Mack Brown held his weekly Monday news conference after the Longhorns 30-7 demolition of Texas Christian on a rainy Saturday Night. This week’s game against Kansas will mark the first time Texas has been home since September.
Longhorns OT Josh Cochran is out this Saturday with a shoulder injury, and it was also announced Texas @ West Virginia is a 6pm CT kick off in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Brown noted Texas has not allowed a sack in nine quarters, and the Horned Frogs had 24 sacks on the year coming into the game.
Brown to his players on Kansas: “Go back and look at last year’s game–we got out of it by the skin of our teeth.” He further elaborated by saying  Saturday is critical to get to the ultimate goal [big 12 Championship], and about how the squad has seemingly
“risen from the dead” since the loss to Brigham Young.
Brown stated former Texas running back and Heisman trophy winner Ricky Williams compared this year’s 1-2 start to the Longhorns 1-2 in 1998. Â Brown joked and said he remind Williams the 1998 team had him.
Brown commented on the team “playing as a team with passion”. Said everyone is working together, the offense doing well and the defense stopping the run. When asked about coaching “confidence”, Brown said “It is what it is”, but winning fixes everything.
When asked about how far the defense has came in separate questions, Brown talked about how huge fast starts like the quick turnover and physical start against TCU are. Said Greg Robinson brought expertise, confidence, a Rose Bowl Championship, and three Super Bowls. Brown said the older defensive players saw the difference in the Kansas State game, have [bought in], and are playing hard.
Brown spoke on the status of QB David Ash, saying he is making progress, doing better, and threw some balls last week/weekend. Not ruled out for the year but is out for this game.
Brown was then asked about true freshman quarterback Tyrone Swoopes getting his red shirt burned late in the game. Brown stated they [staff] knew Ash would not play against Kansas. Said they always had the plan of putting Swoopes in if they could. He also said he didn,t see a chance against Iowa State and Oklahoma to play him. Brown went on to say on Saturday, there were two passes called for Swoopes [He ran on both]. Thought the TCU game was perfect setting and he’d be ready. Brown refused to discuss a plan to get Tyrone playing time but commented on the backup quarterback being the most popular player in Texas history.
Brown was asked about the improved play of the Offensive Line, saying they are having fun running the ball and pounding people. Brown did not believe Case McCoy was  touched by TCU on Saturday night. Later, Brown said he wondered how the team would respond after basking in the glow of beating Oklahoma for two weeks, and was happy with the teams performance. Later Brown commented on the 2005 team setting a standard of play, and commented on this team needing to do the same thing.
Brown was asked about the fan bases support of the team, saying he thought they [fans] should have had confidence in the team even after the losses, but they have been great. He also wants the fans to be proud of what team has overcame adversity wise. Also just made the stand alone statement he wanted fans to like the team.
Texas faces Kansas at Darryl K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium Saturday with a 2:30 pm kickoff. The Longhorns are a 27 point favorite against a Jayhawks squad coming off a 59-14 home loss to Baylor. The game is being broadcast on the Longhorn Network.
