Sunday Stats: Pete Kwiatkowski’s scoring defense is Texas’ best since 2009

Defense made all the difference in erasing last year’s Kansas loss.

The Texas Longhorns secured arguably their most impressive win of the season on Saturday. Steve Sarkisian’s squad took down the Kansas Jayhawks on the road, 55-14.

Texas wholly defeated the Jayhawks on the strength of Bijan Robinson and the Texas running game. Robinson ran for 243 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries. It was the type of performance Texas should have had last season against the Jayhawks. This time, the defense made all the difference.

For all that has been said about defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, and I’ve personally said plenty, the unit has become the defense fans hoped it would become.

The last two games have seen the unit reach another level defensively. Last week, the Longhorns held the playoff favorite TCU Horned Frogs to 17 points despite hardly any offensive production. They followed that performance by keeping Kansas off the scoreboard for nearly three quarters.

Let’s examine a few statistics that capture the improvements the Longhorns have made this season.