Road games have been a thorn in the side of the Texas Longhorns under second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian.
Texas is 1-6 in true road games under Sarkisian, so beating No.13 Kansas State in Manhattan on Saturday would be a monumental achievement.
The Longhorns are coming off a bye week, so they are healthy and well-rested. On the other hand, Kansas State (6-2, 4-1 Big 12) is coming off its most impressive performance in years, a 48-0 thrashing of then-No.9 Oklahoma State.
The 48-0 victory was the largest-ever shutout win by a lower-ranked team against an AP Top-10 team.
It tied for the fifth-largest shutout win ever over an AP Top-10 team.
The Wildcats’ confidence should be high coming off their dominant showing.
For Texas (5-3, 3-2), not only would a win reverse its road woes, but it would also keep their slim hopes of making the Big 12 title game alive.
The Longhorns will need to win every game for the rest of the season and hope that TCU, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State will also pick up a few losses to make the title game.
“We all know that’s where we want to be Dec. 3,” Sarkisian said. “To get there, we have to take care of this one first. There’s an old adage in football, what you do in November is what they remember. We’ve got an opportunity in November to do something special here. We got four games against four really good teams.
“We can’t worry about games two, three, and four, unless we take care of game number one. So, we think the guys have done a really good job of focusing on the task at hand.”
Texas will need Bijan Robinson to have a big day to beat the Wildcats. Robinson leads the Big 12 in rushing yards with 920, but Kansas State boasts one of the best defenses in the nation.
The Wildcats’ defense allows just 17.3 points per game and 354.9 total yards per game. They have kept each of their Big 12 opponents this year under their season scoring average entering its game against K-State.
Kansas State also boasts a big-play running back in Deuce Vaughn, who had 158 rushing yards and a touchdown last week against Oklahoma State. Vaughn is just behind Robinson with 902 rushing yards on the season.
The Longhorn defense is giving up just 121 rushing yards per game, the third-best in the conference, but they will have their hands full with Vaughn.
Despite the Wildcats’ impressive recent form and Texas’ struggles on the road, the Longhorns are surprisingly the slight betting favorite.
One reason may be the uncertain status of Kansas State’s starting quarterback Adrian Martinez.
Martinez suffered a lower-body injury two weeks ago in a loss to TCU. Backup Will Howard was good in relief against the Horned Frogs but spectacular against Oklahoma State.
Howard threw for 296 yards and four touchdowns against the Cowboys. He completed 21 out of 37 attempted passes for a completion rate of 56.8%.
When Martinez played, the Wildcats had one of the Big 12’s most successful rushing attacks. If Howard gets the start, the team will likely look to throw more than it will run.
“It is going to be about the same as it has been,” Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein told reporters Thursday. “Both of them have been able to practice this week, and it will be a game-time decision again.”
Sarkisian said his team has been preparing to see both of the Wildcats’ quarterbacks on the field. On the other side, Texas knows redshirt freshman Quinn Ewers will be starting at quarterback.
However, Longhorn fans hope to see a different version of Ewers than the last time he was on the field.
The Southlake Carroll product went 19-for-49 with three interceptions in a loss to Oklahoma State.
Ewers called his performance at Oklahoma State one of the worst games of his football playing career, but he is confident he will bounce back.
“It was a tough one,” Ewers said, “but I learned a lot from it.”
The game will kick off at 6 p.m. CT and be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1.