Kansas football: Three things the Jayhawks must do to beat Texas
After coming off their first bye week of the season, Kansas football will face the Texas Longhorns in Austin next Saturday night. What can the Jayhawks do to pick up the road win?
After doing some research, it turns out Kansas football hasn’t won against a ranked opponent since 2010 when the Jayhawks beat #15 Georgia Tech 28-25. You’d have to go all the way back to 2007 to find the last time Kansas won a game over a ranked opponent on the road. In that Orange Bowl-winning season, the Jayhawks defeated #24 Kansas State in Manhattan.
This week, Kansas football will take on Texas after the Longhorns lost to their most hated rival Oklahoma in their previous game. What can the Jayhawks do to beat the angry Texas team?
1. Win the turnover battle
Very rarely does a team that wins the turnover battle lose the game. Not only that, but this Kansas football team isn’t good enough to give their opponent extra chances. Notice the word win, not tie, but win. Anything the Jayhawks can do to generate extra possessions and keep the Texas offense and Sam Ehlinger off the field is going to give them at least a chance to win this football game.
Protecting the football will also be important for the Jayhawk offense, as the Texas defense has forced six turnovers in their past two games, including four interceptions against West Virginia.
2. Get Pooka Williams going
Kansas football will need Pooka Williams to do some Pooka Magic if they want to win this game. The good thing for Pooka is that the Texas defense struggled last week against the Oklahoma running game, giving up 276 yards to the Sooners. New offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon will hopefully make it a priority to get Williams out in space where he can take advantage of Texas’ errant tackling.
3. Contain Sam Ehlinger
The key for Kansas football will be keeping Sam Ehlinger from making big plays, which is much easier said than done. Last week against the Sooners, Ehlinger went 26 of 38 for no touchdowns or interceptions; however, he did rush for a pair of touchdowns.
While Ehlinger hasn’t been bad from the air, he has been a little suspect in his past two games. The Kansas defense should make it a priority to keep Ehlinger in the pocket and force him to try and beat the Jayhawks through the air.
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As of now, Texas is a 23 point favorite over Kansas football. It’ll be interesting to see how that shifts throughout the week, if at all. At the very least, this looks like a game that the Jayhawks will be able to cover the spread.
It won’t be easy, but Kansas has beaten Texas in dramatic fashion before, so that means that they could potentially do it again?