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

[satyanash 15586]

Collecting post-game analysis articles regarding the Kansas State game here:

(Joe Cook) Recap: Texas Longhorns 22, Kansas State Wildcats 17

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In the final game of the 2021 regular season, the Texas Longhorns played strong defense save for one play in a 22-17 win over the Kansas State Wildcats.

FIRST QUARTER

Texas worked the perimeter for an early first down, with Casey Thompson picking up a first down through the air to Xavier Worthy. The two connected again to move the chains once more. Steady doses of Roschon Johnson at wildcat quarterback put Texas in a goal-to-go situation, and a 10-yard scoring run from Johnson with several sharp cuts put the Longhorns up early. K-State returned the ensuing kickoff to the 39, where Cameron Dicker was forced to make a stop. The Wildcats would advance just three yards on their drive, and punted back to the Longhorns.

The Longhorns surrendered possession quickly, with Thompson essentially throwing an arm punt to TJ Smith. K-State easily moved down the field with Deuce Vaughn and some screens, with Vaughn running untouched into the end zone from nine yards out to make it 7-7 with 4:44 left. When the Longhorns regained possession, they moved into Wildcat territory with a balanced run and pass attack. In KSU territory, they picked up a first down via a QB sneak run by Cade Brewer. Texas ended the first fifteen minutes facing a 3rd-and-2.

SECOND QUARTER

Texas picked up the first down with another Johnson run out of the wildcat, then scored on a touchdown pass from Thompson to Brewer. On a play that looked akin to one of the game’s early plays, Brewer feigned blocking then ran toward the back pylon. Brewer caught the touchdown over two Wildcat defenders, but Dicker missed the extra point, making it 13-7. KSU immediately responded. Will Howard took the first play of the drive 71 yards to the end zone, outrunning the entire Longhorn defense to make it 14-13.

The Longhorns could not produce on its next drive, quickly punting the ball back to the Wildcats after three plays. Kansas State picked up a first down through the air, but Texas held Vaughn behind the line to gain on a third down near midfield and punted back to the Longhorns. Thompson and the offense could do nothing with possession, once again going three-and-out. A short punt gave K-State good field position, and they picked up a few first downs to move into Texas territory. KSU’s drive stalled, and Chris Tennant hit a 51-yarder to make it 17-13 with 1:56 left.

Texas moved into KSU after one play on its possession with a long Thompson to Worthy pass, but Worthy limped off the field after taking a hard hit. Texas picked up a first down via a Johnson scramble, but saw Thompson leave the game after a tackle saw him hit his head hard. He returned for Texas’ 2nd-and-8 play, throwing an incompletion. On third down, a scramble from Thompson didn’t reach the end zone or the first down marker. Texas scrambled the field goal unit onto the field, and Dicker hit the 24-yarder to make it 17-16 KSU at the half.

THIRD QUARTER

Dicker made another tackle to start the second half, this one knocking Malik Knowles at the KSU 46. The Wildcats moved into Texas territory with an offsides penalty, then even further with a Vaughn run. But a stop from Jacoby Jones made it 3rd-and-14, and a sack from David Gbenda knocked the Wildcats out of field goal range. Texas took over on its own 6, then moved backward on a handoff to Keilan Robinson. A Robinson run put Texas close to the line to gain, but they were held short by the Wildcat defense.

KSU manufactured its own three-and-out, punting the ball back to Texas. Via Johnson touches, Texas picked up two first downs. A second down holding penalty put Texas behind the sticks, but a tight end screen to Jared Wiley picked up the needed yards and moved Texas into K-State territory. The drive stalled, and Dicker hit a 39-yard field goal to make it 19-17 Texas with 1:52 left in the quarter. The Longhorn defense held firm against the Wildcats, forcing another three-and-out as the third quarter came to a close.

FOURTH QUARTER

Texas took over on its 20, picking up a first down with a pass to Marcus Washington. But the Longhorns’ drive stalled near midfield, with Ekow Boye-Doe stopping Brewer before he reached the line to gain. KSU took over on its own nine, and picked up a first down with Vaughn. KSU faced a 3rd-and-1 on its own 30, but couldn’t reach the first down. On 4th-and-1, Vaughn received the ball on a wildcat snap but was held short by Moro Ojomo.

