Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski was brought to Texas to build a championship defense. He will have an opportunity to show if his year three defense has reached that level on Saturday.
It’s Kwiatkowski’s time to shine. Quite frankly, Texas needs the impressive defensive effort his unit brought in both the Alabama matchups during his tenure. The standard for the Texas defense is what Kwiatkowski has proven capable of thus far, and his team needs a shut down effort now more than ever.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has mentioned complimentary football several times in his three seasons in Austin. He will likely need it on Saturday.
The Longhorns will need to take the points on fourth and short in the red zone. On the rare occasions that Sarkisian and company convert a fourth down within field goal range, the team often finds itself back in another fourth down scenario.
Every point will matter Saturday. Take the field goal and three points.
There’s enough on film for Kwiatkowski to find ways to slow the Kansas State offense. And there’s enough track record, though inconsistent, for Sarkisian to trust his defensive coordinator to put the team in position to win if the offense occasionally only puts up three points.
We are not suggesting that Texas should call plays conservatively outside of fourth downs. The Longhorns should attack downfield in the passing game, but they need to value every point when faced with money downs.
If Texas gets through Saturday unscathed it should be playing for a Big 12 title in Arlington. Complimentary football could be what gets the team over the top in the game.