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Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 13)


satyanash

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  Collecting all the post-game analysis articles, including those behind paywalls, regarding the KU game here:

(Bobby Burton) Snap Judgments: Headed to Big D

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Let's start with the fact that Texas is headed to Jerry World to play the winner of the West Virginia-OU contest that will be played later tonight. The mere fact that the Horns will be in the game is cause for celebration. This is a Texas program that has been so bad the past eight years that it was oftentimes hard to even watch. The offense would be mediocre. The defense would give up crazy plays. And somewhere, at some point in time, a Texas player would inevitably make a dubious mistake. That was eight years of relative futility ending. That's what occurred today. So no matter the final score, and this was no beauty, the Horns are 9-3 and headed to the Big 12 Championship Game.

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Sam Ehlinger did not have a good day. Kansas bracketed LJ Humphrey most of the afternoon and Ehlinger didn't remain patient. He threw two picks and there should have been a third that the LB dropped and possibly even a fourth on an ill-advised jump ball deep. One pick cost Texas points near the end of the first half, which would have given Texas a two-score lead. The second set Kansas up deep in Texas territory before Jeff McCulloch made the play of the game when he batted a quick pass down the seam to himself and returned it deep into KU territory. It was an acrobatic play by McCulloch at time when KU was fighting to get back into the game,

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Luckily, Ehlinger hit on enough throws and the Texas defense thwarted KU for most of the contest. KU didn't even score until the fourth quarter. But when they did, the flood gates seemed to open. The Horns have not been great in the 4th quarter on defense this year. Today, the Horns gave up another 17 in the final stanza. That's not good.

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In place of Gary Johnson, McCulloch stepped in and played well. Texas also added Joe Ossai to the starting lineup putting him in more as a stand-up outside linebacker on the line of scrimmage. Ossai made a few nice plays today but also got blown off the ball a couple of times.

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From an injury perspective, Brandon Jones did not play after suffering what looked like a concussion on the punt return. Ta'Quon Graham was hit directly on the knee and left the game. But Graham eventually returned in the 4th quarter.

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PJ Locke and Davante Davis both dropped what could have been interceptions. But I thought the secondary as a whole played well. Locke was particularly good against the run in the first half and the first series of the second half.

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KU running back Pooka Williams is basically what every Texas fan always wanted DJ Monroe to be. Williams and Monroe were both elite speedsters. Williams, however, is tougher to bring down and his cuts are extremely impressive. He's going to be tough to handle the next several years.

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The Texas punt return unit needs serious attention. By not fielding the ball in the air on the first three punts by the Jayhawks, Texas gave up an astounding 50 yards of field position after the ball bounced. The first three drive of the Horns all started inside the Texas 10-yard line. While Texas scored machine-like on the first drive, the second un-fielded punt gave KU too many opportunities to get the Texas O out of rhythm and off the field.

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It's not just the punt return team that played poorly either. Think about it. Texas also gave up what would have been a big return on a kickoff (it was nullified by the fair catch sign) and the Horns also gave up a couple of nice punt returns, too. And of course, you can't forget the successful onside kick. I'm guessing Texas is officially one of the few teams (or perhaps only one) to have given up two successful onside kicks this season. And, before anyone says it, I'm not sure why Kansas was given the ball on that onside kick. Texas clearly came up with the ball after the scrum. It seemed the back judge was dead set on giving it to Kansas despite the ball being loose the entire time (upon review).

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Ehlinger appeared to be pressing most of the day. There's no question the steady win affected the accuracy of some of his throws. But he also made too many poor decisions. I wonder just how much of that came from his decision to be more prudent about his frequency running the football.

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Texas got D'Shawn Jamison back involved on offense and the freshman made several nice gains. Texas also ran the option more than it has all season, and all of them picked up good yardage.

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If it's third and long, Texas is going to run a wide receiver screen to LJ Humphrey and it'll go for at least 10 yards, or maybe 20. It's the fourth time this season that Texas has called the play and it's been a success almost every time.

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Heads up play by Eijah Rodriguez for jumping on the Ehlinger fumble in the third quarter. That is yet another play that could have dearly cost Texas but Rodriguez did what had to be done.

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The Horns have now played 9 of their 12 games this season to within a single score. And the Horns won six of them. That's just a crazy stat to me. At some point, I have to find a way to see if any team ever won nine games with that many being so close. If anyone has any ideas of how to

Chris Hummer: Tom Herman's engineered a complete Texas turnaround

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Texas will play for a Big 12 Championship next Saturday. Given the state of the Longhorns’ program over the last decade — heck, given the state of the Longhorns' program after the first week of this season — the fact that this statement can be uttered in a factually accurate way is nothing short of remarkable. Texas hasn’t played for anything resembling a conference title since 2013, when a weird confluence of events made a Baylor blowout of the Longhorns a de facto Big 12 title game. Before that, you’d have to go back to 2009 to find the last time Texas played for a Big 12 title.

Since 2009, the Longhorns endured almost as many losing seasons (4) as winning ones (5). Under Tom Herman, those bleak days appear at an end. A 24-17 win over Kansas isn’t cause for celebration in Austin. Well, until you remember it was only two years ago when a Jayhawk upset over Texas partially resulted in Charlie Strong’s dismissal. Texas clinched only its second nine-win season this decade, and it’s in position to win double-digit games for the first time in a decade. The Longhorns are in a considerably better place under Herman than they’ve been since Mack Brown’s peak.

“We’re at the stage of our program where we’re overachieving a little bit,” Herman said last week. Herman inherited a program stuck in a mediocrity trap of its own design. Two years in, Herman’s managed to flip that idea on its head. Just how different are things? Let’s look at a few key stats that illustrate Herman’s success.

Average Margin Of Defeat This Decade

Mack Brown: 17.2
Charlie Strong: 20
Tom Herman: 6.1

Herman’s lost one game in his tenure by more than 10 points. Brown had 13 such losses in his four post-2009 seasons, while Strong piled up 10 such defeats in three seasons. Outside of a pair of losses to Maryland – giant Week 1 aberrations in both cases – the Longhorns have not lost to a team that finished with a losing record under Herman’s direction. He gets Texas ready to play each week. That’s more than good enough for competitive play from game to game with the talent the Longhorns feature.  