Texas took over deep in KSU territory, and Johnson quickly put Texas with goal-to-go on a 21-yard run. That’s about all they could pick up, as the Wildcat defense held and limited the Longhorns to a 22-yard field goal to make it 22-17. Kansas State took advantage of Texas’ decision to kick it short, and quickly moved inside the Texas 30 in two plays. But facing a 3rd-and-1, K-State was held short. Facing 4th-and-1, K-State was held short again, giving Texas the ball with 4:03 left in the game.

Texas took over on the 22, and rushed with Johnson twice. K-State called timeouts after each run, setting up a 3rd-and-6. Johnson picked up 17 yards, pushing the pile and eating up more clock in the process. One more 24-yard rush into K-State territory put Johnson’s rushing total at 177, his career best. K-State held the Longhorns without another first down and forced a Texas punt with 40 seconds left. The Wildcats took over with 33 seconds left, but time ran out on their comeback attempt.

(Taylor Estes) FINAL: Texas takes down Kansas State, 22-17

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The Longhorns will wrap up their season Friday at home when Texas hosts Kansas State. Horns247 is live on the scene and will provide in game updates from Texas vs. Kansas State.

FIRST QUARTER UPDATES

10:12 left in Q1: The Longhorns got off to a hot start against the Wildcats, and a lot of the reason was because of the wildcat play of running back Roschon Johnson. Texas opened the game on offense and drove it down into Kansas State territory with Johnson leading the way. The running back ended the opening series when he took the snap himself and ran in a 9-yard touchdown run to give Texas an early lead over K-State.

Texas 7, Kansas State 0 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 10 plays, 75 yards, 9-yard TD run, 4:48 used)

4:44 left in Q1: The Wildcats have tied it up. After Texas QB Casey Thompson threw an interception in the first quarter, the Kansas State offense answered in a big way when RB Deuce Vaughn ran in a 9-yard touchdown to tie it up with the Longhorns.

Texas 7, Kansas State 7 (Wildcats' scoring summary: 7 plays, 68 yards, 9-yard TD run, 3:58 used)

END OF 1ST QUARTER: Texas 7, Kansas State 7

SECOND QUARTER UPDATES

13:07 left in Q2: The Longhorns have taken the lead. The Texas offense drove into K-State territory and capped off the scoring drive when Thompson connected with Cade Brewer for a touchdown, but Cameron Dicker missed the PAT.

Texas 13, Kansas State 7 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 13 plays, 73 yards, 10-yard TD pass, 6:30 used)

12:50 left in Q2: The Wildcats have taken their first lead of the game. Kansas State only needed 13 seconds to find the end zone when QB Will Howard took it himself and ran in a 71-yard touchdown.

Kansas State 14, Texas 13 (Wildcats' scoring summary: 1 play, 71 yards, 71-yard TD run, 13 seconds used)

1:56 left in Q2: Kansas State has extended the lead over Texas. The Wildcats added three more points on the board after the Longhorns stopped the drive and forced K-State to settle for a 51-yard field goal.

Kansas State 17, Texas 13 (Wildcats' scoring summary: 8 plays, 25 yards, 51-yard FG, 4:07 used)

00:00 left in Q2: The Longhorns added three points of their own to the board as the clock ran down before halftime to make it a 1-point game.

Kansas State 17, Texas 16 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 9 plays, 62 yards, 24-yard FG, 1:47 used)

HALFTIME: Kansas State 17, Texas 16

THIRD QUARTER UPDATES

1:52 left in Q3: The Longhorns have regained the lead over the Wildcats. Texas took a lengthy drive towards mid-field before Kansas State forced the Longhorns to settle for a field goal.

