MORGANTOWN — It seems like a no-brainer that Texas will walk into Kansas and come out a winner, especially with so much on the line for the Longhorns.
A Big 12 Championship berth is staring Texas (8-3, 6-2) in the face, and the lowly 3-8 Jayhawks are all that stand in their way. But the last time the Longhorns set foot in Memorial Stadium, K.U. fans swarmed the field and marched out of the stadium with the goalposts after beating Texas in overtime, 24-21.
It was the first time the Jayhawks had beaten Texas since 1938.
But that was then and this is now. Gone is Charlie Strong, a coach that didn’t seem to fit the culture at Texas regardless of how talented he may be, and in his Tom Herman, someone who appears to — finally — have the Longhorns headed in the right direction.
“My memory of that day is vague,” defensive end Charles Omenihu said. “As a program I learned you have to treat each opponent like it’s Oklahoma.”
Wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey can’t seem to find a parallel, either.
“We’re tougher compared to who we were then,” he said.
Even Herman can’t make any comparisons.
“I feel like that was 50 years ago — not two years ago,” Herman said. “We’re so far past that in our program.”
And the numbers don’t lie. The loss at Kansas was the final straw for Strong, who was fired promptly afterward. In comes Herman the Longhorns have gone from yearly underachievers to competing for their first Big 12 title since 2009 when they went to the national championship with Colt McCoy at quarterback.
Defensive lineman Breckyn Hager, who received a verbal reprimand from Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby for publicly saying mean things about Oklahoma, believes this is a fairy tale in the making facing Kansas.
“It’s the perfect story,” he said. “Aristotle. That’s why I’m a philosophy major. Tragedy in Kansas. I lost a father figure. Got a new one. Now, we’re going to have some triumph. Triumph in the sense, we know how to prepare.”
As confident as Texas is, it is coming off an emotional home win over Iowa State to put itself in this position. Kansas, though in a loss, put up 40 points at Oklahoma last week. Freshman running back Pooka Williams had 252 yards rushing on just 15 carries, an average of 16.8.
It will also be the swan song of coach David Beaty, fired earlier this season. It will be senior night for a group that played under Beaty for four years.
Kansas announced it hired former LSU head coach Les Miles to replace Beaty.
“I hope and pray Jayhawk Nation will get behind him and help him build on his pedigree,” Beaty said. “Our job is to win this game and help this program build momentum and continue to attract great players here. We need to close this season good.”
Twitter @SeanManning_DP