Top 25 Wins This Decade

Mack Brown: 4
Charlie Strong: 4
Tom Herman: 5

Texas will always feature the talent necessary to upend ranked opponents. The Longhorns beating No. 5 Nebraska in 2010? That was weird in retrospect. A playoff-bound Oklahoma losing to Texas in 2015? Shouldn’t have happened. But Texas could beat anyone playing up to its competition. It just didn’t happen consistently enough. That’s shifted under Herman. The Longhorns can claim a quartet of ranked wins this season. That’s just as many as Brown (4 years) and Strong (3 years) had this decade. Not only is Texas playing opponents close in losses, it often wins the games a contending program must.

Average Scoring Margin This Decade

Mack Brown: 4.1
Charlie Strong: (-).86
Tom Herman: 7.4

This stat goes hand-in-hand with average margin of defeat. The Longhorns are outscoring their opponents by more than a touchdown under Herman’s direction. Brown’s Texas teams managed to outscore their opponents by an average of 4.1 from 2010-13, while opposing teams scored more points overall than Texas under Strong.   Blowouts aren’t yet a common thing for Texas under Herman; playing 11 Power Five opponents makes that more difficult. Yet the Longhorns are winning consistently, and they often have a bit of breathing room. That’s huge.

Other Factors

Obviously, those stats do not fully explain Texas’ on-field evolution. There are myriad factors that have contributed to the change: Sam Ehlinger is Texas’ best quarterback since Colt McCoy.  Texas kept its staff fully in tact this offseason, meaning the Longhorn offense played under the same voice in back-to-back seasons for the first time in five years. Herb Hand arrived as offensive line coach this offseason, spurring a complete transition for the unit. A weakness a year ago at 108th nationally in sacks allowed, the o-line, now at 52nd, is arguably a strength.

Todd Orlando’s defense, while leaky from time to time, is better than those of the Strong era. Texas is again recruiting at an elite level. Herman singed the nation’s No. 3 overall class a year ago, which is the best for the program since 2012. The overall talent development for Texas is better across the board. There are no real NFL Draft statistics to cite at this point, but they’ll play out over the next few years. Texas, in many ways, just seems tougher. The Longhorns tackle better, usually finish close games and have generally fared well in difficult road environments.

Give Herman credit. Earlier this season reporters lobbed question toward Herman about his job security and the fans’ perception of him. Herman’s maintained, and the Longhorns are back where their talent dictates they should be. Texas is playing for a championship.

(Ian Boyd) 5 quick thoughts: A fitting end to the season in Lawrence

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This team doesn't know how to win any other way than ugly. Perhaps next year they'll have a team that can just blister teams on both sides of the ball and consistently overpower weak teams on the road by huge margins, this year that just hasn't been the case. Doesn't matter, hasn't stopped them from finishing the year at 9-3 and on their way back to Dallas for the Big 12 championship. I'm sure we'll all be tuning in for the Raid bro Big 12 seminal in Morgantown later tonight. I've got my Schooner drag meme ready to go.

Pooka Williams and the Jayhawks certainly gave Texas a good fight, linebacker Joe Dineen in particular played a fantastic final game, but the Longhorns made the most of a strong third quarter to put them away despite the late game shenanigans on special teams.

Quick thought no. 1: Kris Boyd, 1st team All-Big 12 cornerback

You wouldn't guess that from much of the commentary on this kid but he's had a special year and could make a solid case for defensive MVP before coming up just short against Charles Omenihu. In four years, Boyd hasn't missed a game, and in the fourth season he faced a murderer's row of top receivers and regularly took them on in man coverage. He shadowed Kansas' star wideout Steven Sims on either side of the field this week and held him to 13 yards and five catches with a long on the day of six yards. If you add up the targets to Sims that went incomplete you would get something like one yard per attempt on the day.

Without Sims all Kansas could do was try to find leverage to run the ball with Pooka Williams, who had the full attention of Todd Orlando's defense. On the day the Jayhawks managed only 296 yards of offense, domination by the Texas defense. Add Steven Sims to Boyd's list of victims on the year. He's been matched up in man coverage on an island this year against Jalen Reagor, Oklahoma's various wideouts, David Sills V, Hakeem Butler, and now Steven Sims Jr and come out smelling like a rose every week. If not for the bad game (week) against OSU I think this would be more obvious, still his resume stands up against any other cornerback in this league who's tried to handle the tremendous stress that this conference puts on defensive backs. 18 pass break-ups for the senior now on the year.

No. 2: The run game opened up the offense

Sam Ehlinger missed a few throws in the first half that could have broken the game open but in the second half they got the run game going. Tre Watson had another great game with 14 carries for 79 yards while Keaontay Ingram added 13 carries for 51 yards. Ehlinger of course had a bullish TD run on a gutsy QB draw call on third and goal but they tried to minimize his carries save for mixing in some read plays. On all of Texas' read plays the Jayhawks opted to defend the handoff. They did a ton of damage with what I've been calling alt-power read and have been told is typically referred to as "power switch read."

Kansas was playing to stop the QB keeper on the backside, and rightfully so because the numbers on that thing are pretty bad. But the hesitation it caused for the linebackers made for big problems play side where the double team and pulling guard were clearing out the first wave of Jayhawk defenders. Watson's 31-yard scamper came on this play and Kansas never really had a good answer for it. We'll see it again next week, I imagine. Once Texas was able to build some drives with the run game then that was basically it for Kansas, they couldn't score enough to keep pace with even the rather lame effort that Texas produced.

Quick thought no. 3: One record ends, another in sight

Spectacular punts by Kansas, strong wind, and perhaps some shoulder discomfort was working against Sam Ehlinger and Texas early. He missed a number of throws that would have produced a 300-yard kind of day and a blowout victory, he also missed a LB bailing back in coverage from showing blitz that slipped under a Lil'Jordan Humphrey option route in the red zone to pick off a pass.

The Big 12 record for most passes thrown without an interception now stands at 308. Ehlinger didn't wait very long to get another one out, this time I think because he was expecting an in route or a slant from Devin Duvernay and got something else. Kansas shifted their DBs hard and late and they all seem to have sticky fingers, with a turnover margin of +15 on the year that ranks third nationally. Remarkable that a team that's so bad could be that good at something so important.

