I don't know what to tell you guys.
Honestly, where does one even begin?
I suppose let's start with the obvious, which is that on a night when Sam Ehlinger was responsible for 490 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, the Texas Longhorns escaped a defeat against the worst team in the Big 12 on a field goal at the buzzer by Cameron Dicker.
Outside of that ... my mind is just kind of wandering ...
I'm thinking about the 569 yards offense and 259 yards rushing the defense gave up. I'm thinking about the fact that Kansas was supposed to be the easiest game left on the schedule. I'm thinking about the fact that Kansas' field goal kicking protection was responsible for six lost points. I'm thinking about the eight penalties for 86 yards. I'm thinking about Sam saving this team's bacon. I'm thinking Tom Herman is going to have a real soul-searching moment about his staff when this season is over.
I'm just thinking ...
This isn't good enough and this brand of average football that has been played as a whole in the month of October isn't good enough.
(Other thoughts...)
... Are we naive to be talking about the Big 12 title with this team? I feel naive.
... Kansas lost this game because it left Sam Ehlinger too much time on the clock.
.... Ehlinger finished the game with 399 yards passing and four touchdowns on 31 of 44 attempts, while also running for 91 yards. The Longhorns needed every single yard and every single touchdown. Without Ehlinger, the Longhorns lose by double-digits tonight.
... Ehlinger hasn't made many mistakes this season, but that interception in the fourth quarter allowed Kansas back into a game that they seemed to be losing control of after back to back punts on the offensive side of the ball. Woof.
... It says a lot about Ehlinger that he followed that interception with one of his best individual drives of the season on the next offensive possession, converting a big third down play with his legs and making a monster play in the pocket with his second touchdown throw to Devin Duvernay.
... I thought it was dumb to throw the ball with eight seconds left after calling your final timeout. The risk wasn't worth five yards of field position for the final field goal.
... Devin Duvernay, Collin Johnson, Brennan Eagles and Cade Brewer all deserve game balls.
... The Kansas field goal protection was beyond awful. It cost them six points.
... Texas made Carter Stanley look like Joe Burrow ... or he made himself look like Joe Burrow ... or both of those things are true at the same time.
... I suppose after the last three weeks we need to stop saying the Texas run defense is above average.
... Jake Smith has to protect the ball better. Period. He's making the kind of freshman mistakes that Mack Brown has spent a lifetime worried about.
... This is the worst Texas pass rush I have ever seen in 25 years of covering this program. Those of you that have argued with me for months that this concern wasn't a concern have been historically wrong.
... Hello, Byron Vaughns and DeMarvion Overshown. The best part of the entire defense for my money came with the play of these two second-year players. Overshown was probably the defensive MVP of the game. Both of these kids came ready to play tonight.
... Joseph Ossai played his guts out. He's the best pro prospect on that defense by a mile right now.
... What the hell has happened to B.J. Foster? Have aliens kidnapped him?
... It's kind of strange that the Longhorns have waited all season to get this version of Keaontay Ingram, but on the night he's averaging 9.8 yards per pop, Texas coaches have gone away from him. It felt like he was stuck on 10 carries forever. Ingram finished with 101 on 14 carries. Texas needs more games like this from him.
... Devin Duvernay had a quiet first half and I started to wonder if the return of Collin Johnson was changing his role in the offense, but then they fed him the ball in the second half in a way that allowed him to be a difference-maker in the game. This was a low-key very important tweak that the coaches made at halftime.
... Sam Cosmi definitely needs another year.
.. Pooka Williams throwing Brandon Jones to the ground pretty much represents Jones' entire senior year thus far. It hasn't been good.
... It says a lot about the confidence that Tom Herman and Co. have in Keaontay Ingram that when Kansas scored to make it 14-10 in the second quarter, the first four plays for the offense on the following drive were handoffs to Ingram.
... Occasionally, I'll remark that Tom Herman has some Mack Brown in him and it has never been more obvious than in the first 15 minutes post-OU game when we saw offensive wrinkles (Roschon Johnson and Jake Smith in the Wildcat) that weren't seen in the Cotton Bowl, coupled with added play-calling aggression and player usage that also didn't exist last week.
... Texas is now four of 10 on fourth downs this season and the team was one of three tonight, which makes the Longhorns pretty consistent in this phase of the game.
... I feel like the best moment of the game might have been seeing Sam Cosmi get up without any apparent harm after getting rolled up from behind by Roschon Johnson in the first quarter. It looked scary in real time.
... For the record, I'm pretty sure @Alex Dunlap has the defensive with considerably more missed tackles in his breakdowns (via @chrisgb002000). I'm also going to say for the record that the numbers did not improve after tonight.
