Longhorns’ ‘broken record’ plays on
Sloppy performance leads to UT’s fourth loss in five games
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Almost as quickly as it started, the inevitable “We own Texas!” chant faded away at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Nobody’s heart seemed to be into it. After all, the Longhorns aren’t much of a prestigious possession these days.
In the visitors’ locker roomafter his team’s sloppy, mistake-prone performance led to a 24-21 loss to Kansas State, UT coach Charlie Strong urged his players yet again to re group andre focus on winning out.
But after four losses in five games, the speeches are becoming as repetitive as the results.
“It’s just like a broken record,” UT senior defensive tackle Paul Boyette said. “That’s all I can really say.”
For the Longhorns (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) all of the familiar notes were there.
Their defense played one terrible half, allowing the Wildcats to hold the ball for an incredible 23:18 ontheir waytoa21-7 halftime lead. Their offense failed to take advantage of prime opportunities, failing to score after all three Kansas State turnovers.
And in the end, UT never truly threatened to avoid its fifth consecutive loss in Manhattan, where it hasn’t won since 2002.
“It’s kind of hard to point out what’s going on,” UT junior defensive tackle Poona Ford said. “We’ve got to find some answers.”
In a game the Longhorns needed, not only to stay on track for a bowl game but also to quiet speculation about Strong’s job security, they looked lost from the beginning.
Too many mistakes
On the game’s first drive, UT’s defense committed four penalties (one was declined) as the Wildcats (4-3, 2-2) methodically marched to the end zone. On an offensive fourth-down try later in the quarter, the Longhorns committed a false start. And just before halftime, a UT pass interference and late hit allowed Kansas State to score another touchdown.
“I know we’re young, but we can’t keep using that as an excuse,” Boyette said. “We’ve got to bow up and pull our own weight.”
The Longhorns seldom bowed up against Wildcats quarterback Jesse Ertz, who entered the game as one of the Big 12’s lowest-rated quarterbacks but did about anything he wanted against UT. Ertz completed 20 of 27 passes for 171 yards and ran for 78 yards and two touchdowns.
But despite their inability to contain Ertz and their penchant for untimely miscues, the Longhorns kept finding life.
With Charles Jones hurtling into the end zone for a touchdown that would have put Kansas State up by three scores early in the third quarter, UT linebacker Anthony Wheeler knocked the ball loose and the Longhorns recovered for a touchback.
Early in the fourth quarter, UT’s Edwin Freeman intercepted an Ertz pass and returned it 33 yards. And later in the quarter, Freeman recovered an Ertz fumble near midfield.
“I think any turnover is a gamechanger,” Freeman said.
But none of those three turnovers lived up to that billing.
After the first one, UT’s Dorian Leonard dropped a fourth-down pass from Shane Buechele. After the second one, Armanti Foreman dropped a potential touchdown pass from Buechele, again on fourth down. And after the third, the Longhorns botched a firstand-goal situation and wound up missing a field goal.
“The defense gave us three chances,” said UT receiver Devin Duvernay, who managed one of the team’s few highlights on an 80-yard touchdown catch from Buechele in the first half. “We just didn’t execute them well.”
“So many missed opportunities,” said Strong, who now has coached the Longhorns to a 3-4 start in each of his three seasons at UT.
Running out of patience
Clearly, the fan base’s patience is running thin.
And when UT athletic director Mike Perrin was approached by reporters as he walked out of the stadium Saturday, he declined to answer questions, saying only ,“No talking.”
Strong, understandably, wasn’t in much of a chatty mood after the game, either. But like he has done many times before, he expressed optimism the Longhorns are getting closer to a breakthrough.
The Longhorns had a seasonlow 344 total yards of offense. It ended a streak of six consecutive games with at least 400 yards, the second-longest streak in school history to begin a season.
Asusual, one of the bright spots for the Longhorns was junior tailback D’Onta Foreman, whoran 24 times for 124 yards and reached the 100-yard mark for his eighth consecutive game. In UT history, only Earl Campbell (11 games) hash ada longer such streak.
The Longhorns now return to Royal-Memorial Stadium for next Saturday’ s game against No .9 Baylor, who the Longhorns knocked off at Waco last season.
“We’ve just got to get ourselves back together, and it will happen,” Strong said. “It’s eventually going to catch on in the right way.”