8/17/2019 football Edit

Preview & Prediction: Texas

Matt Hall • EMAWOnline

Managing Editor

We continue our Preview & Prediction series looking at each of Kansas State's regular season games with a breakdown of the Texas Longhorns.

Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger has two wins over Kansas State. (Getty Images)

LAST YEAR

I don't know if 2018 signaled Texas being back or not, but I do know the season ended a lot better than it started for UT.

The Longhorns opened the season with a loss to Maryland (two straight years with a loss to the Terps) and then had to survive 28-21 against Tulsa in game two.

To close the season, however, Texas beat SEC power Georgia 28-21 in the Sugar Bowl after falling 39-27 to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game. The year, of course, also included an earlier 48-45 win over as part of a 10-4 overall season.

WHO ARE THEY?

It's what feels like a consistently improving program under Tom Herman, who now has a Texas bunch that's taken on an identity of a physical, tough football team - something it's been a while since you heard the Longhorns described as.

A lot of that identity is created by quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who fans in Austin hope is indeed Texas' Tim Tebow after accounting for 41 total touchdowns last year as a physical, fired up leader at quarterback.

There's plenty of other talent in Austin, of course, but it's Ehlinger who's either going to be special enough to make Texas a championship contender or just good enough to produce another four-loss regular season.

WHO TO WATCH?

Texas was not a big-play offense last season, despite the presence of Ehlinger at quarterback and a pair of massive targets at wide receiver.

One of those pass catchers, 6-foot-6 wide receiver Collin Johnson, does return, and I think it's going to be largely up to him to help Texas make more explosive plays on offense.

The senior had 68 catches for 985 yards and seven touchdowns last season, with a monster eight-catch, 177-yard game in the rematch against the Sooners. Johnson has 150 catches over his three-year UT career, but not a single one of them has gone for 50 or more yards.

That may need to change for this offense to truly be opened up.

K-STATE WINS BECAUSE...

Well, a 5-7 K-State team only fell 19-14 to Texas a season ago. Not to mention a three-win Kansas team also fell just seven points shy against the Longhorns in both teams' regular-season finales. It's not like Texas was dominant, by any stretch, in Big 12 play last season.

If K-State is a better team than it was last year - and Texas gives similar effort in this match-up - the Wildcats would likely pull of a win in Austin. This has a chance to be a quick moving game with how much both teams will want to run the football, and shorter games with fewer plays seem to produce more upsets.

K-STATE LOSES BECAUSE...

You probably get tired of seeing me write this line, but it's not hard to explain why you'd take the more talented roster, with the more proven quarterback, playing at home in a game like this.

Texas unquestionably has all of those things, and while I'd be surprised at a blowout I'd be equally surprised if the Wildcats had a real opportunity to win late in the fourth quarter.

PRESEASON PREDICTION: Texas 31, K-State 21*

Again, look for the Wildcats to be competitive, but I think this Texas team will prove to be a tough match-up from a personnel standpoint for what the Wildcats like to do. I also believe playing in Austin will provide a challenge for a group coming off an emotional win at Kansas.