Honestly, where does one even begin?
I suppose let's start with the obvious, which is that on a night when Sam Ehlinger was responsible for 490 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, the Texas Longhorns escaped a defeat against the worst team in the Big 12 on a field goal at the buzzer by Cameron Dicker.
Outside of that ... my mind is just kind of wandering ...
I'm thinking about the 569 yards offense and 259 yards rushing the defense gave up. I'm thinking about the fact that Kansas was supposed to be the easiest game left on the schedule. I'm thinking about the fact that Kansas' field goal kicking protection was responsible for six lost points. I'm thinking about the eight penalties for 86 yards. I'm thinking about Sam saving this team's bacon. I'm thinking Tom Herman is going to have a real soul-searching moment about his staff when this season is over.
I'm just thinking ...
This isn't good enough and this brand of average football that has been played as a whole in the month of October isn't good enough.
(Other thoughts...)
... Are we naive to be talking about the Big 12 title with this team? I feel naive.
... Kansas lost this game because it left Sam Ehlinger too much time on the clock.
.... Ehlinger finished the game with 399 yards passing and four touchdowns on 31 of 44 attempts, while also running for 91 yards. The Longhorns needed every single yard and every single touchdown. Without Ehlinger, the Longhorns lose by double-digits tonight.
... Ehlinger hasn't made many mistakes this season, but that interception in the fourth quarter allowed Kansas back into a game that they seemed to be losing control of after back to back punts on the offensive side of the ball. Woof.
... It says a lot about Ehlinger that he followed that interception with one of his best individual drives of the season on the next offensive possession, converting a big third down play with his legs and making a monster play in the pocket with his second touchdown throw to Devin Duvernay.
... I thought it was dumb to throw the ball with eight seconds left after calling your final timeout. The risk wasn't worth five yards of field position for the final field goal.
... Devin Duvernay, Collin Johnson, Brennan Eagles and Cade Brewer all deserve game balls.
... The Kansas field goal protection was beyond awful. It cost them six points.
... Texas made Carter Stanley look like Joe Burrow ... or he made himself look like Joe Burrow ... or both of those things are true at the same time.
... I suppose after the last three weeks we need to stop saying the Texas run defense is above average.
... Jake Smith has to protect the ball better. Period. He's making the kind of freshman mistakes that Mack Brown has spent a lifetime worried about.
... This is the worst Texas pass rush I have ever seen in 25 years of covering this program. Those of you that have argued with me for months that this concern wasn't a concern have been historically wrong.
... Hello, Byron Vaughns and DeMarvion Overshown. The best part of the entire defense for my money came with the play of these two second-year players. Overshown was probably the defensive MVP of the game. Both of these kids came ready to play tonight.
... Joseph Ossai played his guts out. He's the best pro prospect on that defense by a mile right now.
... What the hell has happened to B.J. Foster? Have aliens kidnapped him?
... It's kind of strange that the Longhorns have waited all season to get this version of Keaontay Ingram, but on the night he's averaging 9.8 yards per pop, Texas coaches have gone away from him. It felt like he was stuck on 10 carries forever. Ingram finished with 101 on 14 carries. Texas needs more games like this from him.
... Devin Duvernay had a quiet first half and I started to wonder if the return of Collin Johnson was changing his role in the offense, but then they fed him the ball in the second half in a way that allowed him to be a difference-maker in the game. This was a low-key very important tweak that the coaches made at halftime.
... Sam Cosmi definitely needs another year.
.. Pooka Williams throwing Brandon Jones to the ground pretty much represents Jones' entire senior year thus far. It hasn't been good.
... It says a lot about the confidence that Tom Herman and Co. have in Keaontay Ingram that when Kansas scored to make it 14-10 in the second quarter, the first four plays for the offense on the following drive were handoffs to Ingram.
... Occasionally, I'll remark that Tom Herman has some Mack Brown in him and it has never been more obvious than in the first 15 minutes post-OU game when we saw offensive wrinkles (Roschon Johnson and Jake Smith in the Wildcat) that weren't seen in the Cotton Bowl, coupled with added play-calling aggression and player usage that also didn't exist last week.
... Texas is now four of 10 on fourth downs this season and the team was one of three tonight, which makes the Longhorns pretty consistent in this phase of the game.
... I feel like the best moment of the game might have been seeing Sam Cosmi get up without any apparent harm after getting rolled up from behind by Roschon Johnson in the first quarter. It looked scary in real time.
... For the record, I'm pretty sure @Alex Dunlap has the defensive with considerably more missed tackles in his breakdowns (via @chrisgb002000). I'm also going to say for the record that the numbers did not improve after tonight.
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