Anyways, Ehlinger has another record that he's liable to break this season. Back in the 2005 season that many of y'all probably recall, Texas' QB Vince Young scored 38 touchdowns during a special year that should have ended in a Heisman trophy. Well Sam Ehlinger is currently at 34 total touchdowns with (hopefully) two games for him left on the schedule. There's a very good chance that 2018 will end with Ehlinger passing Vince for the second most touchdowns in a single season behind 2008 Colt McCoy. What a special year and no stat better sums up why Texas has shocked so many and put themselves in position to win 10 games and a Big 12 championship for the first time this decade.

Quick thought no. 4: Quality depth

With Gary Johnson sitting on the bench, then Brandon Jones getting knocked out on a punt return, Texas had to utilize their depth to get into their nickel and dime packages against the Jayhawks. Shark McCulloch got the start at rover for Johnson and obviously had an impactful game both on the pass-rush and with that great coverage drop where he tipped a Peyton Bender pass to himself and returned it 65 yards to set up a Cameron Dicker FG. Joseph Ossai got the start at B-backer and also played well, bringing heat on the edge throughout the game. He's clearly going to be a highly impactful football player, probably assuming Charles Omenihu's role as a part-time 4i and part-time edge rusher within the next year or two.

After Jones went out, B.J. Foster once again was called on to play some free safety for the second time this year and showed well. The Jayhawks aren't just overpowered on offense but they have some things they do well and Sims and Pooka Williams are about as good as any other skill players in this conference. They couldn't do much of anything against Texas on this day despite the Longhorns playing a lot of youth on the field. You may have also noticed Anthony Cook playing down in the box like a rover and coming on a delayed blitz for a sack in the fourth quarter that forced the FG from Kansas to make it 24-17 rather than 24-21 (had they finished that drive with a TD). Pretty interesting deployment for the freshman, who's certainly flashed some nice things this year particularly in terms of offering physical play.

Quick thought no. 5: Country roads...

Tonight Texas will learn which Air Raid team that broke 40 points on their defense (while yielding at least 40 on defense) will be lining up across from them in Jerry World. There seems to be a consensus amongst folks that facing a beat-up West Virginia team that probably won't pick on Anthony Wheeler in coverage nor run the ball so effectively again is preferable to facing Kyler Murray on turf. Of course on the other end, there's not much left to Oklahoma's defense at this point so Texas needn't be overly afraid of the rematch with the Sooners.

Personally I think West Virginia will lean on the sights, smells, and sounds of Appalachia to finally overcome the Sooners at home. They have some team speed on defense with former Katy star Jovanni Stewart hanging around the box as a 5-9, 190 pound sam LB to make their 3-3-5 stack into a pseudo-dime. They've also played well in deep coverage, particularly at free safety with Kenny Robinson. They just need a few stops because I don't think Oklahoma will get many with their own defense.

At any rate, Texas is rooting for a bloody shootout that wears both teams down to a nub and forces them to show anything and everything that could have been useful next weekend in the Big 12 title game. Personally I'm looking forward to watching a Big 12 shootout with high stakes that doesn't particularly impact any outcomes for the Longhorns.

 

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Joseph Cook: Longhorns solidify place in Arlington with 24-17 win over Kansas

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With a spot in the Big 12 Championship on the line, all the Texas Longhorns had to do was get past Kansas. 3-8 Kansas. 1-7 in conference play Kansas. Lame duck coach Kansas. While the Longhorns prevailed 24-17, it was in a similar vein to so many of the games Longhorn head coach Tom Herman’s team has played in this year. It was interesting until the very end because they could not put the game 100 percent away. When they did, it sealed Texas’ place in Arlington December 1 with a chance to win the Big 12 Championship.

“I told the team it’s kind of like golf,” Herman said after the game. “They don’t draw pictures on the scorecard. They don’t draw pictures of wins and losses.” The final score was in Texas favor, but it was another case of the Longhorns winning ugly. Quarterback Sam Ehlinger, coming off a second shoulder injury this season, saw his consecutive pass attempts without an interception streak end at the hands of Kansas’ Najee Stevens-McKenzie in the second quarter. Ehlinger passed for two scores and ran for another, but had trouble getting past the Jayhawk defense as easily as others in the Big 12 had.

“I felt that Kansas played really well defensively,” Ehlinger said. “They had a good scheme for us. They did a good job of doubling Collin (Johnson) and LJ (Humphrey), and did a good job of getting extra hats in the run game.” The halftime score read 7-0 in Texas’ favor, a testament to the strong defensive performance without senior Gary Johnson, who was serving a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules. The opening score was an Ehlinger-to-Johnson pass for 26 yards to cap a 98-yard drive. That defensive effort lost Texas’ starting safety Brandon Jones in the second half. On a second quarter punt return, Jones was on the receiving end of a helmet-to-helmet hit, resulting in a targeting ejection for KU’s Emmanuel Moore.

As a result, two true freshmen in BJ Foster and Caden Sterns had to man the safety spots for the rest of the game and try to keep tabs on Kansas’ star player, Pooka Williams. Texas held a 21-0 lead at the end of the third quarter after an Ehlinger pass to tight end Andrew Beck and an Ehlinger rushing TD on a draw. But once again, Texas couldn’t close out the opponent and made things interesting.

Kansas scored its first points of the game on a 57-yard run by Pooka Williams, and Ehlinger turned the ball over again on the ensuing drive. Texas would almost immediately get the ball back thanks to Gary Johnson’s replacement, Jeffrey McCulloch. McCulloch tipped a ball intended for an open receiver heading up the seam and destined for the end zone. McCulloch came down with it and returned it 65 yards, setting up a Cameron Dicker field goal.

“It was just a play I made,” McCulloch said. “I couldn’t have done it without my defensive line getting pressure on the quarterback and forcing him to throw the ball. I was in the right place at the right time.” A few drives later, Kansas quarterback Peyton Bender found Daylon Charlot for a touchdown to make it a 10-point game with over three minutes to play. The Jayhawks, in outgoing head coach David Beaty’s final game, attempted an onside kick.

Texas thought they stunted KU’s comeback attempt when Collin Johnson slapped the ball out of bounds. Since he slapped it forward, it was called illegal touching. KU got another chance at it, and dribbled it up to tight end Andrew Beck. Beck misplayed it, and Kansas was ruled to have recovered the football. Texas’ defense held KU to a field goal, and the Jayhawks tried one more time to onside and get back into the game. The ball bounced into Humphrey’s hands, and Texas knelt out the clock to solidify its place next Saturday in AT&T Stadium.