Texas 19, Kansas State 17 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 12 plays, 61 yards, 39-yard FG, 6:54 used)

END OF 3RD QUARTER: Texas 19, Kansas State 17

FOURTH QUARTER UPDATES

7:32 left in Q4: Texas has extended the lead over the Wildcats. The Longhorns took advantage of a failed fourth-down conversion by K-State in the fourth quarter but were stopped before the end zone and settled for a field goal.

Texas 22, Kansas State 17 (Longhorns' scoring summary: 5 plays, 26 yards, 22-yard FG, 1:42 used)

FINAL: Texas 22, Kansas State 17

 

[Wally Pryor 5410]

Great job as always staying on top of these.  Many thanks. 

[satyanash 15586]

(Ian Boyd) Five quick thoughts: Texas comes back to end losing streak

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Texas has now won five straight games against Kansas State. There was a time when Kansas State was a persistent problem for the Longhorns but without Skyler Thompson they proved a great team to face to close out the season. Texas snapped their losing streak and finish 5-7 with an outside chance at a bowl game and 6-7 season (or alternatively, 5-8) and more importantly some extra practices to use in trying to develop this roster for next season.

This will go down as a career game from Roschon Johnson, who carried the Longhorns all the live long day in their third Big 12 victory of the season. It could also go down as the only time on the year when Texas’ defense played a good second half. The Longhorns went into the half down 17-16 and yielded just 107 yards and zero points in the second half to enable a comeback victory.

The offseason will start to begin now, particularly the final stretch of the recruiting season and then some staff shuffling. It was a positive for Texas to end the losing streak and get a small bit of momentum into the future.

Quick thought no 1: Roschon on the rampage

Texas leaned very heavily on Roschon in this game. 31 carries, 179 yards, 5.8 ypc, one touchdown, a two-yard pass, and a 10-yard reception. They fed him in the traditional run game and also had a diversified quarterback run game for the “Wild RoJo” package. Fitting to score on a quarterback iso play from an unbalanced formation against the K-State Wildcats:

It wasn’t just the early success and score either though, Roschon ran for very tough yards down the stretch when Texas was trying to come back for a win and then to ice the lead and play keep away from the Wildcats. He was extremely difficult to bring to the ground even after the defense had realized Texas had no intention of trying to win with the passing game.

Quick thought no. 2: Bad gameplan by K-State

Texas was 8-16 on 3rd down in this game, another testament to the effectiveness of Roschon running hard in the Wildcat package. Kansas State was 1-9 on 3rd down and also 0-2 on 4th down, which was essentially the ball game.

The Wildcats had to play big back-up quarterback Will Howard in this game but only ran him eight times for 82 yards, nearly all of it coming on a 71-yard scoring strike when Texas was completely dazzled by a misdirection quarterback sweep play. I anticipated this game could be trouble for Texas if they involved Howard effectively in the power-option game but the Wildcats did not use him heavily outside of the long run.

The most egregious move by K-State was to use a “Wild Deuce” formation in short-yardage, direct snapping to Deuce Vaughn and asking him to pick up short-yardage on the same quarterback power scheme Iowa State stuffed Sam Ehlinger on in Texas’ fateful 2020 loss. The Longhorns stuffed this scheme three times down the stretch on 3rd-and-1 or 4th-and-1. After the last failed attempt on a 3rd-and-1, K-State tried the speed-option play the Longhorns had failed to stop all year on 4th-and-1 from the Texas 17. Ovie Oghoufo successfully contained the pitch and Will Howard had to turn upfield against the grain and try to find the sticks against Alfred Collins and Keondre Coburn. He did not, and the game was essentially over.

Deuce Vaughn has many fine qualities and had 24 carries for 143 yards at 6.0 ypc and a score in this game, along with two catches for seven yards (great open field tackling by Texas on one). He’s not really a “power over the defensive front in short-yardage” guy though, especially when your quarterback is 235 pounds. Really a baffling error by K-State.

