LAWRENCE, Kan. -- The conditions in Kansas presented the Longhorns and Jayhawks with several unpleasant factors Saturday, many of which were out of their control.
There was the 40 mile-per-hour wind that knocked down the end zone pylons and littered the field with hot dog wrappers. There also was the hard rain which pelted the stadium in the second half. And then there was the fact that the basketball season is almost here and apparently, most Kansas fans didn't care about Saturday's game.
Texas, however, didn't have to worry about Kansas' most uncontrollable element -- Longhorn quarterback James Brown.
The weather put a stop on any passing attack by Kansas quarterback Matt Johner; the Texas defense knew that and successfully focused on the run in the second half.
The Jayhawk defense didn't have that luxury. Despite the inclement conditions, Brown kept alive the Texas passing attack just enough to prevent the Jayhawks from eyeing only the Longhorn running backs the entire game.
"James played really well," said Texas guard Dan Neil. "Obviously, we weren't going to throw the ball a whole lot with that weather. But he did some things that you might not notice. He made some great decisions and things like that - you can't put a value on a quarterback that makes great decisions."
One of those decisions came in the third quarter, with the score knotted up at 17. Brown took the ball at the 15-yard line and ran a bootleg left to the end zone, dragging a defender across the goal line.
"That was his decision," Texas head coach John Mackovic said. "The quarterback had the option to do that and the only thing I tell them is it should be right. We had that play blocked beautifully on the other side and it worked. James has real good vision and he was able to do that well."
Brown worked well on the run all day. The weather prevented him from ever unleashing and affected some of his passes. An out pattern to Mike Adams in the first half was way overthrown and a simple short screen to fullback Ricky Williams in the second half fell short. But Brown usually made successful plays, moving out of the pocket and gaining yards through the air and on the ground. Brown completed 15 of 25 passes for 200 yards and ran for another 32 yards on four carries. He completed one touchdown pass and never came close to an interception.
"I was just making plays," Brown said. "I'm always trying to make plays and move the offense. I think I played pretty well but I would have liked to get the ball to Mike Adams maybe more, on some long throws. But we won."
Brown's passing aided Texas' rushing and vice versa. Williams rushed for 190 yards on 25 carries and the offense ran for 290 total yards.
"He had a great game and it helped him out that we were running so well," Williams said. "It took a little pressure off him and then he just did his own thing."
Though Brown struggled going deep to Adams, he had big success closer to home with tight end Pat Fitzgerald. Brown connected with Fitzgerald for the first Texas completion of the game and the pair never let up in the first half.
Fitzgerald caught six passes for 82 yards, all in the intermediate range and all in the first half. Many of those plays came after Brown turned a seemingly broken play into a first down. One such play came on third down at the Kansas 27-yard line, the same spot from which Texas placekicker Phil Dawson had missed an earlier field goal attempt because of the wind. With defenders chasing him down, Brown zipped a pass to Fitzgerald between coverage for 16 yards.
"I was trying not to get sacked," Brown said. "Pat's a football player just like I am. He sees a play broken, he gets in my face and tries to make catches."
Said Fitzgerald: "It was tough out there with the way the wind was and then when it started raining. But James did a great job of getting the ball to people and running the offense."
Brown had similar success on other third downs. On one, he scrambled until firing a perfect pass to receiver Wane McGarity. On another, he scrambled 12 yards on third-and-9.
For the first four games of the season, Brown was seldom a running threat, often giving up rushing lanes to pass the ball. But the running part of his game has returned in recent weeks and with that, his overall numbers have increased. Brown has rushed for 82 yards in his last three games and his quarterback rating has increased by more than 20 points.
"I think he's scrambling a little bit better," Neil said. "He's just starting to get outside there and do it a little bit. He made some big scrambles today and that's what James Brown did so much last year. He's back to doing that and its helped us out."
Giving Kansas one more thing to worry about besides the weather.
* Student tickets for the Texas-Texas A&M football game Nov. 29 are still available at the UT ticket office.
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Just like Texas fans, Kansas' faithful started off the season with high expectations. And like the Horns, the Jayhawks had won 10 games in 1995 and their head coach, Glen Mason, seemed to be turning the Kansas football program into a Big 12 force. But since then, both teams have disappointed.
The Horns (6-4, 5-2 Big 12), however, proved Saturday that this is where the comparison ends. Texas' early-season defeats have taken backstage, and somehow, the Horns find themselves right where they want to be.
In the middle of a late-season push for the Big 12 South title, the Longhorns overcame a sluggish first half and 40 mph winds to bury the Jayhawks, 38-17, in front of a listless crowd of 30,500 at Memorial Stadium. It was the third straight win for the Longhorns and moved them one step closer to the Big 12 championship game.
The game plan on offense was simple for both sides. Give the ball to your hoss and let him go. For the Horns, this meant one thing: give the ball to Ricky Williams.
