No. 11/11 Football headed to Big 12 Championship Game, beats Kansas 24-17

Friday, November 23

Lawrence, Kan. / Memorial Stadium

11 a.m. CT

University of Texas

9-3 , 7-2

Kansas

3-9 , 1-8

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Texas

Kansas

No. 11/11 Football headed to Big 12 Championship Game, beats Kansas 24-17

11.23.2018 | Football

Box Score BUY BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TICKETS

The Longhorns clinched their spot in the Big 12 Championship Game for the first time since 2009.

BUY BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TICKETS

STATS | NOTES

LAWRENCE, Kansas — The University of Texas capped off the regular season with a 24-17 win at Kansas on Friday, clinching its spot in the 2018 Big 12 Championship Game with the win. The Longhorns finished the regular season with a 9-3 mark, their most wins in the regular season since the 2009 season. UT was led offensively by Sam Ehlinger's three touchdowns, while the defense came up big down the stretch with stops to secure the victory.

KEY STATISTICS

The Longhorn defense began the game with a three-and-out and Kansas punted to the 2-yard line.
The long field proved to be no challenge to the UT offense, as Sam Ehlinger led the Horns down the field in 11 plays, covering 98 yards in 5:08, capped off by a 26-yard touchdown pass to Collin Johnson to put Texas ahead 7-0.
The two teams would trade punts on each of their next two drives before a Longhorn drive ended with an Ehlinger interception, his first in a school- and Big 12-record 308 pass attempts.
The Longhorns would get a stop to end the half and UT led 7-0 going into the locker room.
After a short KU punt on its first drive of the second half, Ehligner led the Horns down the field, connecting with tight end Andrew Beck on a five-yard TD pass to increase the lead to 14-0.
KU's ensuing drive would end in Longhorn territory with a fourth-down stop by the UT defense.
Ehlinger would give Texas a 21-0 lead late in the third quarter with a three-yard touchdown scamper, capping off a 10 play, 60-yard drive that took 4:33 off the clock.
Kansas began the fourth quarter with a quick touchdown drive, capped off by a 57-yard run by freshman Pooka Williams, cutting the UT lead to 21-7.
After the touchdown, the two teams would trade interceptions, the latter coming from Jeffrey McCulloch who returned it 65 yards into KU territory to set up a Longhorn FG and a 24-7 lead.
Kansas would cut the lead to 24-14 with a 31-yard touchdown pass before chaos on the ensuing kickoff.
It appeared as if the Longhorns had successfully recovered the KU onside kick attempt, but were called for illegal touch upon batting the ball forwards and out of bounds. The next kickoff attempt was recovered by KU, who went down the field for a 45-yard field goal to cut the Longhorn lead to just 24-17 with 1:37 to play.
But, Lil'Jordan Humphrey would recover the next onside kick attempt, and with Kansas being out of timeouts, the Longhorns ran out the clock to clinch a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game.

UP NEXT
Texas plays in the 2018 Big 12 Championship Game next Saturday (Dec. 1) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It will be the Longhorns' sixth appearance in the Big 12 Championship Game all-time, but its first since 2009. The Longhorns will play Oklahoma with kickoff at 11 a.m. on ABC.