{"id":53975,"date":"2023-10-31T13:30:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T17:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=53975"},"modified":"2025-09-13T15:54:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T19:54:43","slug":"moment-of-truth-for-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/10\/31\/moment-of-truth-for-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Moment of Truth for Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The moment of truth has arrived for the Texas Longhorns as they face Kansas State in the biggest game of the season. Throw out the previous games against Alabama and Oklahoma. Those were great matchups, but this is playoff football. This is November football in the Big 12.<\/span><\/p>\n

Texas and Kansas State will play the early game in what amounts to a de facto conference playoff. Kickoff at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium is 11 a.m. local time on Saturday. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will clash in the other semifinal at 2:30 p.m. in Stillwater. All four teams are 4-1 in the league standings, so the path to the Big 12 Championship Game on Dec. 2 is clear: Win and advance. A loss all but guarantees elimination. Kansas and Iowa State face off at 6 p.m. in what amounts to a play-in game.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Moment of Truth<\/span><\/h3>\n

Texas and Oklahoma seemed to be the front runners for the Big 12 title game as recently as two weeks ago. A\u00a0<\/span>funny thing happened<\/span><\/a>\u00a0along the way to November, as Kansas shocked the Sooners and the conference cinched itself into a five-team dogpile atop the standings. Texas managed to keep pace despite losing\u00a0<\/span>Quinn Ewers<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0to an injury. Redshirt freshman\u00a0<\/span>Maalik Murphy<\/span><\/a>\u00a0emerged from the bullpen last week and led the Longhorns to a 35-6 win against BYU.<\/span><\/p>\n

Texas absorbed the loss of its starting quarterback to get the win over BYU, but Kansas State is a more daunting challenge. The Wildcats entered the season as the defending Big 12 champions but started the season quietly with wins over Southeast Missouri State and Troy. Then the Wildcats lost to Missouri and were all but forgotten. Head Coach\u00a0<\/span>Chris Klieman<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0rallied his troops and positioned his team for a chance to win back-to-back championships.<\/span><\/p>\n

No Hype Required<\/span><\/h3>\n

Texas Head Coach\u00a0<\/span>Steve Sarkisian<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0is not in the business of selling tickets. His press conferences are as bland as day-old coffee. When it comes to hyping a football game, he\u2019s no\u00a0<\/span>Deion Sanders<\/span><\/strong>. When asked to assess his team after the BYU win, Sarkisian was his usual self. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got a pretty good football team,\u201d he said in his Monday press conference. The moment of truth has come for the Longhorns to prove him right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kansas State crushed its past two opponents, TCU and Houston, by a combined score of 82-3. The Wildcats have two proven quarterbacks and a defense that holds teams to 15.9 points per game. The offense has been thermogenic under the control of both senior\u00a0<\/span>Will Howard<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0and freshman\u00a0<\/span>Avery Johnson<\/span><\/strong>. It seems the Wildcats can do no wrong no matter which quarterback is playing. \u201cThis is a really hot team right now,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been playing as good as anybody in the country in all three phases for the last two to three weeks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Texas enters November without the services of Ewers as well as edge rusher\u00a0<\/span>Ethan Burke<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and safety\u00a0<\/span>Jalen Catalon<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u2014 all listed as week-to-week on the injury report. The Longhorns have been successful this season while liberally rotating players at nearly every position. They are counting on a deep, experienced roster to give them the advantage over the visiting Wildcats. \u201cWe\u2019re going to need to play complimentary football Saturday against a very good, well-coached football team,\u201d Sarkisian said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wildcats Defense<\/span><\/h3>\n

This is the game for you if you like defense. The Texas defense is no. 3 in the nation on third-down conversions. Kansas State is no. 6. Both teams specialize in limiting their opponent\u2019s opportunities. Not surprisingly, the Wildcats and Longhorns are ranked 14th and 15th, respectively, in scoring defense.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s what\u2019s up front that counts for Kansas State. Much like Texas, the Wildcats\u2019 defense runs the show at the line of scrimmage. Kansas State specializes in making tackles for losses. Defensive ends\u00a0<\/span>Khalid Duke<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Nate Matlack<\/span><\/strong>, along with linebacker\u00a0<\/span>Austin Moore<\/span><\/strong>, are among the Big 12 leaders in this category.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wildcats will try to press Murphy into making mistakes in his second career start. Texas converted 6 of 11 third-down opportunities and went 2 of 5 in the red zone against BYU. The Longhorns will have their work cut out for them against Kansas State. \u201cThey force third and longs,\u201d Sarkisian said of the Wildcats, \u201cand when the majority of your third downs are third and nine-plus, then they\u2019re able to play coverage and rush the passer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bring Your \u2018A\u2019 Game<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Texas offense has struggled in the red zone all season. The running game has been mid-tier in the Big 12 because the Longhorns have been forced to rely almost exclusively on Jonathon Brooks<\/strong>. A potent passing attack under Ewers has turned into a question mark with him on the sidelines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Underlying this enigma is an offensive line that needs to step up and deliver. The moment of truth has come for the linemen to find the consistency that has been lacking at times. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get back to playing our brand of football, and that\u2019s a physical brand of football,\u201d said Sarkisian, who delivered that message to his team on Monday. \u201cSometimes you have to get their attention to do that, and so that was this morning. Very candidly, I think I got their attention.\u201d The Texas coaching staff anticipated a \u201chard-nosed week of practice\u201d in preparation for Kansas State, he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quarterback Shuffle<\/span><\/h3>\n

Texas has an abundance of riches in its quarterback room. The Longhorns are in the running for a spot in the Big 12 title game and have yet to unveil true freshman and highly touted\u00a0<\/span>Arch Manning<\/span><\/strong>. Murphy has been a model of consistency and has developed well under the tutelage of Quarterbacks Coach\u00a0<\/span>AJ Milwee<\/span><\/strong>. Murphy has \u201cdeveloped great habits in his preparation, not only mentally but physically,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cThat level of consistency is what I\u2019m most encouraged about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other side of the field, Kansas State boasts an effective 1-2 punch with Howard and Johnson. The Wildcats run the same scheme offensively no matter which player is on the field. Howard has played in 30 games, and he led his team to last year\u2019s overtime win against TCU in the Big 12 Championship, so he\u2019s no stranger to big games. Kansas State doesn\u2019t miss a beat when Johnson steps onto the field. \u201cThe young kid is new to it, but in the end, they\u2019re still running their same stuff.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The moment of truth has arrived for the Texas Longhorns as they face Kansas State in the biggest game of the season. Throw out the previous games against Alabama and Oklahoma. Those were great matchups, but this is playoff football. This is November football in the Big 12. Texas and Kansas State will play the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4486,"featured_media":53988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,35576],"tags":[10545,32707,9728,7003,10669,7180,5095,204],"class_list":["post-53975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big12","category-featured","category-texas-longhorns","tag-2023-big-12-football","tag-aj-milwee","tag-arch-manning","tag-deion-sanders","tag-jonathon-brooks","tag-quinn-ewers","tag-steve-sarkisian","tag-texas-longhorns"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4486"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79465,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53975\/revisions\/79465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}