Kansas Football: Texas Gameday Preview

(23) Texas vs. Kansas

Saturday, October 27th – at Memorial Stadium; Lawrence, Kansas

Jayhawks: 1-6, 0-4 (10th in Big 12) | Longhorns: 5-2, 2-2 (6th in Big 12)

• Kickoff – 11:00 a.m. (CST)
• Television – FSN
• Radio – Sirius/XM Radio (137/195)
• Weather – Mostly sunny and cool, 50-28 degrees 0% precipitation (via accuweather)
• Odds – Kansas is a home underdog. Texas is a -23 point favorite.

Quick History

• 12th meeting, Longhorns lead series (9-2).
• Texas has won nine straight over Kansas and the Jayhawks have not beaten them since 1938.
• Texas has won all eight conference games played against Kansas.
• Longhorns beat the Jayhawks last year 43-0 in Austin, Texas.

Oct 29 2011; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback David Ash (14) runs the ball under pressure from Kansas Jayhawks linebacker Darius Willis (2) and cornerback Tyler Patmon (33) and defensive tackle Patrick Dorsey (92) during the third quarter at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas beat Kansas 43-0. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-US PRESSWIRE

This week, Charlie Weis talked about many things at his weekly press conference at the University of Kansas. During this press conference, he discussed what Cummings did against the Sooners to start against Texas, balancing development and recruiting, and Texas’ head coach Mack Brown.

Weis on what Cummings did against Oklahoma to earn the starting nod

“The game wasn’t too big for him down in Oklahoma. Now of course, I did not throw the entire playbook at him and everyone says, ‘why don’t you do more?’ I don’t want to get the kid killed, either. Any time you start with an inexperienced quarterback, it is probably a good thing to protect him some. But we’ll do a little bit more with him this week than we did last week, obviously. When you score seven points, that’s not good enough no matter who you’re playing, so you have to give your team a chance to score more points than that. At the same time, they’re (Texas is) averaging 44 points a game. So the last thing I want to do is have our offense go three-and-out a bunch of times and have our defense on the field all game.” (Source: kuathletics)

Weis on if it’s tough to find a balance in development versus recruiting

“Yeah, because you have a responsibility to your own guys to develop them as much as you possibly can. And some guys will have ceilings and some guys aren’t even close to their ceilings. They’re the ones you’re counting on. We have some players that you say ‘hey, they could be really good players, not just okay players, they could be really good.’ Some players we have are just going to be okay players. That’s what they are. That’s what I was. I mean, I wasn’t even okay. I would have liked to have been where some of these people are. But I know our responsibility is to take every one of those guys and try to make them the best they could possibly be and to even try to push them past that level and then go get more.” (Source: kuathletics)

Weis on Texas coach Mack Brown

“Actually, we’ve known each other for a long time. And our wives have met and his wife’s a horse person and my wife’s a horse person. Don’t ever hook up wives that are horse people, by the way, it’s not a good thing. But no, we’ve talked about a lot of things over the years and I’m a big fan of his. I’d rather leave some of the personal stuff out of it, but I’m a big fan.” (Source: kuathletics)

[Also read: Crossing Enemy Lines with Texas]

Three Keys to Victory

1. Limit turnovers on offense. Kansas turned the ball over three times in their 52-7 loss to Oklahoma. Michael Cummings caused two of them by throwing two interceptions. This is because Oklahoma is a very good team in the Big 12 and the Longhorns will not be “as good” as Oklahoma. Nonetheless, Cummings will need to be on his game and limit the interception numbers.
2. Have a solid run game. Seems like every week that we are saying “run the ball,” but that is exactly what they need to do. They do not need to run because the Longhorns cannot stop it, but rather to take some pressure off of Cummings in the pocket. If the Jayhawks can run the ball effectively, then Michael Cummings might be able to do something.
3. Don’t be scared to throw the ball deep. Kansas will need to take shots down the field through the air if the running game works. Michael Cummings cannot be scared to “unleash the dragon” (let’s hope he does it better than Rex Grossman) against Texas.

[Also read: Three Ways to Defeat Texas]

Gameday Thoughts

•  The Jayhawks defense is going to have to play as good or even better than they did against Oklahoma State. The Texas Longhorns are a powerful team on offense. They can run the ball with Joe Bergeron or pass to Mike Davis. Bradley McDougald leads the Jayhawks with 55 tackles on the season. He will need to lead this team if Kansas wants to have a chance against Texas.
• Michael Cummings will need to watch out for Quandre Diggs on the Texas defense. Diggs leads Texas with three interceptions. Oklahoma forced Cummings to throw two interceptions in the game last week and both were to Javon Harris. Cummings will need to know where Diggs is on the field at all times.
• James Sims needs to have a solid game running the football. He is currently 12th on the all-time list with a total of 1,915 rushing yards. Sims will need to run effectively to take some pressure off of Michael Cummings.

[Also read: Texas and Kansas News and Notes]

Injury Report

Sep 8, 2012; Lawrence, KS, USA; Kansas Jayhawks wide receiver Daymond Patterson (15) makes a catch against the Rice Owls in the first quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Kansas wide receiver DJ Beshears will be out with a slight fracture in his shoulder. The Jayhawks do not know how long he will be out for, but it in for sure that he will not play against Texas. The senior has caught eight catches for 44 yards for Kansas this season.

Daymond Patterson is also listed as questionable with a concussion. He did not play for the Jayhawks last week against Oklahoma.

[Also read: Breaking Down the Longhorns Defense]

Prediction

Just like last week, this looks to be a rough game for Kansas. However, it might not be as rough as the game against Oklahoma. This is because Texas is not as strong as Oklahoma. If Kansas wants to try to make this a game, they will need to run the ball effectively to help out Michael Cummings.

This will be another stepping stone for Michael Cummings. He did not look good last week, but it will give him a chance to play against a tough conference foe. Win or Lose, Cummings will learn from this game and continue to be the future for Jayhawk football.

Final score: Texas 42, Kansas 21

[Also read: High Scoring Texas Offense Previewed]

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