The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Kansas
Football set to host Jayhawks on LHN
11.02.2015 | Football
Texas faces Big 12 foe Kansas on Saturday at DKR
Texas Game Notes | Texas Game Week | Radio Affiliates | Free Audio en Español |
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas returns home to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium this weekend to play host to the Kansas Jayhawks at 7 p.m. Saturday. The game is set to be broadcast on LHN. The Longhorns look rebound from a road loss to Iowa State and get to 3-3 in Big 12 Conference play. The Longhorn IMG Radio Network broadcast, including flagship 104.9 FM in Austin, begins at 6:30 p.m. Listen on participating Longhorn Radio Network affiliates, including the Austin Radio Network. The game can also be heard online at TexasSports.com.
Quick Hits
• Saturday's game will be the 15th meeting between the Texas Longhorns and Kansas Jayhawks.
• Texas is coming off a 24-0 road loss to Iowa State. KU fell at home to Oklahoma, 62-7.
• RB Johnathan Gray moved up the all-time list of great running backs in Texas history. At Iowa State he tallied 23 yards to move into 12th all-time with 2,520 yards for his career.
Scouting the Jayhawks
• The Longhorns welcome the Kansas Jayhawks to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, somewhere KU has never won in six tries.
• Kansas safety Fish Smithson leads the Big 12 Conference in tackles with an average of 9.4 per game.
• The Jayhawks rank 114th in the nation in total offense with 338 yards per game and 127th in total defense, allowing 581.5 yards a game. Kansas has faced some of the nation's top offenses early in its conference schedule: Baylor (1), Texas Tech (3), Oklahoma (8) and Oklahoma State (15).
• The Jayhawks are averaging 16.5 points per game (122nd) and allowing 47.1 on defense (126th).
• Kansas has not won a road game since Sept. 12, 2009 when the Jayhawks bested UTEP, 34-7. KU is 0-34 on the road since.
Series History
• Texas leads the all-time series with Kansas, 12-2, and has never lost at home to the Jayhawks.
• The Longhorns' losses to the Jayhawks came in 1901 and 1938 on the road in Lawrence.
• Over the last four meetings with KU, Texas has out-scored the Jayhawks, 122-30.
• Texas has shutout KU three times: 2001, 2011, 2014
Last Meeting
• Last year, Texas shutout KU by the score of 23-0.
• QB Tyrone Swoopes threw for two TDs and ran for one in the victory. He completed 19-of-34 passing for 218 yards and added 14 yards on the ground.
• The Longhorns kept the Jayhawks from scoring thanks to a strong pass defense. Texas had four INTs on the day to go with four sacks. CB Duke Thomas had two INTs.
In-Game Honors & Recognitions: Nov. 1 | Veterans Day
The Longhorns will recognize Veterans Day during Saturday's game against Kansas, as well as during the week:
• At 3 p.m. on Thursday there will be a ceremonial wreath laying at the Frank Denius Veterans Plaza, located outside the northwest corner of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
• On Saturday, commemorative coins and souvenir placards will be distributed at Fan Fest in the Red McCombs Red Zone starting at 3 p.m. while supplies last.
• The Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Veterans Committee will be recognized during pregame festivities.
• The Team Fastrax Professional Skydiving Team will parachute in and deliver the game ball to Frank Denius, along with carrying the American, State of Texas and Longhorn flags during pregame.
• Prior to kickoff, the Commemorative Air Force will perform a flyover, including World War II era B-25 Bomber "Yellow Rose."
• UT Chancellor Bill McRaven (retired Navy four-star admiral) and Associate Vice Chancellor Tony Cucolo (retired Army major general) will serve as honorary captains, along with four World War II veterans, at the coin toss.
• Several recognitions will also take place during the game including the Naval ROTC 75th Anniversary.
No Gray Area
• Senior RB Johnathan Gray is climbing up the all-time lists at Texas. With a long history of legendary running backs for the Longhorns, Gray could move into the top 10 in yards soon.
• Gray needs just 145 yards to move ahead of Hodges Mitchell for 10th in school history. He is currently 12th and 141 yards separate him from Eric Metcalf for No. 11 on the list.
• With 23 yards against Iowa State, Gray moved ahead of Jim Bertelsen on the list.
• Against K-State on Oct. 24, Gray tallied 103 yards on 18 carries. It marked his first 100-yard game of the season and the sixth of his career.
