The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Football with a bye this week
09.25.2013 | Football
Longhorns off Saturday, will face Iowa State on Thursday, Oct. 3 in Ames, Iowa
Texas Has Week Off: Texas started off the Big 12 Conference slate Saturday with a much-needed 31-21 victory over Kansas State. The Longhorns (2-2, 1-0) rolled up 452 yards of total offense, their most ever against the Wildcats (2-2, 0-1), and the defense forced three turnovers, including a pair late in the fourth quarter to stall a comeback. Johnathan Gray led the ground attack with a career-high 141 rushing yards and two scores, helping the Horns snap a five-game losing streak to Kansas State, the defending league champion. The Longhorns are off Saturday and then back in action Thursday, Oct. 3 (6:30 p.m. CDT/ESPN) when they travel to Ames, Iowa, to face Iowa State. The Cyclones (0-2) play at Tulsa Thursday in their final nonconference game of the year.
First-and-Goal:
• UT is averaging 483.0 yards of total offense which ranks No. 32 in the nation. The Horns are averaging 210.5 yards on the ground (No. 43) and 272.5 in the air (38th).
• David Ash has a passing efficiency rating of 156.3 which ranks 27th in the nation. He is also tied for 22nd in total offense at 304.0 yards per game. Ash missed the Ole Miss contest with head and shoulder injuries, but returned vs. Kansas State only to leave at halftime when symptoms of his head injury re-emerged. Case McCoy started vs. Ole Miss and played the second half vs. K-State, completing 5 of 9 passes for 59 yards and leading the Horns to a pair of TDs.
• Johnathan Gray leads the team (350) and ranks third in the Big 12 in rushing (87.5 per game). He is averaging 107.3 rushing yards over the last three games.
• Jaxon Shipley leads the team with 24 receptions and ranks fourth in the league at 6.0 per game. Fourteen of his receptions have gone for first downs. Mike Davis, who missed the K-State game with an ankle injury, has 20 receptions and ranks third in the Big 12 with 6.7 per game. Davis has a team-high four TD receptions which is tied for ninth in the nation.
• Kendall Sanders has emerged as a receiving threat. The sophomore has started the last three games and posted a career-high 80 receiving yards, including a 63-yard TD, vs. Kansas State.
• Six players have at least one catch of 45 yards or more this season.
• After surrendering an average of 7.0 yards per carry in the previous two games, the UT defense held K-State to 3.0 ypc. John Hubert, a 2012 first team All-Big 12 back, had just 41 yards on 12 carries.
• LB Jordan Hicks (out for season) has a team-best 41 tackles. DE Cedric Reed is second on the team with 29 tackles, first in pass breakups (three) and tied for first in tackles for loss (four). DE Jackson Jeffcoat and DT Malcom Brown also have four TFLs apiece.
• Texas ranks tied for 13th nationally in turnover margin at +1.3 per game. Texas has forced nine turnovers this year which is tied for 15th in the FBS. UT was plus-3 in turnovers vs. K-State after going minus-13 in the previous five meetings.
• Anthony Fera ranks 30th nationally in punting average (43.6). Nine of his 20 punts have gone inside the 20 and nine have been fair caught. He has also gone 4-for-5 on field-goal attempts.
Streaks, Trends and Milestones:
• With the win vs. Kansas State, head coach Mack Brown tied Woody Hayes for 10th on the NCAA all-time coaches victories list (238). Brown is second among active coaches in career wins (Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech – 261).
• The victory over K-State improved Texas to 14-2 in Big 12 Conference opening games under Brown. The only losses came to Kansas State on the road in 1998, and at home in 2007. Overall, the Longhorns are 15-3 in Big 12 openers.
• After converting just 9 of 32 third-down attempts in the previous two games, the Longhorn offense made a first down on 9 of 18 attempts vs. Kansas State. UT also converted 2 of 3 fourth downs. Both of those conversions led to touchdowns.
• After allowing a combined 24 rushes of 12 or more yards vs. BYU and Ole Miss, the Texas defense held Kansas State to six in its 38 rushing attempts. The UT offense produced seven rushes of 12 or more yards, including six by Johnathan Gray.
