TEXAS GETS ITS KICKS
by Larry Carlson for https://texaslsn.org

We have heard a lot about "culture wins" this Longhorn season.
And we almost saw a masterpiece Saturday at DKR. By Kansas State.
It was the men from Manhattan who fell far behind early and rallied back, bit by bit.
It was K-State that made halftime adjustments. The offense abandoned the run, which Texas had absolutely smothered. QB Will Howard threw for 4 TDs and more than 300 yards. Defensively, they made a Texas QB in his second start have to beat them. He really couldn't.

And the resilient Wildcats probably should have won. But I am reminded of my first concert as a youngster. Three-cornered colonial hats off to Paul Revere and the Raiders. You know: Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find.
That was K-State. On the other side, UT's Bert Auburn was perfect. Ice in the veins, and all that.
So maybe it was a culture win for Texas.
For a lot of us, though, it was an afternoon for aging in dog years.

Texas and Maalik Murphy were on fire in the first quarter. It coulda/shoulda been 28-0 at half.
But UT was still inept in the red zone, getting three points when it might have been 14. And the punt team allowed a huge block resulting in a subsequent touchdown to hit the halftime break with a modest 17-7 lead.
The Horns handed out turnovers again in the second half did not do much offensively.
The defense took a cat-nap but came up big when it had to, all the live long day.
Old Westlake teammates Michael Taafe and Ethan Burke had big plays. So did just about every burnt orange defender. T'Vondre Sweat and Barryn Sorrell were particularly menacing. Sweat once made like a 362-pound fly-swatter on big Will Howard, the K-State QB. And he swatted him
while in pursuit from behind on a key third-down run. Jaw-dropping.
The entire unit produced a crunching stand after KSU threatened a walk-off TD with a first and goal in overtime. Four gut-wrenching plays later it was game, set, match to Texas, 33-30. Kudos to K-State for going for the win. But bigger kudos to Texas for winning. Monster celebration at DKR.

For the Longhorns, that stand means everything is still possible, alive with a hearty pulse.
For the rest of us...well, it was a dog-age afternoon.
But you can sleep after you die. The Horns are alive and kickin'.