Against flag-whipping winds and an ugly downpour, Williams slammed the ball into the Kansas defense, gaining 190 yards on 25 carries, both career highs. It was his rushing that helped Texas to a 17-17 tie, then, with the defense at his side, Williams and the Horns clobbered the Jayhawks (4-6, 2-5) in the second half, 21-0. Texas now only has to beat Texas A&M on November 29 for a shot at the conference title.
"This was a big win for us, and I think everybody knows that," Texas head coach John Mackovic said.
The difference in the second half was simple. Texas' defense figured out how to stop Kansas tailback June Henley and the Jayhawk defense couldn't have stopped anybody. Kansas was able to rack up only 59 of its 296 yards against a revitalized Texas defense in the second half, while the Horns piled on 225 of its 490.
With the weather holding down the passing game, it became apparent the Longhorns would turn to its running game. The problem for Kansas, however, was they still couldn't stop it.
"They didn't tackle very well," Williams said. "But other than that, they were pretty good."
Kansas' lack of tackling was obvious when, with a 3-0 lead, the Jayhawks allowed UT to pummel them on the ground in just their second drive of the game. Williams carried the ball on five of eight plays before Texas tailback Shon Mitchell (11 carries, 42 yards) sprinted through the Kansas line for a 21-yard touchdown.
Kansas then took advantage of Texas' poor run defense handing the Horns a large dose of Henley. The 5-11, 215-pound senior ran the ball 44 times for 209 yards, 164 of which came in the first half. Kansas quickly drove 80 yards after the Texas touchdown and Henley knocked it in from the three-yard line to give Kansas a 10-7 lead. Henley touched the ball six times on the drive for 51 yards.
"He's a cutback runner, and in the first half, we were overpursuing, everyone was trying so hard," Mackovic said. "We missed a few plays. Everybody was running so hard to the front side, and he kept cutting back." After the Kansas drive, the Longhorn offense came right back at the Jayhawks, capping a 71 yard drive with a 2-yard run by tailback Priest Holmes, giving the Horns a 14-10 lead.
That lead did not last long. In a first half in which both defenses showed little strength, the two offenses continued to trade scores. Kansas marched 80 yards in nine plays, finishing it with a 17-yard jaunt up the middle, giving the Jayhawks a 17-14 lead just 23 seconds into the second quarter. They were the last points Kansas would score on the afternoon. After Texas' Phil Dawson nailed a 24-yard field goal, the teams ended the half knotted at 17.
As has been prevalent for much of the season, the Longhorn defense showed an absolute lack of run-stopping skills in the first two quarters. But some strategic changes at halftime, coupled with a fiery Mackovic, caused the Horns to shut down the Kansas rushing attack in the second half. "Coach [Mackovic] started yelling at halftime," Texas linebacker Tyson King said. "He said, 'Do you want to come out and play some football? Do you?'" Texas cornerback Bryant Westbrook, who held Kansas' leading receiver Isaac Byrd to no catches, said, "Coach Mackovic really pumped us up. That was the first time I've seen him like that. He got a little angry."
So, too, did the Texas defense. The Jayhawks kept pumping the ball to Henley, who carried the ball 19 times in the second half. But the yards were not there. The Horns held him to 45 yards after halftime, and with Kansas quarterback Matt Johner unable to spark a passing attack, the Longhorns rolled over the hapless Jayhawks.
With 4:23 remaining in the third quarter, Texas quarterback James Brown started the UT onslaught with a 15 yard touchdown run in which outran, outjuked and outpowered the Kansas defenders.
Kansas, whose longest play in the second half came when Texas tight end Derek Lewis drew a 15-yard penalty for roughing the punter, failed to moved the ball, and the Horns easily drove through the KU defense again.
Williams started the march by charging 27 yards through the left side of the Kansas defense. The last 13 yards of the run came after Williams' left shoe came off, giving the 6-2, 220-pound sophomore his biggest scare of the game. "I think he stepped on my shoe," Williams said. "I think he kind of had me down so he let up and I just kept going. I was kind of afraid someone was going to step on my toe, but I just kept running."
Williams then finished the drive by hauling in a 6-yard pass from Brown and easily strolling into the end zone, putting Texas up 31-17 with only 5:42 left in the game.
"It's not that hard to block for Ricky," Texas offensive guard Dan Neil said. "He does a lot of the work himself, especially on days like today when we can't really pass."
After a failed Kansas drive, Texas iced the game with 3:11 remaining, as Priest Holmes made his vintage leap into the end zone and provided the final score, 38-17.
The win assured the Horns of a spot in a bowl game and gives Texas a chance to wrap up the South title with a win over A&M. UT remained unbeaten in the crucial month of November, making preseason talk of a trip to St. Louis for the conference championship a definite possibility, despite early-season woes.
"We look at this as the end of a second season," Brown said. "We've beaten three opponents in November. And A&M - that's a season of its own. That's a whole different game, whole different attitude, different atmosphere." And after facing the conditions which Kansas provided, a new atmosphere will likely be welcomed.