• Jaxon Shipley posted five receptions for 31 yards vs. Kansas State. He moved from 10th to eighth on the UT career receptions list (127), passing Limas Sweed (124/2004-07) and Eric Metcalf (125/1985-88). He also moved into a tie for 11th on the UT career receiving yards chart (1,603) with Johnny "Lam" Jones (1976-79). Shipley has posted at least five receptions in eight consecutive games and 11 of his last 14.
• Mike Davis had at least one TD reception in the first three games of the season, becoming the 10th player in UT history to have at least one in three straight games. He is only the second to do it in the first three games of the year (Jordan Shipley - first eight games of 2008).
• With 141 yards on the ground vs. K-State, Gray became the 49th player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career rushing yards. He now has 1,051 and is the third player on the current roster with more than 1,000. Joe Bergeron has 1,136 and Malcolm Brown 1,121.
• OG Mason Walters leads the team with 42 straight starts, which is tied for the second-longest streak in the nation among offensive linemen (43, Gabe Jackson, OG, Mississippi St.). CB Carrington Byndom leads the defense with 30 consecutive starts. Quandre Diggs had his streak of 26 straight starts snapped vs. Kansas State when the Horns started three linebackers. OT Josh Cochran (shoulder injury) had his streak of his 19 consecutive starts snapped.
Big Play Touchdowns: With Kendall Sanders' 63-yard TD catch from David Ash against Kansas State, Texas scored for the sixth time this season on plays of 50 yards or longer. The big plays have been spread around among six players (also David Ash – 55-yard run vs. New Mexico State; Malcolm Brown – 74-yard TD reception vs. NMSU; Mike Davis – 57-yard TD catch, John Harris – 54-yard TD reception vs. NMSU, Daje Johnson – 66-yard TD catch vs. NMSU).
Injury Bug: Injuries have begun to mount for the Longhorns who played without four offensive starters vs. Kansas State. Along with QB David Ash missing six quarters of action (Ole Miss game and second half of K-State) and WR Mike Davis sitting out the last game with an ankle injury, the Horns were dealt a severe blow when it was announced Sunday that junior LB Jordan Hicks, the team's leading tackler (41), will miss the rest of the season after rupturing his Achilles tendon against Kansas State. Hicks appeared to be back to his old form after missing the final 10 games of 2012 with a hip ailment. He had at least seven tackles in each of the first four games and his 32 career games played lead the linebacking corps. WR/RB Daje Johnson (ankle) missed nearly all of the BYU game and each of the last two contests. RT Josh Cochran (shoulder) and TE Greg Daniels (foot) were injured against Ole Miss and missed the K-State game. Texas has a chance to get healthy as it's in a stretch of just two games (Iowa State - Oct. 3; Oklahoma - Oct. 12) in a 34-day span.
Winning the Turnover Battle: When Texas holds onto the ball and forces turnovers it generally wins. The Longhorns, who ranked tied for 39th in the FBS in 2012 in turnover margin (+0.38 per game) and are tied for 13th this year (+1.3 pg), are 92-6 during Mack Brown's 15-year tenure when winning the turnover battle. With its 40-21 loss to BYU on Sept. 7, 2013, Texas lost its second game when winning the turnover battle since midway through the 2002 season. The other occurrence was last season vs. West Virginia. Turnovers were a key reason Texas had lost five straight to Kansas State since wining 31-21 on Sept. 21. The Wildcats held a plus-13 advantage in those five games. Texas was plus-three in the turnover department this year.
Sophomores Stepping Up: A pair of sophomore wide receivers have stepped up big for Texas recently. Kendall Sanders ranks third on the team in both receptions (14) and receiving yards (171), while Marcus Johnson saw his first significant action in place of an injured Mike Davis vs. Kansas State and responded with five catches for 70 yards after entering the game with one career reception. Sanders has also been returning kicks and is averaging 25.7 yards per return; he leads the team with 117.0 all-purpose yards per game. Against Kansas State, Sanders registered career highs in receiving yards (80) and all-purpose yards (152) and also recorded a career long 63-yard TD reception. Johnson, meanwhile, made two of his five catches on third down that resulted in first downs. On the two drives that Johnson helped prolong, the Longhorns went on to score 10 points.
