Texas Gets Revenge, Demolishes Kansas on Senior Day, 55-14

Jalon Daniels returns to the field but not much went right for the Jayhawks in their final game at The Booth this season.

It was Senior Day, Texas was in town, and Jalon Daniels made his return to the field as the starter at quarterback for Kansas for the first time since the TCU game. But it was not a feel-good story on Saturday or a repeat of the epic win in Austin a year ago.

This year, it was all Texas in a XX-XX romping.

The run defense struggles that plagued the Jayhawks last week in Lubbock were still prevalent, as the Longhorns ran all over the Jayhawks early and often. The Jayhawks defense held strong in the opening drive, forcing a Texas punt, but Daniels was rusty early, as to be expected, going three and out on their own first drive.

Bijan Robinson got his first of three first-half rushing touchdowns to make it 7-0 as the Longhorns racked up 82 rushing yards in the first two drives. And it only got worse. Another KU three and out led to another Robinson touchdown run, this time from 17 yards out. Kansas finally got the ball moving on drive three but after being stuffed on third and one from the Texas 40, the Jayhawks decided to go for it on fourth and two and was stuffed on a pass behind the line of scrimmage.

The next sequence was a killer for Kansas. After holding Texas to a field goal, the Jayhawks marched down the field again. But a touchdown pass to Jared Casey was called back due to an ineligible man down field and then Jacob Borcila missed a 34-yard field goal. Texas promptly went down and scored to make it 24-0 before Daniels threw an ill-advised interception with two minutes left in the first half. To add insult to injury, Texas went down the field and scored again with one second left in the half to go up 31-0.

The second half started the same way. A stalled Kansas drive early led to a punt and then Bijan Robinson made quick work, getting rushing touchdown No. 4 of the day while hitting 230 rushing yards with 11 minutes left in the third quarter. After another Texas field goal, Daniels and the offense came to life for the first time with a seven-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Daniels hitting Torry Locklin for a touchdown.

Texas refused to slow down, in what seemed like a purposeful effort to run up the score on the Jayhawks after what happened last year. And KU’s rushing defense refused to slow the Longhorns down. In a sliver of brightness, Daniels began to find his groove in the second half, hitting Skinner again for 55 yards before connecting with Luke Grimm for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 48-14 with 11 minutes left in the game. 

Steve Sarkisian finally decided to pull Quinn Ewers and the other starters in favor of Hudson Card. But the hits kept coming. Jonathan Brooks broke off a 70-yard run to make it 55-14. 

Texas ended with a staggering 427 yards on the ground while averaging 7.5 yards per rush. This allowed the Longhorns to dominate even with Ewers going 12-21 for 107 yards and a touchdown. Daniels ended with 230 yards in his return with two touchdowns and a pick on 17-26 passing. The Jayhawks, meanwhile, only accumulated 104 yards rushing. 

The regular season ends next week when Kansas travels to Manhattan to take on Kansas State.