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- About 30 minutes before Saturday's kickoff, a commentator on the Jayhawk radio network said that Kansas would have the edge because of the adverse weather conditions.
"This Texas team hasn't played in a game where the temperature was below 70 degrees," he proclaimed. "They may not know how to play in cold weather."
Most, if not all, of Texas' followers would refute that blind analysis. But for the first 30 minutes after kickoff, the Longhorns proved him to be a perfect prognosticator.
Kansas wasted no time in racking up 17 points and 237 yards of total offense in the first half. Running back June Henley had done most of the damage with a pair of touchdowns and 164 yards on 25 carries. Kansas was setting the pace, and Texas was struggling to keep up.
Then came the next 30 minutes.
"We just decided at halftime that we were going to play," Texas linebacker Aaron Humphrey said. "We had to win this game if we had any hopes of going to St. Louis. We wanted a winning season, and we wanted a bowl game.
"So we had to come out and play in the second half, and that's what we decided to do in the locker room."
Some said little, others said nothing. But the one person who said it all was the one who had the final word.
"Coach Mackovic kind of pumped us up. It was the first time that he kind of got fired up," Texas cornerback Bryant Westbrook said. "I was excited. Today, he knew that we had to play an excellent half of football. It kind of got to me, and I thought, 'Man, that's what I'm talking about.' He got real fired up."
It fired up the senior from Oceanside, Calif., so much that Westbrook turned his assignment into a personal vendetta. Westbrook was assigned to Kansas' No. 1 receiving threat, Isaac Byrd, for most of the game, and Byrd found the pickings slim.
The man who averages 85 yards per game this season would be forced to go catch-less on Saturday. In fact, quarterback Matt Johner would only throw one pass in Byrd's direction (a slant pattern in the third) only to have it knocked away by Westbrook.
"We said all week that the Byrd hunters had to come out," Texas linebacker Tyson King said. "Today, 'Brook came out and really played well."
Westbrook said afterwards that he was still stung by Texas Tech receiver Donnie Hart's touchdown catch against him last week in Texas' 38-32 win.
"No doubt. I had to come back and do what I do best and that's play man-to-man," Westbrook said. "I wanted to make sure that I came back in this game and play the type of football that I know how to play. I wanted to show everybody that I'm still the one.
"Byrd is a great receiver, but I think that I did my job today."
Westbrook's smothering coverage and Texas' front-seven run-stopping ability held Kansas to only 59 yards of total offense in the second half. The Jayhawks could only manage 75 passing yards against the Longhorns' secondary and Mother Nature all day.
"That was a big surprise for us," Texas head coach John Mackovic said. "I was surprised that he didn't catch any passes, and I didn't know it until we went into the locker room. The game was dictated so much by coverages and by weather that it's just hard for everybody."
Texas defensive coordinator Gary Darnell said they opened the game in zone coverages but later changed to a more man-to-man approach. That put more pressure on Westbrook as the switch freed up an extra defender for help on run-stoppage.
Stopping Kansas running back June Henley was a top priority, and shutting out Byrd was an added bonus.
"We had a lot of respect for June thinking that he would get his yards, but he was out of control," Darnell said. "He was eating us up in the first half. That was the biggest concern at [halftime]."
Of bigger concern now is the regular-season finale against rival Texas A&M. For Texas, a trip to St. Louis hinges on the Nov. 29 showdown as it can finish the regular season at 7-4.
"This is the biggest win of the season," King said. "It ensures a winning season, ensures a bowl game, ensures another big game next week against A&M, and it was just the biggest game of the year so far."
Texas 14 3 7 14 -- 38
Kansas 10 7 0 0 -- 17
Kansas FG Mccord 27
Texas Mitchell 21 run (Dawson kick)
Kansas Henley 3 run (Mccord kick)
Texas P.Holmes 2 run (Dawson kick)
Kansas Henley 17 run (Mccord kick)
Texas FG Dawson 24
Texas J.Brown 14 run (Dawson kick)
Texas Williams 6 pass from J Brown (Dawson kick)
Texas P.Holmes 1 run (Dawson kick)
A--30,500.
Texas Kansas
First Downs 24 19
Rushes-Yards 45-290 54-221
Passing 200 75
Comp-Att-Int 15-25-0 6-16-0
Return Yards 8 10
Punts-Avg 3-35.0 4-31.5
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 6-40 3-15
Time of Possession 29:02 30:58
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Texas - Williams 25-190, Mitchell 11-42, J.Brown 4-32, Butcher 2-20,
P.Holmes 3-6.
Kansas - Henley 44-209, Galbreath 2-7, Sanders 2-7, Johner 6-(-2).
PASSING
Texas - J.Brown 15-25-0-200.
Kansas - Johner 6-16-0-75.
RECEIVING
Texas - Fitzgerald 6-82, M.Adams 3-23, R.Williams 2-38, Mitchell 2-38,
Davis 1-12, McGarity 1-7.
Kansas- J.Moore 2-30, Gordon 1-16, E Vann 1-13, Sanders 1-10, Henley 1-6.