The No. 7 Texas Longhorns can beat the No. 23 Kansas State Wildcats. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Albeit, the Longhorns have made the simple complicated in past weeks.
Texas has a problem with getting in its own way. It does so with drive killing plays or unnecessary play calls that stall good drives. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is brilliant at scheming up explosive plays, but sometimes his reliance on ingenuity gets the best of him. He fails to find the most obvious solutions.
The path to success for the Texas offense is simple and straightforward: run the ball and do just enough through the air that you can run the ball some more.
If Texas running back Jonathon Brooks runs the ball effectively, you simply cannot take the ball out of his hands. You can’t call a reverse only to keep the other team honest. You keep doing what is working. And if you have to get creative, you get creative with positive-gaining pass plays and with various blocking schemes behind which Brooks can run.
A purposeful play calling day will give the Longhorns the best chance to win on Saturday. If the objective is to win, Texas will give Kansas State a heavy dose of Jonathon Brooks. If he proves effective, the Longhorns will run Brooks at the Wildcats defense ad nauseam.
Brooks and company will look to carry the team to an 8-1 record and a place atop the Big 12 standings on Saturday.