Ehlinger’s stat line was average at 16-of-28 for 154 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Texas made up for it with performances from the running backs. Tre Watson rushed 14 times for 80 yards while Keaontay Ingram rushed 13 times for 51 yards. As Herman said, the final score is all that matters. That final score has Texas playing in Arlington in the conference championship game for the first time since 2009.

“We knew we’re an unfinished product,” Herman said. “We know we’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re overachieving right now. We’ve done just enough to earn the right to play in our conference’s title game.” He noted they weren’t simply glad to be there, saying their goal is to go 1-0 in that game. The opportunity is one of the last stops on many seniors Texas football careers. Two years ago, as sophomores, they left Kansas as losers. Now, they leave as championship contenders.

“We looked back and we were 5-7 two years in a row sitting at home,” cornerback Kris Boyd said. “We watched the Big 12 (Championship). Now we’re actually playing in it. That just shows you hard work pays off, and if you buy in and want something and you want to go get it, you can do it.” The big picture, being a conference championship contender, is now the only picture for Texas at this point in the season. Herman described the Maryland season-opening loss as feeling like it was “eons” ago.

His team will have to defeat one of West Virginia or Oklahoma, two teams the Longhorns have played to nail-biting finishes. Two teams they will need to be on their best to beat, much different than the performance they put out today. If Longhorns play their best, the head coach believes they could be conference champions. “I think our guys know that if we play our best, we can play with anybody in the country,” Herman said.

Jeff Howe: Texas to play for Big 12 title after getting by Kansas, 24-17

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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Texas ended a road losing streak to Kansas at one game but, more importantly, the Longhorns are now going to play for the Big 12 title. Defense carried the day for Tom Herman and Co. as No. 14 Texas scored a 24-17 win over the Jayhawks on a cold, cloudy Friday afternoon at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. The victory means Texas (9-3 overall, 7-2 in the Big 12) will play in the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Football Championship on Dec. 1 at AT&T Stadium. The Longhorns will face the winner of Friday night’s blockbuster tilt in Morgantown, W.Va. between No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 13 West Virginia.

Beating Kansas (3-9, 1-8) also means the Longhorns finish the regular season with at least nine wins for the first time since 2009. That’s also the last time Texas played for the Big 12 title as Mack Brown’s squad which went 13-1 and played for the BCS national title won the program’s most recent league championship. The Longhorns exercised some demons in the getting by the Jayhawks, a return trip to Lawrence for the first time since a 24-21 overtime loss that cost Charlie Strong his job and ushered in the Herman era. The loss to Kansas also stopped a 19-game conference losing streak for the Jayhawks and was the program's first win over Texas on the gridiron since 1938 (the Longhorns now lead the all-time series, 15-3).

Texas was able to expand on a 7-0 halftime lead and crush whatever hopes the Jayhawks had of pulling off the upset in the last game of the David Beaty era with a pair of touchdown drives in the third quarter. The first of those scoring marches was ignited by a 31-yard Tre Watson run, which seemed to wake up the offense and served as the highlight on a 6-play, 52-yard drive that ended when Sam Ehlinger hit Andrew Beck for a 5-yard touchdown.

Kansas tried to convert a fourth-and-3 at the Texas 40-yard line on the ensuing drive for the Jayhawks, but Kris Boyd denied a Peyton Bender completion to Stephen Sims Jr. to give the ball back to the Longhorns. On a drive highlighted by a 20-yard screen pass from Ehlinger to Lil'Jordan Humphrey to convert a third-and-17 and a 19-yard hookup on a seam route from Ehlinger to Beck, Ehlinger called his own number and ended a 10-play, 60-yard drive with a physical 3-yard touchdown run.

The 21-0 lead the Longhorns took with them into the fourth didn’t last long as Pooka Williams, who had only 32 net rushing yards on 12 attempts through three quarters, broke loose for a 57-yard touchdown. The ensuing Texas possession ended with Ehlinger’s second interception of the day as Shakial Taylor stepped in front of a third-down pass attempt to Devin Duvernay to give the Jayhawks the ball at the Texas 22.

Just as things were getting interesting, Jeffrey McCulloch stepped up and made one of the defensive plays of the year for the Longhorns on second-and-5 from the Texas 17. McCulloch, starting at linebacker in place of the suspended Gary Johnson (violation of team rules) tipped a Bender pass to himself and snagged the interception, returning it 65 yards down to the Kansas 25 before he was finally brought down.

From there, Cameron Dicker nailed a 34-yard field goal to put the Longhorns back ahead by three scores, 24-7, with 10:57 remaining in regulation. The Jayhawks scored 10 points to cut it to the final deficit before Humphrey recovered an onside kick with 1:36 remaining in regulation, allowing Ehlinger to kneel the ball three times and advance Texas to the league title game.

Ehlinger, who returned to the field after missing the second half of last week's 24-10 win over Iowa State with a shoulder injury, battled his health and the wind whipping around Kivisto Field to finish 16-for-28 through the air for 154 yards (his season-low in a four-quarter game) and two touchdowns to go along with a rushing touchdown. The Longhorns won the yardage battle, 297-296, with Watson's 79 yards on 14 carries pacing a 143-yard effort by the ground attack.

Offensively, the game felt eerily similar to the way the Longhorns played the last time they traveled to Lawrence, especially the first half. Whereas the Longhorns scored on their first play from scrimmage in 2016 to take an early lead, Ehlinger engineered an 11-play, 98-yard drive — three catches for 47 yards by Duvernay along the way — before ending it in emphatic fashion with a 26-yard bullet to Collin Johnson for a score.

The 7-0 lead stood for the remainder of the first half as the Longhorns struggled to finish drives. The offense’s three ensuing drives featured at least one first down but none of them were finished with points, including a series that ended on the cusp of the red zone when Ehlinger was intercepted by Najee Stevens-McKenzie, ending his Big 12-record streak of pass attempts without an interception at 308 (Ehlinger threw two interceptions on the day).

While the offense struggled to gain traction, Todd Orlando saw his defense carry over the momentum from a strong outing against Iowa State with them on the road. The Kansas offense netted only five first downs in the first half, averaged just 2.83 yards per play (82 yards gained on 29 snaps) and failed to have a drive that ended in Texas territory before halftime.

