The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Kansas State

For the 4th straight week, the Longhorns came away victorious. It was not pretty, but Texas’ win over Kansas State gives the Longhorns their first 2-0 start to conference play since 2013. Let’s take a look at the good and the bad from an eventful game in Manhattan:

The Good

The Defensive Line

It was a big game for Charles Omenihu and Breckyn Hager, who both entered Saturday needing to get more pressure on the quarterback. Omenihu responded with two sacks, with his second resulting in a safety. Hager picked up his first sack of the season and finished the game with 4 total pressures. The pass he batted down at the line of scrimmage late in the 4th quarter saved the game for the Longhorns.

In addition to big games from the defensive ends, Chris Nelson and Gerald Wilbon did a good job of holding their own in the middle of the defensive line. Nelson had several disruptive plays in the backfield and Wilbon played well in a backup role.

Time-consuming Drives

As Tom Herman and Sam Ehlinger pointed out after the game, it is the 4th straight game the Longhorns have ended by taking a knee on the opponent’s side of the field. One of the biggest struggles in recent years for Texas is generating yards in the run game when everyone knows it’s coming. Against the Wildcats, it was Keaontay Ingram who carried the load with the game on the line with an assist from Sam Ehlinger, who had a couple of key first down runs on QB draws. In a game where the offense was only responsible for 7 points, a small bit of credit goes to the coaching staff for not just ramming it up the middle 3 times and trusting their defense.

The bad

Losing the Penalty Battle

For the 4th time in 5 games, Texas lost the penalty battle to the opposition. The Longhorns were penalized 10 times for over 100 yards, while the Wildcats were only called for 1 penalty, which ended up being offset by a Kris Boyd hold. Texas is ranked as one of the most penalized teams in the country, and it is a trend that has to end if the Longhorns want to take the next step and compete for a Big 12 title. Tom Herman took a subtle shot at Big 12 officiating in general after the game when he commented that he has to teach his offensive players how to draw penalties, but the Longhorns also have to quit getting in their own way. There is no reason for Andrew Beck to shove a guy in a back right in front of an official, or for Zach Shackelford to cheap shot somebody 10 yards away from the ball.

Pass Defense

Texas had an excellent game plan heading into Manhattan. The Longhorns sold out to stop the run because they knew Alex Delton would not be able to beat them through the air. The only problem was that the defense never found their grove after Bill Snyder went back to Skylar Thompson to start the second half. In my opinion, the Longhorns needed to drop 7 into coverage and force Thompson to squeeze the ball through tight windows. Instead they opted to crank up the pressure, resulting in a lot of quick completions and leaving Kris Boyd and Davante Davis on an island. Although the Wildcats only mustered 110 passing yards, it was not the best day for the Longhorn secondary.

The Ugly

Punting

Tom Herman and his staff are walking a tightrope when it comes to the punting unit. Ryan Bujcevski found himself under extreme pressure again and had a punt partially blocked due to a high snap. The word is out by now that Texas is struggling to protect their punter, and every remaining team on the schedule has access to film. It does not fall all on Bujcevski, however. He had to handle a snap that almost sailed over his head and his personal protectors continue to give players free paths to the ball.

Offensive Efficiency

The Texas offense had 8 possessions Saturday afternoon and they went as follows: Punt, TD pass to Collin Johnson, Field goal, punt, punt, missed field goal, punt and the final possession that resulted in a kneel down. It was an odd game, with both teams keeping the ball for long periods of time. Regardless, Texas stalled on offense far too many times against a defense that had been shredded by the two power 5 offenses it faced up to that point. Tom Herman said after the game that the plan was to keep Kansas State’s offense off the field, but 7 points from his offense could not have been what he was hoping for. Herman admitted it was an ugly win, and the Texas offense will need to turn in better performances in the coming weeks when the Longhorns could find themselves in a shootout or two.