Texas football: Quick Qakes From a Near-Disaster Against Kansas
We have a lot to unpack from Texas' 50-48 win over Kansas, so let's not waste any time and get into it.
Special teams were special
Cameron Dicker continues to add to his legacy on the Forty Acres with his second game-winning kick in just 21 starts. The Longhorns marched 60 yards in 10 plays to set up Dicker's 33-yard attempt, which he calmly drilled through the uprights.
I was just ready to go out there and do what we do every Tuesday (in practice)," Dicker said. "When I walk out there, it's just me, (holder) Ryan (Bujcevski) and (longsnapper) Justin (Mader) on the field."
In addition to Dicker's game-winner, the Longhorns were also boosted by their field goal block team. Not only did Texas get a paw on a field goal before halftime, but they also blocked an extra point try and returned it for two points, which coupled with a quick Texas touchdown resulted in a 10-point swing.
Malcolm Roach got up to get a piece of the kick, then D'Shawn Jamison went back to the house the other way.
"I am going to get all the credit, but those guys in front of me got a push," Roach said after the game.
We have to talk about the defense
Dicker's big kick drew some comparisons to the game-winner against Oklahoma last year from Herman during his postgame press conference, but not many people wearing Burnt Orange felt remotely similar to the way they did in the Cotton Bowl a year ago.
That day the Longhorns bested their bitter rival and what was an eventual College Football Playoff win in what is still Herman's signature win as the coach at Texas.
On this day Dicker's kick saved the Longhorns from what could have been their worst home conference defeat at least this decade, if not this century so far.
The Longhorns gave up 569 total yards and 48 to the Jayhawks, a team that came into the game with just 53 total points in three conference outings. It's a team that scored just seven points earlier this season against the Sun Belt's Coastal Carolina. It had just 12 against Indiana State.
Yes the Jayhawks looked much more formidable on that side of the ball thanks in large part to bringing in Brent Dearmon as offensive coordinator during the bye week, but Longhorn fans have also seen this defense sink near the bottom of the NCAA in many defensive categories over the past few weeks.
When asked if Texas can do anything special with the defense playing at its current level Tom Herman cut off the inquiry.
"No," Herman said. "Next question."
When asked what of the many things that went wrong tonight can be fixed, he was again curt.
"Everything," Herman said. "Next question."
The offense was great, but can it do enough to overcome this defense?
Texas was spectacular on offense. For a team that had struggled being explosive coming into the the season, Texas scored from all over the field against the Jayhawks on the way to 50 points, 638 yards, 399 passing yards and 239 on the ground. Texas had two 100-yard rushers in Keaontay Ingram (105 yards) and Sam Ehlinger (115 yards). Roschon Johnson added 48 on just 11 carries.
Texas also came close to two 100-yard receivers. Devin Duvernay finished with 110 on eight grabs. Collin Johnson had eight for 96 yards.
The team only punted one time all day.
Pair this year's offense with the defense Texas put on the field in 2017 and you've got a strong case for not just a Big 12 title contender, but a national title hopeful. Pair it with even a diminished 2018 group and you can probably make the same argument.
But is this offense good enough to win with the 2019 Texas defense? That brings us to..
This game leaves UT fans with more questions than answers
With all this offense, do Texas fans need to start preparing themselves for more 50-48 type games? Is Texas going to have to go full-on Big 12 to get to the conference title game? Do the Longhorns even have enough ammo to survive that many shootouts? Can the fan base's hearts handle it even if they do?
Things get quite a bit more real next week when Texas travels to TCU next week for a showdown with a Horned Frogs team that has won four of the last five in this series.
