2011 Predictions & Game Story
Week 9 - Kansas at Texas
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Oct. 29 at Texas 43 … Kansas 0
CFN Analysis: Call it a step. Whoopdee-doo, Texas ran for 441 yards against a miserable Kansas run defense that hasn’t stopped anyone, but it’s still a nice game for a team that hasn’t beaten up enough defensive fronts. Everyone got to have fun for the Longhorns, with Malcolm Brown taking off for 119 yards and two scores, and Joe Bergeron running for 136 yards and two touchdowns in blowout mode. David Ash further established himself as the starter, completing 14-of-18 passes for 145 yards, but he didn’t throw a touchdown pass and gave away a pick. Whatever. Texas needed a blowout home win and it needed to look like Texas again. Do this against Texas Tech, and then it’ll be time to get excited about the finishing kick.
A week after getting embarrassed by Kansas State, Kansas came out and dropped an even bigger clunker. The nation’s worst defense got steamrolled over, which was expected, but the offense was an embarrassment finishing with -2 yards on 20 carries and with Jordan Webb throwing for 48 yards with a pick. The Jayhawks came up with just one third down conversion, and had more penalties (4) than first downs (3), while hanging on to the ball for just under 16 minutes. Considering Iowa State obliterated Texas Tech, going to Ames isn’t going to be as easy as it might have looked a few weeks ago. For KU, just getting better in some way is a must.
(AP) AUSTIN, Texas -- For the first time in a long time, Texas players gathered in the end zone of Royal-Memorial Stadium and sang "The Eyes of Texas" with smiles on their faces after beating a Big 12 team at home.
The losing streak is finally over.
Freshman tailbacks Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron racked up 255 yards rushing and four touchdowns as Texas (No. 24 BCS) ended a five-game home losing streak in the Big 12 with a 43-0 romp over Kansas on Saturday night.
"We got back on track ... It's been a while since we were singing in the locker room," Texas senior safety Blake Gideon said. "That was huge. There's a certain amount of pride in that, in protecting your home stadium."
Texas rushed for 441 yards as a team against the worst defense in the country. Brown reached the 100-yard mark by halftime and his 635 yards this season already are the most by a Texas player since 2007.
Freshman quarterback David Ash got his second consecutive start for Texas (5-2, 2-2 Big 12), which ended a two-game losing skid and got its first home Big 12 win since beating Kansas on Nov. 21, 2009.
"It's probably as physical as we've been around here in a long time," Texas coach Mack Brown said.
Kansas (2-6, 0-5) has lost six in a row, putting more pressure on second-year coach Turner Gill, who is 5-15 with the Jayhawks, who had just three first downs and 46 total yards.
Kansas quarterback Jordan Webb was 7 of 16 passing for 48 yards and one interception.
"Tough ball game all the way around," Gill said. "Tough on our offense. I wasn't expecting us to be totally shut down as far as moving the ball."
The Texas defense turned in one of its most dominant performances in years, getting its first shutout since 2005 and holding Kansas to minus-2 yards rushing. Kansas averaged just 1.3 yards per play.
Brown and Bergeron ran wild over the beleagued Kansas defense that came in giving up an average of 50 points per game. It was the first time in Texas history two freshmen have rushed for 100 yards in a game.
"Our plan was to wear them down," said senior tailback Fozzy Whittaker, who added 68 yards. "As you saw at the end, the holes were just getting bigger and bigger."
"We got back on track ... It's been a while since we were singing in the locker room," Texas senior safety Blake Gideon said. "That was huge. There's a certain amount of pride in that, in protecting your home stadium."
Texas rushed for 441 yards as a team against the worst defense in the country. Brown reached the 100-yard mark by halftime and his 635 yards this season already are the most by a Texas player since 2007.
Freshman quarterback David Ash got his second consecutive start for Texas (5-2, 2-2 Big 12), which ended a two-game losing skid and got its first home Big 12 win since beating Kansas on Nov. 21, 2009.
"It's probably as physical as we've been around here in a long time," Texas coach Mack Brown said.
Kansas (2-6, 0-5) has lost six in a row, putting more pressure on second-year coach Turner Gill, who is 5-15 with the Jayhawks, who had just three first downs and 46 total yards.
Kansas quarterback Jordan Webb was 7 of 16 passing for 48 yards and one interception.
"Tough ball game all the way around," Gill said. "Tough on our offense. I wasn't expecting us to be totally shut down as far as moving the ball."
The Texas defense turned in one of its most dominant performances in years, getting its first shutout since 2005 and holding Kansas to minus-2 yards rushing. Kansas averaged just 1.3 yards per play.
Brown and Bergeron ran wild over the beleagued Kansas defense that came in giving up an average of 50 points per game. It was the first time in Texas history two freshmen have rushed for 100 yards in a game.