Even though Williams rushed for 103 yards, the Longhorns bottled him up through the first three quarters as the Jayhawks struggled mightily. Even though Bender threw for more yards than Ehlinger (159 on an 18-for-35 passing performance), the Jayhawks converted only three of their first nine third-down attempts and the lone turnover of the game for an offense that doesn't turn the ball over much (No. 8 nationally entering the game with only eight giveaways) coming on the cusp of potentially making it a one-score game didn't allow Kansas to take advantage of the mistakes the Longhorns made.

Wescott Eberts: No. 14 Texas holds on for 24-17 win against Kansas

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C-Bog: Giving Thanksgiving Thanks

This has been a weird, stressful year. The rollercoaster of emotions. The early polls that later proved to be very, very wrong. The spirit-stirring highs; the soul-stealing lows. The lies, the half-truths, the belittling of rivals, both real and imagined. The pundits – so-called “experts” – were proven wrong over and over, time and time again. The crushing, huge loss in November that served both as a public reprimand and a check on unbridled power.



Can you really trust the judgment of the people? Has this entire experiment in democracy been an abject failure? I hold my face in my hands and weep for the future of the Republic. I can’t freakin’ believe Bobby Bones won Dancing with the Stars. I mean, sure, he threw in a little M.C. Hammer with his cha-cha. You have to admire that. But Bobby Bones over Evanna and Milo? I don’t understand the world any more.

Thank goodness the footballs are finally good again. Actually, thank goodness for a great many things surrounding Texas Longhorn athletics. Thank goodness for our new Athletic Director, Chris Del Conte, the best hire on the Forty Acres since – well, we’re still waiting to see how the Shaka/Tom things work out, aren’t we? Let’s start with the music. Longhorn City Limits, specifically. If Austin really is the Live Music Capital of the World, then live pre-game concerts just make too much sense to pass up.

I remember listening to the Old 97’s bash away before the Baylor game and thinking that if I could be transported to any place – Paris, Rome, Dublin, London, Tokoyo – there was literally no other place on the face of the earth I would rather have been at that moment than sitting on the grass near the LBJ Fountain under the shade of a 150-year old oak tree listening to “Big Brown Eyes.”

Jimmie Vaughn, the master of understatement on the Fender Strat remains the Hemingway of Blues (to paraphrase Mark Twain, “Don’t play a bunch of five-dollar notes when a few fifty-cent notes actually convey more emotion.”); Aloe Blacc gave a master class in neo-soul; Austin transplants Reckless Kelly showed why their live shows have never been adequately captured on a recording; Hayes Carl kept the Texas singer-songwriter pipeline (Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Robert Earl Keene) flowing.

The only misfire for me was Ghostland Observatory, who performed this past week before the Iowa State game. Ordinarily, a two-man band with drum tracks, lasers, fog machines, brightly blinking lights, and nine-foot tall LED triangles playing techno-dance stuff promises to be vaguely interesting. Unfortunately, these guys sounded like they swallowed then subsequently puked a dozen VHS tapes of MTV outtakes from the early 80’s.

It’s generally a good thing to not try to sing higher than your actual vocal range, unless you’re trying to sound like Geddy Lee of Rush squeezing out a kidney stone. Which, if that was what you were going for guys, mission accomplished. Well done. Freakin’ millennials. Which brings us to the stadium music inside DKR during football games. Del Conte has been attempting to find a sweet spot balance between the 40-year old power ballads favored by the old fart donors and more contemporary rap and hip-hop flavored fare the kids know and enjoy. For the most part, the blend has been successful.

During a fourth-quarter break in the Iowa State game, something remarkable happened. The speakers began belting out the Journey classic “Don’t Stop Believin’,” a predictable if reliable choice. The Horns had a comfortable lead (I know, that feels as weird for my to type as it does for you to read), and the stadium was suddenly caught up in a weird, easy-going Austin vibe.

All of a sudden, a Godzillatron camera panned the student section, and a young lady saw her face on the screen. Instead of screaming and waving like a Price is Right contestant on meth, she whipped out her phone and turned on the flashlight and began waving it back and forth over her head in rhythm to the music.

Within seconds, tens of thousands of phones turned DKR into a communal hippy love-in. An ocean of high-tech candles swayed and waved through every corner of DKR like grains of wheat bobbing in the wind. It was a large, grand moment of grace, wonder, connectedness, and serendipity. The Journey lights were sweet and cheesy and lame and amazing and beautiful and mesmerizing and profoundly moving all at once.

It was almost a letdown to return to the game. Thanks to Chris Del Conte, the footballs aren’t just good. They are also fun. I’m grateful. We beat Iowa State convincingly. We have a nice warm-up for the Big XII Championship game in the Kansas Jayhawks. The men’s basketball team is undefeated and beat North Carolina. I’m typing a whole mess of new sentences in this column, aren’t I?

How about this one; Texas Longhorns: Big XII Champions. I’ll run it by my editor, but I think he’ll be fine with it. Beat the hell outta Kansas. Hook ‘em

A 1986 graduate of the University of Texas, Jeff Conner has held many jobs in his life: husband, brother, uncle, son, oil field roustabout, short-order cook, sandblaster, irrigation pipe mover, musician, retail assistant manager, attorney-at-law, public school teacher, preacher, cartoonist, and writer. While he does have a hot, young wife, Conner is neither as clever nor as good-looking as he believes himself to be. Jeff is currently teaching Algebra 2 and A.P. Statistics at Legacy Early College High School in Taylor, Texas. Conner’s regularly submitted commentary appears in InsideTexas.com and Inside Texas Magazine. The opinions presented do not necessarily reflect the views of the Inside Texas editorial staff.

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Inside Texas Offensive Report Card---Kansas

We tried very hard to keep our intensity level high but we suffered lapses along the way. The effort level remained strong but we allowed small mental errors to derail our express. We failed to put our A game on display but a combination of poor individual decisions train wrecked any chance of blowing the game wide open.

I don't really say much about our special teams but this is a good week to point out how they can influence any game when poor decisions or missed assignments limit the playbook going forward. From the offensive point of view we allowed not fielding punts costs us around 50 yards field position---the worst was still to come. We started drives inside our ten three times due to bad judgement---fair catching is your friend guys.

