The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Iowa State
Football heads on road, faces Iowa State Thursday
09.30.2013 | Football
Longhorns-Cyclones game will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CDT and air nationally on ESPN
Texas-Iowa State Game Notes | Longhorns Gameweek
Texas Heads on Road, Faces Iowa State Thursday: Texas is coming off a bye week after posting a much-needed 31-21 victory over Kansas State on Saturday, Sept, 21 in the Big 12 opener for both teams. The Longhorns rolled up 452 yards of total offense, their most ever against the Wildcats, 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 Horns now face Iowa State on the road in a rare Thursday night tilt (6:30 p.m. CDT/ESPN). The Cyclones knocked off Tulsa, 38-21, last Thursday on the road.
First-and-Goal:
• UT is averaging 483.0 yards of total offense which ranks No. 31 in the nation. The Horns are averaging 210.5 yards on the ground (No. 37) and 272.5 in the air (36th).
• David Ash has a passing efficiency rating of 156.3 which ranks 28th in the nation. He is also tied for 21st (No. 2 in Big 12) 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 15th 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. He is averaging a team-best 117.0 all-purpose ypg (No. 6 in Big 12).
• 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 29th in the FBS. UT was plus-3 in turnovers vs. K-State after going minus-13 in the previous five meetings.
• Anthony Fera ranks 28th 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:
• UT has won four of its last six on the road.
• 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 – 262).
• 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 can move into the top 10 with 84 more yards. He 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).
• Davis (169) needs five more catches to move from sixth to fifth on the UT career list. He has 2,249 career receiving yards and needs 84 more to move from seventh to sixth on the all-time list. Kwame Cavil (1997-99) is ahead of him on both lists.
• 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.
Weekday Game: Texas is playing a rare regular season weekday game. With the exception of Thanksgiving week, the Longhorns are playing their first weekday game in 20 years. Texas won at Houston, 34-16, on Thursday, Nov. 4, 1993. Since 1963, Texas has played five games on a weekday (non-Thanksgiving week). The Horns won at Tulane, 21-0, on Friday Sept. 20, 1963; lost at Miami, 20-15, on Friday, Sept. 21, 1973; won vs. Arkansas, 23-17, on Monday, Sept. 1, 1980; lost at BYU, 47-6, on Thursday, Sept. 8. There were five weekday games in the 1950s (1950, 51, 55, 58) and four in the 1940s (1940, 41, 44, 45). Conversely, Iowa State is playing its second weekday game of the season and is 21-10 all-time in Thursday games.
The Iowa State Series: Texas and Iowa State are meeting for the 11th time. All but one of those games have come with both as members of the Big 12 Conference. The teams first met in 1979 with the Longhorns winning 17-9 in Austin. The Horns, who have scored 37 or more points six times in the series, have won all four meetings in Ames. Mack Brown teams are 8-1 against ISU with the lone loss coming in 2010 in Austin (28-21).
Horns' Success After Bye Weeks: Texas has been successful following regular-season bye weeks in recent years. Since Mack Brown's took over the program in 1998, the Horns have posted a 19-5 (.792) record following regular-season bye weeks. The only defeats came against Texas A&M (38-30, 2007; 12-7, 2006; 20-16, 1999), Arkansas (38-28 in 2003) and TCU (20-13, 2012). If you include bowl games, in which Brown is 10-4 at Texas, the Horns have posted a 29-9 (.763) mark in the past 15 years when they've had at least one extra week to prepare. In 10 seasons at North Carolina, Brown was 8-2-1 following regular-season bye weeks. Brown has led his teams to victories in 28 of their last 33 games (.848) following regular-season bye weeks (not including bowls).
Big 12 Road Success: Texas has won 38 of its last 46 (.826) true Big 12 road games (excluding neutral-site games), including a league-record 13 consecutive conference road wins from 2002-06. The Horns are 42-10 (.808) in league road contests under Mack Brown. Highlighting the Horns' road record under Brown are victories at Nebraska (1998) to end the Huskers' nation-best 47-game home winning streak, another win that snapped a Nebraska 26-game home winning streak (2002), and a victory to break Oklahoma State's 10-game winning streak (2003).