"Our plan was to wear them down," said senior tailback Fozzy Whittaker, who added 68 yards. "As you saw at the end, the holes were just getting bigger and bigger."
Kansas (2-5) at Texas (4-2) Oct. 29, 7:00, Longhorn Network
Here’s The Deal … These two haven’t played much since the invention of the Big 12, and when they have played, it’s been brutal.
Texas hasn’t just owned the series, it’s been dominant, winning all eight games in conference play with the 2004 game – a 27-23 win – the only one that stayed within a bazillion points.
For UT’s sake, this game has to follow suit.
Kansas is on a five game losing streak as the Big 12’s equivalent of the poker player who looks around the table and doesn’t know who the sucker is. Iowa State is mediocre, but the rest of the conference is loaded; Kansas has quickly turned into everyone’s punching bag with the nation’s worst defense and an offense that can’t keep up the pace. KU powers-that-be aren’t exactly doing jumping jacks over the Turner Gill regime, with statements about things changing after the 59-21 loss to Kansas State.
The Iowa State game next week should be the best chance at a win, with Baylor, Texas A&M, and Missouri to close, but coming up with a shocker, or at least a good performance, in Austin would do wonders.
Texas politely excused itself from the Big 12 title chase with losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, and this is supposed to be when the season starts humming with just one true road game – Missouri – from October 8 to Thanksgiving weekend. However, last year the Longhorns were supposed to go on a run with a seemingly light home schedule over the second half, and they went into the tank. After the free space against Kansas, there’s battle after battle after battle to close things out, and if the offense can’t be more consistent, and if the defense can’t quickly find a pass rush, it wouldn’t be a shocker if this was another bowl-less season.
Considering what happened last year, and with the losses over the last two weeks, anything but a blowout over Kansas will get the fan base grousing. For KU, another ugly blowout could kick off a coaching search.
Why Kansas Might Win: The Jayhawk passing game should get time to work. Texas isn’t generating any sort of a pass rush, and it’s been a bit problem with just one sack in every game but one, the win over Iowa State. Kansas is running the ball well and the passing game is efficient, and for an offensive line that’s having a nightmare of a time doing anything right on a consistent basis, it’ll get a break and the offense should work.
To put it nicely, the KU defense has had some issues, ranking last in the nation in several key categories, but the Texas passing game isn’t quite sophisticated enough to take advantage of all the problems. The Longhorns ran well against Oklahoma State, but couldn’t get the ball going down the field and now has just one touchdown pass and four interceptions in the last two games.
Kansas is going to pull out all the stops. It’s desperation time for a coaching staff and a program that might undergo a shakeup without a good performance soon, and the offense is going to take more chances. While that might be good in theory …
Why Texas Might Win: Kansas isn’t stopping anyone. No, Texas isn’t Oklahoma throwing the ball, and it’s not as tight as Kansas State at keeping the mistakes to a minimum, and it’s not as explosive as Oklahoma State, but the offense should be able to pick its poison against a Kansas secondary that’s not coming close to slowing anyone down. The defense isn’t coming up with any stops, and it isn’t coming away with any takeaways, either, with just two picks on the year and three fumble recoveries. Worse yet, three of the five takeaways came in the blowout loss to Oklahoma.
Kansas does have a running game and the production is there in the backfield to come up with yards in bunches, but the defense gives away points and scores so far that the Jayhawks have to start throwing. KU has to control the clock by keeping the chains moving, but for all the mediocrity on the Texas defense, and despite the lack of a pass rush, it’s doing a great job of getting off the field on third downs. The pass defense allows 216 yards per game, but that’s good enough to be tops in the Big 12. The big plays aren’t coming on a regular basis against this secondary.
What To Watch Out For: Malcolm Brown was just starting to heat up with the Longhorns went on a two week break. The freshman sensation only has two 100-yard running days, but he came up with 135 yards and two scores in a breakthrough performance against Oklahoma State, keeping the game close when the Cowboys were seemingly always on the verge of pulling away. What he hasn’t been yet is a workhorse, with just one game with 20 or more carries. That should change this week.
The entire focus of the Kansas program is on Turner Gill, a miracle worker at Buffalo who hasn’t been able to turn things around in just over a year at his new job. Considering the success under Mark Mangino, the wins were expected to come right away, but instead, KU is the worst team in the loaded Big 12 and isn’t showing any signs of pulling up out of the nosedive. Losing to arch-rival Kansas State got the hot seat talk rolling, and he might not be able to survive if the team keeps getting obliterated.
What Will Happen: Kansas won’t get obliterated, but it’ll struggle to slow down Brown and it won’t do enough against the Texas midrange passing game to get off the field. The Longhorn defense will clamp down early, looking to make a statement after the last two losses, and the Jayhawks will have to abandon the running game yet again earlier than it’ll want to.
CFN Prediction: Texas 38 … Kansas 14
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