• Against Cal on Sept. 19, Gray had just 46 yards rushing but made an impact on the passing game as well with a career-high 71 yards receiving.
• He currently has six receptions for 84 yards. If he can make another strong showing like he did against Cal over the remainder of the season, he could crack the Texas all-time Top 10 for receptions and receiving yards in a season by a running back. He also is approaching the Top Five in school history in those two categories for a career.
Roll on 18 Wheeler
• Junior QB Tyrone Swoopes may no longer be the starter but he is still contributing to the team in a significant way thanks to the "18 Wheeler" package installed by the coaching staff.
• Swoopes has come in to spell Jerrod Heard in short-yardage situations and the team has seen great success in both the running and passing game.
• Against Kansas State, Swoopes scored three rushing TDs to help carry the team to a 23-9 victory. He represented all 52 yards in the game-clinching drive with carries of 13, 29 and 10 yards on consecutive plays to punch it in.
• Since installing the package for the Oklahoma State game (Sept. 26), Swoopes has amassed 99 yards on 19 carries for an average of 5.2 per rush. He has scored 5 TDs in the package running and thrown one TD pass during the Oklahoma game (Oct. 10) to help seal that victory. He also threw a TD pass at TCU (Oct. 3) but not as part of the "18 Wheeler" package.
Fuel Efficiency
• The efficiency of the "18 Wheeler" can be seen in Swoopes' ability to move the chains or score.
^ Against Oklahoma State, all three of his carries resulted in a first down or a touchdown.
^ Two of his four carries against Oklahoma resulted in a first down or touchdown, plus the TD pass.
^ Against K-State, in addition to his three TDs, three more of Swoopes' seven total carries moved the chains with first downs. Two of those first-down gains were of 13 and 29 yards.
^ At Iowa State, five of Swoopes' 10 carries resulted in first downs. He averaged 5.8 yards per carry in the loss.
^ Against OSU, OU, K-State and Iowa State combined, 16 of his 24 carries (67%) have gone for first downs or touchdowns. (The 18 Wheeler package was not used at TCU on Oct. 3.)
Punter Down Under
• Freshman punter Michael Dickson hails from Australia. He is part of a recent surge in kicking specialists from the nation over recent years in college football.
• In his first year playing American Football rather than Australian Rules Football, Dickson is averaging 41.0 yards per punt on his 54 attempts through eight contests with a season-long of 59 yards.
• Against Kansas State (Oct. 24), Dickson had a game-saving effort early in the fourth quarter to preserve UT's home win. With 4th-and-19 at the K-State 41-yard line, the snap sailed over his head and he recovered to make a running scoop and kick all the way back at the UT 32-yard line while being chased by defenders. The ball took a Texas bounce and was downed at the 8-yard line. The final result: a 33-yard punt that pinned K-State deep in its own territory (instead of allowing K-State to take over deep in Texas' end of the field).
• Dickson had two more impressive punts in the decisive fourth quarter against K-State. He had a 45-yard effort that might have been downed inside the 5-yard line but bounced into the end zone for a touchback. Then with just over 4:30 remaining in the game and the ball at the UT 29-yard line, Dickson boomed a 51-yard punt that pinned the Wildcats back at their 20-yard line.
• For his efforts against K-State, Dickson was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week.
• At Iowa State, Dickson's leg helped flip the field multiple times. He averaged 45.8 yards on his nine punts, including a long of 57 yards. Three of his punts were downed inside the 20-yard line and three were 50+ yards.
• In total, 14 of Dickson's punts have been 50 yards or longer, and he's placed 14 of his punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line (with only three touchbacks) for some impressive percentages.
• When Dickson's punts are returnable, the Texas punt coverage teams has been impressive all season as the Longhorns are only allowing 5.6 yards per punt return.
Defensive Improvement
• One primary key to UT's back-to-back wins earlier this season was the improved play of its defense. Through the first five games (1-4 record), the Longhorns had allowed their opponents to average 38.2 points per contest and 507.2 yards of total offense per game (6.2 yards per play).
• In the wins over Oklahoma (Oct. 10) and K-State (Oct. 24), UT surrendered just 13.0 points per game and 260.0 yards per game (4.1 yards per play).
• Texas held K-State (Oct. 24) to nine points and 242 yards of total offense (4.0 yards per play). The Horns limited the Wildcats to 15 first downs, 107 yards passing and 135 yards rushing (3.6 yards per rush). Texas also recorded five quarterback sacks and held K-State to 4-of-14 on third-down conversions.