We might need to rethink our "hands" kickoff receiving team from head to toe. OU may be licking their chops game-planning their kickoff plans since we have proven we suck at recovering the ball. Hell, they may think they aren't going to stop us with their version of defense so what the hell they got to lose by on sides kicking?

Here are the grades:

11---Sam---B

5---Watson---A-

26---Ingram---B+

6---Duvernay---A-

9---Johnson---B+

13---Heard---B+

17---Jamison---B+

82---Eagles---B+

84---Humphrey---A-

47---Beck---B

52---Cosmi---A-

56---Shack---B

66---Anderson---B

72---Rodriguez---B

77---Vahe---B

Also:

Kerstetter (68) had a monster combo block as the inside guard (unbalanced) short yardage play.

Young (32) got another chance (SY) and passed the test.

Watson (5) broke another explosion run---great habit to acquire.

Ingram (26) was close to breaking three times but made the wrong cut late.

Duvernay (6) just keeps putting up positive efforts---his blocking has turned the corner.

Eagles (82) had three good blocks with hustle.

Anderson (66) had two tough pass blocks get the best of him.

Shack (56) finished the regular season with a very high percentage of quality snaps. He still has trouble with switch blocks, especially with Vahe.

Cosmi is our best OL and should be honored on the conference roster despite being a freshman.

Kansas found doubling LJH (84) a good eraser until we called a slip screen on third and 18---as Red Cashion famously uttered---FIRST DOWN.


OU in Arlington at brunch time---does it get any better than that. The chance to beat OU twice in one season doesn't come around often enough---we can break their spirit this year.

My grading system is based on total points earned against number of plays played. The points are awarded individually on each and every separate play. There are five different possible grades for each play. Players may earn a plus three (3) for a five star type play—-plus two (2) for above average execution—-plus one (1) for doing their job successfully—-zero (0) for getting beat but knowing and attempting their assignment—-and minus 3 (-3) for a missed assignment.

Each player has a total number of points and a total number of his own individual plays. You divide the total number of plays into the total number of points which gives you scale. The grading scale is as follows:

Any player averaging one point per play (1.0) grades out a B which is winning football. If a player plays 60 plays with 60 total points he would earn a passing grade—each point he goes over the total number of plays raises his grade accordingly. The system is built around rewarding any player that doesn’t beat himself or his team with mental mistakes.

The system also punishes any player that knows what to do but loses too many individual battles. If a player plays 60 plays but loses 10 of those with zero special plays (60 plays—50 points) he falls below the 1.0 needed for a passing grade of B.

I use the plus/minus (A-, B+, etc,) when the numbers indicate a partial add or subtract from the grade. This system was used by my first coaching staff and I kinda carried it with me for thirty years—it’s not perfect but it gives the position coach a measuring stick for his individual players.

The only way to earn the highest grade of A is to play a perfect game. I’ve had exactly zero up to right now so great games still can be better so A- is a very popular second best. This system and my grades will always be subjective filled with agree and disagree opinions. It’s entirely fair for disagreement (without it we might not have horse races) but it’s important to remember that each play only counts once instead of allowing a big mistake to have major influence on an individual’s final grade.

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17 hours ago, Xian said:

Those are some crazy stats on toms improvement over Mack and strong 

Right.  Through the stress and strain of this season, (and last), I did not fully appreciate the improvement trend.  Its the right direction, and that's the happiest thing about it.

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Inside Texas Defensive Report Card---Kansas

We played very hard this week. We were a couple of "big" plays and too many missed tackles away from a very good game. Guys were flying around with kinetic energy abound. I liked the approach we took this week. We did basic seek and destroy tactics while keeping it simple. Since we had a mash unit with everyone finding a way to contribute it turned out our "busy" made up for mistakes in angles, MT's, and dag-nabbits.

Since it's talk about special teams this week I think it only fair to continue with the defensive part of the equation. We might need to rethink our kickoff team from personnel to basic execution. We attempt to outnumber the receiving team by only covering two thirds of the field with all 11 of our attackers inside the right hash. We kick the ball to the left corner (when we don't kick it out of bounds---twice yesterday).

We don't prevent anyone from leaving their lanes as evidenced by our insistence on pointing the ball. Our kicker/dicker usually saves our ass around the fifty---Estell (39) did stay somewhat in his lane but didn't offer much resistance from the block. Cook (4) kinda wandered into position to help our kicker chase him out of bounds. We give up both sidelines too damn easy---have been all season. This is a huge weakness from top to bottom.

Here are the grades:

90---Omenihu---A-

44---Hager---A-

49---Graham---A-

97---Nelson---B+

94---Wilbon---B

23---McCulloch---B+

45---Wheeler---B

32---Roach---A-

46---Ossai---B+

2---Boyd---A-

7---Sterns---A-

11---Locke---B+

15---Brown---B+

18---Davis---B+

19---Jones---A-

25---Foster---B+

29---Thompson---B

Stuff:

Omenihu (90) played another outstanding game. He doesn't miss many plays. He will be missed.

Graham (49) does good things but still doesn't finish like he will later in his career.

Nelson (97) made life easier for Jeff (23) and Wheeler (45) stacking the furniture.

Ossai (46) made plays but was welcomed to BIG 12 football by a pulling guard that gored his chest on a kickout block---the first thing to hit the dirt was the back of Joe's helmet.

Adeoye (40) split the high/low ebb with a decleater block (KO receiving team) and a late hit tackle (KO team---no penalty luckily).

Roach (32) is just a complete football player now that the MLB experiment is history. DE and NT this week, excelling at both. Great pass rusher---just does things naturally.

Boyd (2) played extremely well. Love him or hate him---he's still the best we got.

Locke (11) made so many terrific plays you want to grade him very high but when he misses or covers it's not near as good. Looking back, I bet Locke would have made a dandy rover but he was obviously needed more at nickel.

Foster (25) dropped a sure oskie.

Locke (11) dropped a sure oskie.

Jones (19) was having a great game until that punt return rung the bell. We need him to direct the traffic next week---hope there wasn't any concussion.

Coburn (99) played two plays---one stack and one QB hurry. 99 (Coburn and 98 Ojomo) are going to be major players next fall. Book it. 

Cook (4) had a good sack from whatever his package involves---looked like a spy to me.

