Kansas State
See also: 2007 Kansas State Wildcats football team
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Texas first played Kansas State in 1913 and held a record of 5–4–0 in the series prior to 2007. Since the Kansas State Wildcats belong to the north division of the Big 12 Conference, Texas plays KSU two out of every four years. In the 2006 meeting, fourth-ranked Texas was favored by 16 points over an unranked Kansas State team; Colt McCoy was injured early in the game and KSU went on to defeat Texas 45–42. This defeat snapped the Longhorns 17 win streak on the road as well as the national-best 21-game conference winning steak.
One day prior to the 2007 game, Las Vegas casinos picked Texas to win by 15 points. Kansas State got the ball to start the game and scored a touchdown on their opening drive. Texas answered with a touchdown on a drive that featured backup quarterback John Chiles in the game alongside Colt McCoy for some of the plays. The first quarter ended with the score tied 7–7.
In the second quarter, Kansas State took a 24–14 lead and Colt McCoy was injured and headed to the locker room just before halftime. McCoy came back as the Longhorn quarterback at the start of the third quarter, but Texas was never able to erase the point deficit and lost, 41–21. With about two minutes left in the game, McCoy again headed to the locker room early and Chiles led the Longhorns' last drive.
McCoy threw for 200 yards and had four interceptions during his worst performance of his college career. Sports Illustrated selected him as one of the season's 10 "Most Disappointing College Players" and noted that his nine interceptions thrown to that point in 2007 were already two more than he threw during the entire 2006 season. Kansas State had no turnovers and scored 21 points on defense and special teams. The Wildcats scored one touchdown on a punt return, one on a kick return, and one on an interception. Previously, Texas had never allowed all three types of scores in a single season. The 41 points were the most scored against Texas in Austin since UCLA handed the Longhorns a 66–3 loss in 1997. The loss to Kansas State was the worst home defeat in the Mack Brown era at Texas. Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated listed several factors that contributed to the Longhorns' struggles. He cited the off-field problems as evidence that no UT player has been able to show the superior leadership skills of Vince Young. Mandel said that McCoy, still only a sophomore, had not been able to completely fill that gap and that McCoy's play had not been as good as during 2006. He also said part of the blame should be placed on an offensive line that lost several starters and had not been able to consistently protect McCoy. Finally, he noted that the running game had been "equally inconsistent". The win over UT was the Wildcats' first road victory over a top–ten team in school history.
Read more about this topic: 2007 Texas Longhorns Football Team, Game Notes
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