Quick thought no. 3: The defense eventually showed up

Texas’ 4th-and-1 stop on speed option was indicative of some of the possibilities for this team which existed all year long. As was Jaylan Ford’s day, where he had six tackles, two for loss, while partner David Gbenda had seven tackles including a sack, and safeties Jerrin Thompson and Brenden Schooler made their share of stops as well. If you contain defenses and force them to find their yards between the hash marks against these defensive tackles, they won’t find much and these linebackers and safeties can make tackles.

The Longhorns came out flat in this game for the third straight week, but eventually came to life and decided to try and set the edge a few times. When the edge was set, Ford and Gbenda looked much more competent and decisive filling interior gaps and the safeties weren’t put in such terrible positions as in other games this season. They also got play-making from the interior D-line, particularly on those key short-yardage stops. Texas will be left to wonder what better edge play might have enabled this season. Certainly a .500 record if not more.

Quick thought no. 4: Big O-line to close

Texas opted to try and win this game with bully-ball, playing with double tight end sets and force-feeding Roschon as many ways as they could. Junior Angilau was banged up in the first half and they relieved him with Hayden Conner for the second half. Consequently Texas ended with the following line-up:

• Left tackle: Christian Jones. 6-foot-6, 314 pounds.
• Left guard: Hayden Conner. 6-foot-5, 332 pounds.
• Center: Jacob Majors. 6-foot-3, 310 pounds.
• Right guard: Tope Imade. 6-foot-6, 361 pounds.
• Right tackle: Derek Kerstetter. 6-foot-5, 310 pounds.

Pretty massive interior, even with Majors at center, and Texas just mashed right into the Wildcats with some sweeps, inside zone/duo plays, and straight up power-O running. Just as Kyle Flood always wanted. Jared Wiley and Cade Brewer played a lot and each got involved in the passing game, including with a nifty tight end screen where Wiley feigned a quick block on star pass-rusher Felix Anudike-Uzomah before releasing him and catching a quick pass for 12 yards running behind a lead block by Christian Jones.

Cade Brewer and the right side of the offensive line will all depart after this season is over but the future of the Texas offensive front is pretty big and now well blooded after this season. Junior Angilau is smaller than Conner and Imade but perhaps the most effective drive blocker and Texas will have a chance to better realize the vision for a power run game in year two.

Quick thought no. 5: Ode to the seniors

Texas got some solid play from their seniors in this game which was instrumental in the victory. It was a disappointing run for them while they were in Austin and a weak finish, but there were a few guys who showed up in this game and helped end with a victory. Tope Imade finally locked down a starting job after spending six years as the (literally) biggest man on campus and he took the final opportunity to cook up some pancakes and help pave paths on several long runs.

Derek Kerstetter was his normal solid self. If anyone forgot, he was forced into action as a true freshman in 2017 when Texas had no one else who could pass set. He got to sit on the bench in 2018 after Sam Cosmi emerged and Calvin Anderson transferred in. In 2019 he combined with Cosmi to form one perhaps the best tackle tandem in the league and in 2020 dutifully moved inside to center before ending the year with a horrific injury and taking his extra COVID year to give one more season at right tackle.

Cade Brewer caught a nice touchdown pass for the second straight week. It came on a sucker play where he faked a screen block (lots of bubble screens for Casey Thompson today in the cold) and then elevated to bring down the score. He’s been a very solid blocker all year, an offseason priority for Texas will be to get one of his talented but less reliable understudies to block at a comparable level.

Jacoby Jones had a solid game at Jack linebacker, helping to solve the containment issues at times and giving effort in the pass-rush down the stretch. While losing him helped clear a lane for Alfred Collins to find the field, it’s clear Texas missed his understanding of edge play this season.

B.J. Foster had a forgettable final outing as a Longhorn which included an iffy angle and him trailing a (probably) 4.8 runner into the end zone on the long Will Howard touchdown run. We didn’t see him again and Sark indicated he thought Texas’ effort level on the long run was insufficient in his post-game remarks. The Texas defense improved from there.

Brenden Schooler was pretty solid in this game as a field safety and owned that position down the stretch this season. Had Texas set the table better for their safeties and perhaps not rotated through so many of them this season, maybe we might have seen some better results. Cameron Dicker scored nine points in his final game as a Longhorn and punted for 215 yards in a game which Texas controlled with defense and run game.