I'm glad OU didn't look very good on offense again last night :rolleyes:. We have one week to get a formidable plan to slow their butts down and it better include a spy (GJ) to slow play any QB ventures from the pocket. If I could have one wish come true (this game) it would be to not allow any deep throws for td's---make them nickel and dime their way to the alumni stripe.

Twice in one year---that's the ticket.

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Bobby Burton: Saturday

What is the storyline of this Texas team? I think it’s perseverance. In a regular season where the Horns played nine of their 12 games to within one score, perseverance was needed more than ever. And the Horns delivered. Success has been a long time coming for Longhorns fans. But it’s also been a long time coming for the players. Charles Omenihu, Breckyn Hager, Andrew Beck, Kris Boyd - those guys have been around a lot of heartbreak, a lot of disappointment, a lot of bad football, even some embarrassing performances.

But not in 2018. The players, as a collective team, decided this year would be different. They should be proud of the product they put on the field this season. They persevered and became winners.

**

This coming Saturday will be the third trip in program history to Jerry World. The Horns beat Nebraska there for the 2009 Big 12 Championship and lost to UCLA in Charlie Strong’s first year. But it’s important to remember that several players on both sides of this Texas-OU match-up will have played high school games there. So it won’t be totally new to the whole squad.

**

Turning to the Sooners... I expect Texas to get a heavier dose of the Sooners run game this time around. The Sooners are running the ball better than they ever have out of this spread attack. It’s setting up Kyler Murray for easy play-action passes, and Murray doesn’t exactly need a lot of help in that area. So I fully expect OU to try to run the ball early and often on Saturday.

**

The Sooners have been much maligned on defense. And rightfully so. But that doesn’t mean they are devoid of playmakers. OU has good talent at all positions on that side of the ball. They just don’t always play very well as a unit. That was ultimately the difference against West Virginia. The Sooners’ D made a couple of better individual defensive plays than the Mountaineers. In other words, don’t mistake a porous defense for a lack of individual talent.

**

Offensive execution. That’s what the Horns will need for all four quarters next Saturday. There can’t be any let up. Or if there is, they have to snap right back and go at it again. They can’t decide to sit on the ball in the fourth quarter. OU’s offense has proven too explosive to play that type of game. Will the Horns be up to it? I don’t know. That’s why they play the game.

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(Scipio Tex) Texas-Kansas Postmortem: Offense

The Kansas game was weird for several reasons and dwelling on it excessively isn't very useful, but a few top line observations:

1. Sam Ehlinger was off. 16 of 28 for 154 yards and two picks tells the tale. Given that he started the game 6 of 7 for 81 yards and finished it 10 of 21 for 73 yards, it gives some credence to the idea that his shoulder got hit, it tightened up on him and everything downstream suffered as he tried to compensate. After that initial success, it also makes me wonder what we were trying to do throwing at 3.5 yards per attempt over the next 21 throws when KU's base D look was run friendly. Sometimes, it's as simple as counting the box and taking what the defense allows. 

Particularly when #11 is off as a thrower and in seeing KU's coverages. If modern football is basketball on grass, KU's double team was fronting the post late with a drop down defender with another defender behind to prevent a roll to the basket. Ehlinger and the staff kept trying to feed the post despite what that meant for KU numbers elsewhere. Hey, we've got some dudes backside wide open on the 3 point line. 

2. We've grown so accustomed to excellent play from the QB position, it was jarring to see what we look like when the rest of the team (and better recognition from the booth) has to carry the load. 

3. Whether Ehlinger's play was because of the injury, a lack of practice reps because of the limited work during a short week, or a lack of recognition of KU's schemes - or all three in some combination - is unknown. All that matters is getting him back right. We can't beat OU with a degraded Ehlinger. 

4. In the first half, it seems like the game thread reactionaries respected subscribers were blaming the staff when Ehlinger was the culprit for our malaise; and in the second half, blaming Ehlinger when the staff was missing the mark on recognizing a two high safety uncomplicated 3-3 look that begged to be run on and then attacked with play action to Duvernay, our RBs and Beck. We kept trying to force the perimeter passing game (we opened one second half possession in 5 wide) instead of bleeding KU with the run (Texas had one second half stretch where we averaged 9.4 yards per carry over 9 runs). 

5. In totality, that's how you end up in a one possession game late with 24 points and 297 yards against a 3-9 football team with a lame duck staff. 

QB

A slightly longer week to allow rehab and some normal practice reps will benefit Sam. The staff also needs to tutor him (and they should think a little more out of the box) on how to deal with drop coverages paired with two deep safeties looking to sprint out to the sideline. Per usual, Ehlinger showed his toughness as a runner (and the merits of a heavy squatting regimen) on his grinding TD run. 

RB

Tre Watson had his second consecutive good game as a runner with 14 carries for 79 yards. Who knew I'd ever be so grateful to have a 195 pound transfer RB who runs a 4.6+ 40 on our roster? He added a pair of catches. Keaontay was a little off and less explosive in his cuts. I'm curious if the accumulation of the season has worn the freshman down a bit. I hope the longer week gets him back into form because we need value-add on well-blocked runs against OU. They can't go for six yards when thirty is available with a broken arm tackle. 

Daniel Young ran the ball with both arms on the ball on his single carry. 

WR/TE

Ehlinger's inaccuracy left a lot of meat on the bone. KU doubled LJH frequently and also doubled CJ some and Duvernay's 3-47 stat line might have been expanded with some hitch and dig routes against single off coverage pretty much screaming for easy pickings. LJH's moving pile conversion on a 3rd and 17 was classic #84. 

Beck didn't block as well as I'd have liked. We just needed solid contact and some displacement on a few more run plays to pop big gains on edge or second level defenders. 

OL

I mentioned Daniel Wise in my pregame writeup for a reason. He had 5 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack. He really gave our interior OL fits. He'll be in a NFL training camp if the regional scouts are doing their job. I mentioned LB Joe Dineen for a reason as well. 14 total tackles, an amazing 11 of them solo. If Texas gets a body on him on 3-4 more running plays running better combo blocks, Horns running backs split the KU safeties and house a TD run. The Wise/Dineen combo proved a little better than we probably expected. Fortunately, Joe dropped an errant Ehlinger throw that should have been an interception.