• UT limited Oklahoma (Oct. 10) to a season-low 17 points and 278 yards of total offense (4.3 yards per play). Oklahoma had just 15 total yards in the first quarter and 85 in the first half. The Horns limited Oklahoma to 67 yards rushing (1.8 yards per rush) and 211 yards passing. Texas also recorded six quarterback sacks and held Oklahoma to 3-of-12 on third-down conversions.
• Prior to the Oklahoma game, the last time Texas held a team under 100 yards rushing was Nov. 15, 2014 when Oklahoma State had 34 yards.
Frontal Force
• Part of the recent success for UT's defense has been its ability to create pressure with its front seven.
• Texas registered six sacks in the win over the Sooners, one shy of the team's season total at the time leading into the game and followed it with five sacks against Kansas State.
• The Longhorns also had six sacks at Iowa State along with eight tackles for loss.
• Texas has registered eight tackles for loss in four games this season, including three straight, and had nine at Notre Dame to open the season. The Longhorns rank 44th in the FBS this year with an average of 6.6 TFL per game.
• Senior LB Peter Jinkens leads the team with 7.0 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks. He had a pair of sacks in the loss at Iowa State last weekend.
• Freshman LB Malik Jefferson has 2.5 of those sacks over the last three games, while DT Bryce Cottrell has 4.0 tackles for loss over that span.
Running Game Turnaround
• Texas returned to being a dominant running team in its victories over Oklahoma and K-State in October. The Longhorns averaged 293.5 yards rushing per game in those wins.
• The Longhorns recorded 274 yards rushing on 53 carries (5.2 yards per rush) in the 23-9 victory against K-State (Oct. 24).
• Texas posted a season-high 313 yards rushing on 58 carries (5.4 yards per rush) in the 24-17 win against Oklahoma (Oct. 10). It marked the first time since the 2013 season opener against New Mexico (359 yards) that the Horns had eclipsed the 300-yard rushing mark as a team. UT also had two 100-yard rushers (D'Onta Foreman with 117 and Jerrod Heard with 115) for the first time since a home win against Texas Tech on Nov. 28, 2013.
• Texas still cracked the century mark at Iowa State last weekend despite the loss. The Longhorns tallied 119 yards on 32 carries to keep the consistent ground game going.
Youthful Experience & Freshman Starters
• Texas had a strong 2015 recruiting class and many of the newcomers wasted little time making an impact during preseason camp. Seven true or redshirt freshmen were listed as first-teamers on the depth chart heading into the Notre Dame game.
• The Longhorns ended up with five freshman starters in their opening lineup: WR John Burt, LT Connor Williams, RG Patrick Vahe, LB Malik Jefferson and CB John Bonney were in the starting lineup. In addition, Michael Dickson handled the punting chores. Redshirt freshman Edwin Freeman was listed as the first-team weakside linebacker, but the Horns opened the Notre Dame game with five defensive backs.
• Texas was among the national leaders in true freshmen who played in the season opener. Only Georgia had more true freshmen play in Week 1 and only Florida State and NC State had more total freshmen play.
• Freshmen continue to make an impact as redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard got the first start of his career against Rice. Heard threw for 120 yards and two TDs while also rushing for 96 yards to lead the team. He followed that with a school record 527 yards of total offense against Cal.
• The 2015 recruiting class was highly touted and included 19 signees from Texas along with recruits from California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi and New York.
• Coach Charlie Strong on his recruiting philosophy: "We know this – the state of Texas will always be our home ground. We will always build it from this state. There are great high school coaches in this state. That's what it's all about. We will always know this, any time we need to go out of state where we can get into battles, I don't mind going outside the state to get in a battle. That's what it's all about; that's what recruiting is all about. We knew we were not going to back down."
• Texas may have one of the youngest teams in the nation. The Longhorns played up to as many as 21 freshmen in a game, including 16 true freshmen. Fifteen true freshmen saw action in the season opener vs. Notre Dame.
• The Longhorns are among the leaders in the nation in total freshmen played this season with 25 (17 true, 8 redshirt).
• Only eight teams (31: Rice; 29: TCU; 28: BYU, Clemson; 27: FAU; 26: N.C. State, USC and Wyoming) have played more freshmen than the Longhorns.
• The game against Cal saw Texas play its most freshmen. A total of 22 played with 15 of them true freshmen.
• Texas is averaging 19.9 freshmen seeing action per game this season.
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