Is it so? National power Texas, worried about bowl-chasing Kansas University’s defense?
Maybe “worried” isn’t the right word. But “cautious” certainly would work, by the sound of Longhorns coach Mack Brown.
“Their defense is great,” Brown said Monday during his weekly press conference. “You watch their scores, and nobody is scoring against them, and you see the stats on the national scene and nobody is rushing the ball against them and no one is making many yards against them.
“Then you put them on film and they line up straight, they don’t blitz much, and they just play their tail off now. I think they will probably have five or six guys off this defense in the NFL. I mean, they are really good.”
The KU defense isn’t discussed much on the national scene, and the team’s 5-4 record has plenty to do with it. In fact, of the top 12 defenses in NCAA Division I-A by yardage, only fifth-ranked Kansas has more than two losses.
An easy reason for outsiders to overlook the Jayhawks. But the Longhorns don’t claim to be.
“I don’t know where (their defense) came from. It just kind of happened,” Brown said. “They were better last year than people gave them credit for and they had a lot of closer games than we thought.”
That would include a 27-23 loss to none other than Texas. The Longhorns needed two touchdowns in the final five minutes to steal the game from KU, including a Vince Young pass to Tony Jeffery with 11 seconds left.
Texas now has won 16 in a row. Only three were close calls: Michigan in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State earlier this season, and Kansas last season.
KU has moved on, and has won six of 10 games since. Along with the top-5 overall defense, the Jayhawks are the nation’s top-rated team against the run, allowing just 64.1 yards per game. They’re the only team in Division I-A to allow less than two yards per carry.
Longhorn players see why.
“When you look back at last year’s game, they really stacked the box and overloaded the box with safeties and an extra linebacker,” guard Will Allen said. “They do a great job of technique and playing with low pads. They’re fundamentally sound and they don’t get out of gaps.
“That’s how they became the No. 1 rush defense in the country.”
