Longhorns Hold On, End Road Skid With Win Over Kansas State

They nearly blew it again, but the Texas Longhorns held on to beat the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday

The Texas Longhorns have had a well-documented history of blowing big leads under Steve Sarkisian, as well as struggling on the road.

The last road win? Over a year ago on October 2 against the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth. 

But in their Saturday night matchup against Kansas State, they finally got the proverbial monkey off of their back, taking down the Wildcats 34-27 in Manhattan and becoming bowl eligible for the first time under Steve Sarkisian.

"Really proud of our football team," Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "That was a good team that we beat tonight in a really hostile environment."

It was a story of mistakes and missed opportunities for the Longhorns in the second half, who nearly blew a 31-10 lead, scoring just three points in the final 30 minutes. 

The Longhorns also left multiple opportunities on the field, shooting themselves in the foot with penalties, and missing multiple chances at turnovers from Kansas State fumbles. 

The third and final one of the second half, however, finally went their way, sealing the game. 

"I think we had three forced fumbles and we only recovered one," Jaylan Ford said. "My thing was take it slow and just get on the ball."

That said, if there was a hero of the game for Texas, it was without a doubt star running back Bijan Robinson, who finished with 209 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries, to go along with two catches for 44 yards.

Either way, the win was a much-needed hurdle the Longhorns needed to jump in order to get their program back on track. 

"To come in and run the ball the way that we did with the success that we had," Sarkisian said. "I think that was really impactful in the game."

And thanks to a lot of Bijan Robinson, and a little bit of luck, they were able to do it. 

The next? Taking down an undefeated giant.

"I can't wait to play an undefeated team," Robinson said.

Following the win over the Wildcats, the Longhorns will now head back home to Austin for arguably their biggest remaining matchup of the season, when the undefeated TCU comes to Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. 

Texas leads the all-time series vs. the Horned Frogs 64-27-1 including a win last year in Fort Worth. 

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You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan

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