 

[Codaxx 6244]

Not going to be popular here, but kudos to Boyd for mentioning the OL. I thought they did an amazing job today, especially after everyone realized the pass game was not a threat 

[satyanash 15586]

(Bobby Burton) Snap Judgements: Roschon Johnson

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That noise you heard at the end of the game was a collective sigh of relief. Nobody in the program wanted to head into the off-season riding a seven-game losing streak. Instead, the Horns finally stood tall on defense in the final quarter, twice holding Kansas State short of the first down marker on fourth down and less than a yard. The Horns actually started to get a feel for how to handle the K-State rush attack after being ridiculously gashed in the first half and some of the third quarter, too.

It should also be noted that the Wildcats lost their fullback in the fourth quarter to injury and, no doubt, that dramatically affected their ability to run outside and off the edges. But whatever the case may be, the Texas defense, maligned all season long, stood up in the season’s final moment. Good for them.

**

The team showed up today. They could have easily packed their bags and not played hard today. But several players gave extraordinary efforts. Chief among them was Roschon Johnson. The junior from Port Neches put the team on his back much of the second half. Hats off to him and to the offensive line.

**

With both starting linebackers out, Jaylan Ford was a net positive replacement, at least in my view. David Gbenda, however, routinely got lost or took missteps that took him out of the play.

**

Xavier Worthy remains a difference maker. He is making it look easier and easier in each successive week. And there is no doubt that his toughness slight stature belies a natural toughness. His third-quarter catch down the seam was easy to make, but hard to come down with, one too many Texas receivers in the past would have either alligator-armed or protected their body first instead of maintaining control.

**

The varied use of Keilan Robinson was nice to see, as was the twist of using Roschon Johnson more in the RoCat. The liberal use of the RoCat flummoxed K-State early, and furthermore it was a sign that Steve Sarkisian was going to throw everything he had at the Wildcats today. Perhaps the Horns should have used it more frequently earlier in the season, but earlier in the year, I think Sark was still expecting and hoping for more from his quarterbacks than he did in this final game.

**

Speaking of quarterbacks, other than his ill-advised deep ball interception, Casey Thompson played efficiently. His best pass of the game was the TD toss to Cade Brewer, which also was the best catch of Brewer’s career. However, the best play for Thompson, the one that I think turned the game somewhat, was his quick-thinking shovel pass to Johnson to get Texas on track deep in its own territory.

That play hasn’t been getting made the last couple of months by any Texas quarterback. Instead, Texas has been taking sacks or worse (fumbling or throwing interceptions). Instead of a punt being forced by K-State, Texas was able to move the ball down and put points on the board.

**

Not sure exactly what K-State does on kick returns, but Texas might be smart to try to emulate some of it. The Wildcats fielded the best, most consistent kick return team we’ve seen this year.

**

Moro Ojomo, Byron Murphy and Keondre Coburn played well, especially in the second half. It was first Ojomo and then Coburn that stopped the Wildcats on the two fourth-down plays.

**

There’s an outside chance Texas could still earn a bowl bid, even at 5-7. The games tomorrow could decide it. Or, we could have to wait until Dec. 4 when Cal and USC play a make-up game. At any rate, this Texas regular season is complete. The nightmare that started with the second half of the OU game is finally over.

 

[TwiceHorn 32076]

Anything else?

[LTtxfan 49994]

24 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Anything else?

Just this

Furk... Misery loves company ??

 

[BornOrange 1441]

@satyanash is that it?

[ClubWhatever 12293]

3 minutes ago, BornOrange said:

@satyanash is that it?

Nobody cares 

[senorfussybutt 32]

Yeah, this season the posts weren't as reliable as in the past. Guess it's hard to get motivated when it's literally loss after loss.

[satyanash 15586]

On 11/29/2021 at 7:27 PM, BornOrange said:

@satyanash is that it?

