Instanalysis - Game 8

FINAL SCORE: Kansas State 23 â€“ Texas 0

Longhorns to host Clemson Tigers in Round One of the College Football Playoff

No. 5 Georgia claims SEC Championship as No. 2 Texas falls 22-19

First half: Kansas State 13 â€“ Texas 0

Second half: Kansas State 10 â€“ Texas 0

First half observations

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[*]2 false starts, an injury to Kent Perkins, and a 3 & out to open the game for Texas. Not the fast start the team needed.

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[*]Jason Hall came out with the starters on defense. Heâ€™s not 100%, but is moving â€œokay”.

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[*]2 more penalties on defense and a few delayed handoffs and KSU has it first & goal. But the Texas defense stiffens on 3 straight runs and limits the Wildcats to a field goal. Thatâ€™s a win.

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[*]KSU producing easy pressure and Swoopes has to hurry 2 throws (both go incomplete). Texas goes 3 & out again and shanks a punt to continue the slow start.

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[*]The defense holds KSU to another FG to make it 6-0, but theyâ€™re unemotional and look flat. The offense needs to move the football on this series and let the defense rest.

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[*]The delayed dump pass to Swaim (3^rd down on the 3^rd drive) was a great playcall. That should slow down the linebackers.

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[*]Consecutive sacks pin KSUâ€™s offense at the goal line and they follow it up with an average punt to put the Texas offense in business at the KSU 40. On the second sack, the DBâ€™s had solid coverage and Waters took way too much time looking for an open receiver.

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[*]A holding penalty and a poor decision by Swoopes to eat the ball (instead of stepping up in the pocket), and the Horns lose enough field position to force another punt. The offense moved the ball better on that drive â€“ no coincidence that Swoopes started running it.

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[*]The Texas offense is wasting chances in the 2^nd quarter. The defense and special teams are leaving them with short fields but they arenâ€™t producing. Texas is moving the ball, but thereâ€™s no rhythm or consistency to the offense.

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[*]To convert a 3^rd and long from their own 10, KSU went with max protection to give Waters plenty of time to let their WR find the soft spot in the umbrella zone.

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[*]A double move on a long pass play that followed a late PI flag led to a short TD run for Robinson. With only 2:00 until halftime, now the Texas offense needs to respond. Texas has 3 timeouts to burn to help them get down the field.

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[*]The Horns drove it out to midfield and then stalled with a sack and poor OL play. The offense has no rhythm at all yet and playcalls are not building in a sequence. There are some solid individual calls, but they arenâ€™t cohesive whatsoever.

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Second half observations‘”

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[*]3^rddown defense rears itâ€™s head on the Catsâ€™ 1^st possession of the half. After defending the option well, Waters had all day to throw on 3^rd down.

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[*]The defense halted K-Stateâ€™s opening drive, but a PF penalty (Hughes â€“ hands to the face), helps KSU pin Texas at their own 13. The Horns arenâ€™t making this easy on themselves, at all.

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[*]The Texas offense moved the ball and converted a few first downs, but a botched pitch on a reverse gives the ball to KSU at midfield. More self-inflicted harm.

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[*]Despite the turnover, I liked the formation change from Watson that lined up 3 in the backfield with Swoopes. A lot of flexibility there and some of it was shown with an up-back motioning out to the edge.

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[*]KSU has stayed in their max protect offense since early in the 1^st quarter. When the Horns rush 4, they arenâ€™t able to pressure Waters before he finds an open receiver.

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[*]KSU called a timeout late in the 3^rd quarter and re-thought going for it on 4^th down. The Cats elected to take a FG and are now up 16-0. Smart call by Bill Snyder to put his team up by what feels like an insurmountable margin at this point.

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[*]Between the 3^rd & 4^th quarters, I still had no idea what the overall gameplan was today.

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[*]Texas drove the ball well to open the 4^th quarter, but got inside the KSU 15 yard line and failed to gain 2 yards on two tries. The call on 4^th down was particularly surprising, with the Horns choosing to run to the left (a telling sign of Kent Perkinsâ€™ health?).

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[*]Aaaand there it isâ€¦..after holding on downs, KSU drives the length of the field and punches in a touchdown to go up 23-0. I would normally say itâ€™s hard to fault the defense since theyâ€™ve been on the field so much, but theyâ€™ve made no game-changing plays today.

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Two takeaways‘”

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[*]For all the talk of the environment earlier in the week at press conferences, the team showed no energy today. Even at the beginning of the game, Texas was flat. They stayed that way thoughout the afternoon. Thatâ€™s very surprising considering the confidence of the team was on the rise.

[*]After the game, the media and coaches were all talking about how this was a â€œself-inflictedâ€ loss. After 8 games thatâ€™s not something thatâ€™s improving, itâ€™s a disturbing trend.

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Notable Statâ€™s‘”

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[*]Texas only had 92 yards of total offense in the first half. K-State wasnâ€™t much better at 146, but they made their production count.

[*]Texas had one fumble, seven penalties, no takeaways,

[*]Texas is now 9-6 against Kansas State and has lost 6 of the last 7 to the Wildcats. Today was Kansas Stateâ€™s 500^th win in program history.

[*]Texas only mustered 196 total yards and did not have 100 yards rushing as a team. Swoopes had 31 yards rushing to lead the team.

[*]KSU converted 9 of 17 third downs.

[*]For the game, K-State nearly doubled up Texas in TOP: 39:14 to 20:46

[*]John Harris had 42 yards receivingâ€¦more than any other wideout and more yards than anyone rushed for (net).

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