.
In three of the past four games, the latest being UT’s take-it-as-it-comes 23-9 win against Kansas State in the pouring rain Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Swoopes has come up big in a new package that allows him to make things happen in short-yardage situations.
Against the Wildcats, in conditions more favorable [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]for a duck than for playing football, Swoopes ran for three touchdowns including the game-clincher from 10 yards out with 1:47 to play.
Swoopes has become the difference-maker the Longhorns always thought he could be, just not in the way the staff originally envisioned. Now he even has his own nickname — “the 18-wheeler” — as a tribute to his jersey number and his size.
“When we went to (Jerrod) Heard at quarterback, I told Swoopes to keep his head up and to realize that he was still going to be an important part of this team,” Strong said Saturday after the ‘Horns won for the second consecutive game to improve to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play. “He has embraced his new role, and he’s making a difference. Having him back there with his hands on the wet ball when we were around the end zone was a key factor for us today.”
Swoopes also found the end zone on one- and two-yard touchdown bursts in the second quarter as the Longhorns controlled the line of scrimmage by running the ball 53 times. Texas averaged 5.2 yards per carry as the wet conditions forced the Longhorns to continue the conservative tack they began — and with which they enjoyed success — in their Oct. 10 win against Oklahoma.
“We’ve still confident in our ability to throw the ball, but we haven’t needed to throw much to win in the past two games,” Texas offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said. “I love that we are establishing an attitude of physical, run-first football. That takes a little mean streak, and I think we are developing one.”
Texas had 375 yards of total offense, 276 of those on the ground, while passing just 16 times for 99 yards. Heard went to Strong early in the second quarter and told his coach that he was having trouble gripping the wet football. That situation almost assured that the Longhorns would stay with the run as long as they could, an approach they could maintain in part because of their 16-0 lead.
Running back Johnathan Gray posted a season-high 103 yards on 18 carries for the Longhorns; two quarterbacks, Heard (61 yards on 15 attempts) and Swoopes (50 yards on seven totes) combined for 111 yards.
The Longhorns are now 9-2 in the Strong era when scoring first and 8-2 when leading at halftime.
Texas got on the board first with a 28-yard Nick Rose field goal that capped a 15-play drive in which the Longhorns ran 14 times. After Swoopes’ two short runs staked Texas to a 16-0 lead, the Wildcats’ answered on a seven-yard scoring pass from Joe Huebner to Dominique Heath in the final seconds of the second quarter.
UT’s stifling defense allowed Kansas State (3-4, 0-4 in Big 12) just 125 total yards in the first two quarters. KSU got a career-high 122 yards rushing on 18 carries from running back Charles Jones, but that was not enough to keep the Wildcats from their fourth consecutive loss.
K-State’s four-game skid is its worst since losing five games in a row in 2008 and the most consecutive losses for coach Bill Snyder since 2005. Kansas State has scored only nine total points in its past two games, the fewest in a two-game stretch since 2006, when the Wildcats scored six points against Louisville and three against Baylor.
Suddenly Texas, with Iowa State and Kansas as its next two opponents, looks like a team that can find its way past its rough start and earn a postseason bid.
“We have to continue to build on the progress we’ve made the past two games and take each week as one-game season,” Strong said. “We have challenged our guys to be physical and dominate the line of scrimmage at the point of attack. and they have responded. We’re developing a mental toughness and have learned to win by beating two very good teams, but we have five left to play.”
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