(Scipio Tex) 2021 Texas-Kansas State Postmortem: Offense

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Props to this young man:

Playing through a toe injury, Roschon Johnson put the Longhorn offense on his back and pummeled the Wildcat D for 179 yards rushing on 31 carries and a touchdown. Take away his longest run of 24 and he still averaged over 5 yards per carry. That speaks to his determination and tackle breaking, but also to the fine job that the Longhorn OL did. There were plenty of holes and Sark was appropriately stubborn in staying with the running game once he saw Thompson's limitations down the field. This game plan was about intent and making a statement. Johnson carried the ball 6 times for 44 yards on the opening Longhorn drive.

Four or five weeks ago, I started recommending that Texas start playing the RoCat on standard downs to invigorate the running game, get #2 involved, create some prep issues for opposing coordinators, and give the Texas OL some needed advantages. Easier for me to write than for Sark to implement, but Sark made the adjustment and it paid off with a win in Austin, ending a brutal six game losing streak.

The Texas offense wasn't explosive, but it was effective enough, converting of 8 of 16 on 3rd down, winning time of possession, and avoided betraying a strong second half defensive performance with dumb turnovers. In short, they out-K-State'd Kansas State.

QB

The Texas brain trust limited Casey's throws to a fairly narrow box once they saw the downfield interception at the 8:45 mark in the 1st quarter. Sark dialed it all back, despite some coverage opportunities that begged for downfield attack. Thompson performed solidly within those parameters, finishing 17 of 23 for 170 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

RB

Keilan didn't get much statistical love (9-17 yards) but not really any fault of his. He ran hard and made a really nice effort on one run to make it back to the line of scrimmage. It was a Roschon game. #2 had 14 carries for 82 yards in the 1st half, got shut down in the 3rd, but eventually broke the Wildcats D in the 4th quarter, gaining 77 yards on 11 carries. With 4:03 left in the game and Texas clinging to a narrow lead, with everyone in the stadium knowing where the ball was going, Johnson carried the ball 6 times for 47 yards with great effort, allowing Texas to effectively run out the clock. KSU regained the ball with no timeouts and 33 seconds on their 20 yard line with Will Howard at QB. Game over.

WR/TE

Xavier played well (6-65) and unfortunately some deep ball play action opportunities that were available later in the game weren't really executable and the Longhorn coaches opted to go with the grind over the chance for turnovers. Not coincidentally, this was the most significant use of Texas tight ends on the year. Brewer and Wiley combined for 56 yards on 6 catches and did a nice job of keeping the chains moving. Nice catch here from Brewer on a terrific red zone concept from Sark.

That Brewer release is in contrast to the companion play which looks exactly the same, but is a screen to Worthy with Brewer blocking. The defender is exposed and Brewer makes a nice catch when both defenders recover. The RoCat and pin n pull allowed the Texas tight ends to block "littles" instead of edge LB or DL and that played well to the running game's success.

OL

They've put in a winning performance three weeks in a row. That's encouraging. That was certainly Tope Imade's best game and I'm pleased to see the senior go out on a high note. Realistically, K-State had a lot of uneven quality on its front, but take baby steps where you can find them.

Final

With limited offensive resources at his disposal, Steve Sarkisian decided to highlight and scheme up a reliable team leader to carry the load and elevate the play of his teammates. That may not have appealed to Sark's desire to make fun stuff happen in a wide open offense, but it was the right and winning strategy.

(Scipio Tex) 2021 Texas-Kansas State Postmortem: Defense/Special Teams

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The Texas defense played a very good second half, shutting out the Wildcats completely and limiting them to just over 100 yards of offense. More crucially, Texas was money on money downs, limiting the Wildcats to a paltry 1 of 11 conversions combined on 3rd and 4th down. Interestingly, KSU's only conversion came on a pass play where Howard threw little dig route (poorly) while Texas was in off coverage on 3rd and 2.