The naughty list for this game includes Shack giving up a sack on a Lineker blitz, Anderson getting bull rushed and diving at a KU edge rusher instead of riding him upfield and Cosmi giving up a sack on a bull rush on 3rd and long to mar an otherwise near flawless game from #52. Our lack of size at tackle can be a problem on clear passing downs when faced with a physical edge rusher, but their agility is a big benefit in the run game. I hope we make OU eat a heavy dose of counter plays. 

Final

Given the Big 12 title game structure, the last game in Dallas was for temporary bragging rights. This one is for the marbles.

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(Scipio Tex) Texas-Kansas Postmortem: Defense/Special Teams

I'm leading with our "special" teams because it's important you eat your vegetables, even during the holidays. 
The Longhorns surrendered 50 yards in field position by not fielding three punts correctly. The major contributing reason that our first three possessions began on the 2, 4 and 8 yard lines, respectively.
Dicker kicked two balls out of bounds, giving KU the ball twice on the 35 and his attempt to place it on the far edge for the coverage overload also meant bad hang time. Rethink this. OU has good return units and the Kris Stockton's of the world who can place a kickoff two yards from the sideline at the 3 yard line with forever hang time are rare.
If you want an oft-injured trusted junior catching punts the week before the Big 12 title game - the same guy who runs the entire back end of your defense - he has to be on strict orders to fair catch. That's a coaching failure.
The onside kick issue was bad Big 12 officiating, as Texas did recover the kick, but Beck still misplayed the ball. The coaches might want to be very sure that their hands team represents exactly that.
Bujcevski is line-driving short punts. They're begging to come back the other way. Josh Thompson had a terrific play on one late game punt when he made a sure, clean tackle on the KU PR.


Defense 

The Texas defense turned in a very solid performance, save a pair of big plays and some poor stuff on a few third downs (KU converted 9 of 18). One big play was a 57 yard Pooka Williams touchdown run and 1) that's what Pooka do and 2) Wheeler, Locke, Sterns as your second/third level defenders is not always our most favorable triangle.

In Locke's defense, he gets cracked on by the KU WR, which should have been an immediate clue to Sterns to fill the alley at speed directly in front of him, but you can see he takes bad steps inside. When the little guy disappears behind the bigs, cuts sharply out and then accelerates into full speed after two steps, you don't want to forfeit an angle. Talented little dude, but we need to play that better. Kennedy Brooks and Kyler Murray can do that too.

The other big play was Peyton Bender's 31 yard TD to Dylan Charlot on Davis in single coverage. The coverage wasn't bad and those things happen on an island. The greater offense happened earlier in the drive when we allowed KU to convert 3rd and 7 with a 18 yard throw to Charlot and then convert 3rd and 1 with a five yard completion against a cushion. 

Overall defense on 3rd down was poor. Texas is second to last on 3rd down in the Big 12 in conference play and since that's a direct apples to apples comparison to all other Big 12 defenses, that's an issue that can't really be explained with lack of talent or injuries as the culprit. Pairing a containment rush on an immobile QB with "change up" zone coverage on 3rd and long when your corners are winning in press man on 90% of downs makes little sense to me. Particularly when I see Roach dropping back into coverage on one of those 3rd down conversions and/or a 3 man rush. This defense doesn't handle flat-footed diagnosis well and it's not clear to me that our DBs get the 3rd down zone concept that they should be looking for work, not standing in squares. 

DL

They played very well, but I disagreed a little with the heavy bias towards pocket containment on Bender. He's not particularly mobile and while it's difficult to argue against making a QB who is 18 of 35 for 159 yards throw from the pocket on most downs, it bit us in situational defense - specifically 3rd downs. I think we get KU off of the field with some more aggressive pass rushing and that they don't top 10 points. I think Orlando might explain the containment as not being for Bender, but rather the KU running backs on draws, shovels etc, but it seems to me that neutering pass rush is missing the forest for the leaves. 

Roach's health and proper use has been the most important development for this front. He's a better all around player than Hager and plays with a lot of physicality. Graham had very good snaps despite getting shaken up and Omenihu and Nelson were customarily solid. Charles notched a sack, bring him to a team high 8.5 on the season.

LB

We played Ossai and McCulloch together on a number of snaps. McCulloch brought Texas its biggest splash plays - an awesome self-tip interception on a slant drop that he brought back up the sideline and a forced fumble strip sack that Texas wasn't able to recover. Ossai had some really nice moments in penetration but also had a couple of amusing light-in-the-ass moments when he stood a little too tall engaging a pulling KU OL. 

The extra big bodies out there meant more single gap assignments and that always benefits Wheeler's decision making. There were a few KU runs where he runs to fill a space that just isn't asking for filling. He has to understand that he's not being blocked for a reason. It's tempting to "Do Something!" but the general rule in LBing is that it's better to keep your depth and preserve angles and figure it out rather than blindly run forward and hope you're guessing right. The RB is faster than you. Your ally is your angle.

DB

As with ISU, the highest dose of heavy press man to date. The press man outside has trickle down benefits to the safeties, as they get assignment clarity and aren't put in immediate conflict at the snap, even if there's a lot of stuff going on in the opponent backfield. It also helps Kris Boyd not have to think, but lock in and do his thing. Caden Sterns tackled well until he didn't when Pooka got him in the open field. Not the easiest task. BJ Foster actually had a quietly tough day. He missed a tackle on a 3rd and 10 in zone coverage, dropped a sure INT and had a costly face mask penalty that gave a KU drive life.

Boyd was the Game MVP. Terrific play. KU's lack of talent at WR played into our hands (their best WR Sims is really more of a good complementary player rather than a #1) but Kris was locked in. His final box score says 4 tackles and a PBU, but he had so many beautiful plays: attacking the slot on a 4th and 3 slant, a tremendous play forcing an incomplete screen running through a blocker and general A level coverage for every KU snap. 

PJ Locke really made some strong plays as a tackler, but he dropped an INT.

Davis played well too. Really just had one bad drive all game. 

Final 

The Texas Defense turned in a winning performance and got the job done despite a couple of blemishes in the 4th quarter. I'm eager to see how much carryover we attempt from the ISU and KU game plans given that we're about to face a major upgrade at every conceivable level of offense. We'll need terrific games from Roach-Nelson-Omenihu up front, GJ fully engaged chasing, spying and blitzing and for the secondary to understand that living for another day is vastly preferable to surrendering 70 yard touchdown catches.

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