By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — There’s little doubt that, as Texas coach Tom Herman reminds anyone who will listen, winning is hard.
Likewise, nobody who is familiar with college football is going to argue that the grind of a season that can stretch more than four months can take its toll, especially when you’re fielding a team, like the Longhorns, that’s trying to rebuild.
But those understandings don’t explain UT’s level of difficulty in beating hapless Kansas, which went toe to toe with the bigger, stronger and more talented [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]Longhorns once again before succumbing, 42-27, Saturday in a dreadful Big 12 Conference game at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Yes, it was a win for Texas, but there was very little that was pretty or even very satisfying about it. If that’s the way the Longhorns have to scrap to beat a team that’s won once against an FBS team since 2014, well so be it.
Oh, that team the Jayhawks beat? That was the Longhorns last season in what was likely the beginning of the death knell for the Charlie Strong tenure on the 40 Acres.
Asked after the game if it was upsetting that his team didn’t have a more comfortable win over a Kansas team that it should be able to dominate, Herman said no, and did so emphatically.
“There’s no lack of confidence. There’s no issue with perception,” Herman said. “Winning for us right now is going to be hard, especially with where we are with this program, and that’s OK, as long as we win.”
Sophomore quarterback Shane Buechele passed for 249 yards and a touchdown to lead the Texas offense. Texas (5-5 overall, 4-3 in Big 12 play) outlasted the Jayhawks despite the fact the game was statistically even in nearly every category. Kansas turned the ball over four times — including three interceptions by quarterback Carter Stanley — and that ultimately proved to be its undoing.
Stanley passed for 268 yards and three touchdowns in the loss, KU’s ninth in a row after a season-opening win over Southeast Missouri.
“We left a lot of chances out there,” Kansas coach David Beaty said. “What’s disappointing is that we had an opportunity and we weren’t able to take advantage of it. Turnovers, and being able to capitalize on them, tells the story in games, right?”
Texas took little time to get on the scoreboard, as Buechele hit Lorenzo Joe with a 49-yard touchdown bomb on the first snap of the game. Then the Longhorns’ defense added to the lead as little-used safety Antwuan Davis intercepted a pass thrown directly to him by Stanley and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown that pushed the lead to 14-0 at the 8:05 mark of the first quarter.
The Jayhawks responded with a six-play, 56-yard drive that was extended on a third-down, pass interference call on Texas cornerback Kris Boyd and ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Stanley to Steven Sims that cut the Horns’ lead to 14-7.
UT running back Toneil Carter turned in a nifty, shifty 23-yard run for a touchdown to cap off the Longhorns’ ensuing possession that covered 60 yards on five plays — all of which were runs — and extended their advantage to 21-7.
Jason Hall then intercepted Stanley at the KU 34 and returned it 25 yards to set up a short field for the Longhorns, who made short work of the opportunity and expanded their lead to 28-7 with 1:55 still to play in the first quarter when freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger connected with freshman tight end Cade Brewer on an 8-yard touchdown pass.
The Jayhawks (1-9, 07 in Big 12) showed surprising resilience, pulling to within 28-17 midway through the second quarter via a dynamite 8-yard touchdown pass from Stanley to Earl Bostick, who was surrounded by three Texas defenders, and a 36-yard field goal by Gabriel Rui, the latter after Boyd fumbled a kickoff at the UT 24-yard line.
Kansas returned the favor later in the second quarter, fumbling a punt that Davis jumped on at the KU 22. The Longhorns used nine plays to drive to a 1-yard touchdown run by Lil’Jordan Humphrey out of the Wildcat formation to push their lead to 35-17 at halftime.
In the third quarter the game fell into a pattern of missed opportunities for both teams and slowed to a crawl, thanks to eight different stoppages for reviews of plays by the officials.
Rui added a 32-yard field goal midway through the third quarter for Kansas. The Longhorns’ Chris Warren III rammed into the end zone from the 1 with 5:34 to play to finally finish off the Jayhawks.
Kansas scored a garbage-time touchdown with 11 seconds left on a 18-yard pass from Stanley to Chase Harrell but it was far too little, too late.
Next up for the Longhorns is a trip to Morgantown, West Virginia and a battle next Saturday against the now-No. 23 Mountaineers. Texas needs to win against WVU or the night after Thanksgiving at home to earn a spot in a bowl game.
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