While a skeptic can point to Will Howard's ability to pass a football being relatively equal to his actual ability to pass a football like a heroin drug mule, it looked early on like KSU was going to rush for 350+ yards, ball control Texas down the stretch, and make the passing game irrelevant. KSU finished the first half with 159 yards rushing on only 17 carries. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that three Wildcat possessions into the game (KSU scored two touchdowns on drives of 7-68 and 1-71 after going three and out on their first possession), I sighed, folded my arms, shook my head, and waited for the worst... Particularly after this...

Hard watch. Will Howard is a capable runner because he's 235+ and fairly athletic, but he's a 4.7/4.8 40 guy. How does this happen?

1. The edge defender Ben Davis runs aimlessly upfield. He's supposed to get flat and compress his blocker into the hole while keeping his outside shoulder free.
2. David Gbenda is baffled by the counter action and false steps, his fit erased.
3. D'shawn Jamison accepts his blocking.
4. BJ Foster...words fail me. That's not a bad angle. That's bad effort, which leads to a bad angle. There's a difference.

But it all got better. BJ Foster was benched and didn't return. Jamison got a long time out and a stern chat. Davis didn't return for meaningful snaps. Gbenda remained and made some plays, though he also had some rough spots. More than just enforcing player accountability, the Texas defense changed tactically. They started refusing to play 3rd and short honestly, loaded the box, filled the field with bigs (a lot of Texas base defense featured 3 "bigs") and allowed the DL to attack through blockers in short yardage rather than catch and fill space.

Texas dominated those situations and Kansas State's coaches were too terrified of Will Howard to attack the perimeter with 1 on 1 deep balls on 3rd and short. KSU also stopped running Howard on counters and generally stopped option football, which was a huge favor to Longhorn run defense soundness. Additionally, while I admire Deuce Vaughn, direct snaps to him are not the best short yardage solution. Bottom line: the defense looked like a real unit for a half of play.

DL

Really good ball from the interior guys: Ojomo, Coburn, Sweat. KSU doesn't have a good OL, but good OL haven't been a prerequisite to running the ball on Texas. Ojomo and Coburn came up particularly big in short yardage situations.

Jacoby Jones was the brightest light outside, but he was on limited snaps. Watch him on KSU's last drive - terrific hustle plays. Thornton and Davis played poorly. Ovie was very active and while his tackle on a K-State money down snuffing out a screen was good stuff, a 240 pound edge should defeat a 175 pound blocker 100% of the time. That play was about K-State's brain trust screwing up and not changing their play in time when they saw Texas split out Oghoufo on their lead blocker.

LB

Jaylan Ford was the most effective guy and played his best game as a Longhorn. In the second half, he was a real dude. Six tackles and two tackles for loss. Good awareness on a run blitz tracking the football. David Gbenda takes a lot of false steps and has been fooled by counters and misdirection all year. That written, he gives 100% and is aggressive when he sees the play correctly. I never doubt effort with Gbenda - his moments of passivity seem to stem from indecision. Adeoye got snaps and looked OK in the box.

DB

Schooler, Jerrin Thompson and Adimora held down safety and were game, if imperfect, after the coaches sat #25. The simple act of the safeties trying hard and bringing some energy helped the run defense. Anthony Cook did his job again, finishing the year as the most consistent DB and defender on the team. Constant rotation at CB between Jamison, Dunn, Barron - Kansas State couldn't and wouldn't throw the ball, but run support was decent despite a high visibility hickey on Jamison and a missed tackle by Barron. Vaughn isn't an easy guy to get on the ground in space.

Special Teams

Dicker missed a PAT but drilled 3 layup field goals from inside 40 and was on point punting the ball (43 yards per kick). KSU had 104 yards on 4 kick returns, including a 41 yarder. Not great coverage from the Horns. Nothing game-altering from either team.

Final

An encouraging finish by the Longhorn defense in the second half, but I'm not sure how much to take from seeing several competent in-game adjustments and some much needed personal adjustments. On one hand, they carried Texas to victory and that shouldn't be minimized. On the other, they serve as a contrast to the inaction of weeks prior.

 

23 hours ago, senorfussybutt said:

Yeah, this season the posts weren't as reliable as in the past. Guess it's hard to get motivated when it's literally loss after loss.

pretty much