Kansas Game Recap
Texas is truly beginning to look like a complete team with the offense firing on all cylinders. Photo: Eric Gay, Associated Press
Well, that was another weird home game!
It was a 26-point victory for the Longhorns, the largest of the season at home. And yet, the Jayhawks found themselves within 6 late into the 3rd quarter. This is becoming a bit of a formula for this year’s Texas team - out-playing opponents for sure, but still not being as far ahead on the scoreboard as they should until later in the game. And I’m not saying I have any problem with it! What better attribute for a team to have than to consistently bury opponents in the final stretch? That only seems to suggest the overall strength of our team to wear people down over the course of 60 minutes and by the end, the game isn’t that close.
There were several aspects of the game that made it weird. First, Kansas opened the game with Jason Bean at quarterback -the news coming right before the game that starter Jalon Daniels would be unavailable. How does this keep happening for Texas? And when Bean scampered for a long first down run early in the game, he got smacked by Jalen Catalon, fumbling the ball - only for it to fall perfectly to Daniel Hishaw who scooped it up and ran it in for their first score. A wild, wild play.
Not to mention that prior to that, we had a SECOND consecutive game with a long Quinn Ewers rushing touchdown, this one coming from 30 yards out right up the middle. The whole Quinnce Young thing is starting to not sound like a joke anymore.
The Horns also squandered a few red zone and plus-side chances on the day with either field goals, missed field goals, a turnover, a botched snap, or a sack leading to fewer points than the yardage reflected they should have. Still, this was a game where Kansas never seemed like a real threat - and once the defense starting locking down the Jayhawks’ offense, they never sniffed another chance to get close.
Jonathon Brooks had two runs of over 50 yards on his way to a 200-yard day on the ground. Photo: Tim Warner, Getty Images
One of the huge positives on the day was the Texas running game, especially the continued ascent of Jonathon Brooks. Brooks now sits 3rd in all of FBS for rushing yards on the season after his 218-yard performance, including 2 touchdowns. Freshman CJ Baxter received the biggest workload of his young career tallying 15 carries for 67 yards. All told the Longhorn run game finished with 336 yards and 4 TDs on 51 carries. For those that anticipated a huge fall off from the backfield of Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson a year ago, the Texas RB room is sending a message: Rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Another bright spot was the big day from WR Adonai Mitchell, who caught a season-high 10 passes for 141 yards and 1 score. And just short of 100 yards was Xavier Worthy, who put on a couple of spin cycles leaving Jayhawk defenders in the wash for extra yards. Worthy finally reached 2,000 career receiving yards! I’ve been anticipating this milestone for X - I’m sure there are many more ahead in the coming games for the standout junior.
On the down side of things, star TE Ja’Tavion Sanders went down on an early red zone possession, hopping off the field and not returning to the game. Early reports are that the injury is not serious, and he could be back on the field as early as next week in Dallas. Sign me up for that option.
There seemed to be a team-wide dip after Sanders went out, with the Texas offense settling for a couple of field goals and the defense giving up a long touchdown. After they settled back in, however - both sides were dominant on the day.
The Texas defense held its 3rd straight opponent to 14 points or less. Photo: David Buono, Getty Images
For the first time this season, the Texas defense failed to get home on a sack. Jason Bean proved to be elusive enough, plus he didn’t really attempt that many passes anyway. Still, the KU offense was stifled all day, outside of 2 long touchdown plays. This Longhorns defense has held its last 3 opponents to a grand total of 7 second half points. That any good?
This team is playing complementary football, as Sark likes to talk about as a point of emphasis for the team. It has allowed us to see these types of games where it’s just a matter of time for our offense to find the end zone for back-breaking scores.
The inflection point in the game came with Kansas trailing 20-14 near the end of the 3rd, as they inexplicably went for a 4th and 1 from their own 38. Bean was going to be stopped for a huge loss anyway, but fumbled which was recovered by Jahdae Barron, setting us up with a short field. Our offense ran 5 consecutive times down their throats, capped off by a 1-yard Brooks score, and that was that. Adding on two more touchdowns in the 4th quarter, the Longhorns had a 4-possession victory over previously unbeaten KU.
The 5-0 Longhorns will head into Red River as the favorite to continue their undefeated season. Photo: Unknown
There would be no scare from Kansas this year, and certainly no upset victory for the Jayhawks. They were ultimately outclassed by a Longhorns group that set a team record for offense in Big 12 play with 661 yards. KU is now another team of Texas’ past. As we look to the future, one team will be the focus of the burnt orange and white this week, and it’s the same team that will be carrying on with us to that southeastern future.
Final score: 40-14 Texas
Hook ‘em. OU still sucks.
