Roschon Johnson carries the load in Texas' 22-17 win

In the waning moments of Texas’ loss at West Virginia, quarterbacks Casey Thompson and Hudson Card both sustained or aggravated injuries. Thompson was forced to play through his, but the thumb remained an issue. Card suffered a high ankle sprain and missed Friday’s game versus Kansas State.

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Rather than place the game on walk-on third-stringer Ben Ballard, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian prepared a run-heavy game plan with a significant amount of wildcat package plays for Roschon Johnson in the practices leading up to the season finale. It was the wrinkle that won the game for the Longhorns.

Johnson touched the ball on 33 of Texas’ 68 plays versus Kansas State. He rushed 31 times for 179 yards, both career highs. He rushed 11 times for 77 yards in the fourth quarter, including several big runs during a clock-eating drive that solidified Texas’ 22-17 win.

“Roschon Johnson was a warrior today,” Sarkisian said.

Texas prepared the wildcat formation for the Wildcats when it was uncertain whether Thompson or Card would play. With one fewer day to prepare, the Longhorns looked to the versatile former high school quarterback to be a significant component of the offense.

Thompson was able to play, but was obviously affected by his thumb injury. He never pushed the ball downfield, and the one big chance he did take was intercepted by TJ Smith.

Instead of being able to use his fastball, Sarkisian had to go to his changeup over and over and over. He said postgame he is never one to typically use the wildcat formation more than 5-10 times per game.

“We knew, we went into this week with Hudson being down, that me going in at quarterback was a huge possibility,” Johnson said. “I knew the wildcat was going to be critical for this game. Preparing for this week, that was really a point of emphasis going into this game.”

Johnson’s quarterback history opens up the wildcat offense a bit more than in other situations. He can throw and even rolled out a time or two. His only completion was a short one, but the threat was there.

Simplicity may have been a major boost for the Texas offensive line. O-line coach Kyle Flood had to replace starting left guard Junior Angilau with Hayden Conner due to injury. Christian Jones and Andrej Karic continued to rotate at left tackle with varying results.

Going forward was something the Longhorns were finding reasonable success in. They relied on it toward the end of the game, rushing for 103 yards in the second half.

Johnson didn’t record every carry out of the wildcat. He received a decent number of handoffs from Thompson throughout the course of the game, including the later stages.

But going forward was the way forward for Texas, and they went forward with Johnson.

“Those were the plays we were running,” Sarkisian said. “And it was pretty effective.”

Johnson’s coup de grace in the second half came as a result of a major defensive stop. Facing 3rd-and-1 on the Texas 17 and needing a touchdown, Brenden Schooler stopped Vaughn short of the line to gain. The Wildcats went for it on fourth down with Will Howard, who was stopped short by Keondre Coburn.

The Longhorns took over and set out on their drive with the goal of scoring or burning the 4:03 remaining. One Johnson carry netted four yards. The next gained nothing. K-State called timeouts after each play, setting up a crucial third down.

Johnson did what he had done all game. He picked up 17 yards, pushing the pile in the process. He gained 24 on the next play, moving Texas into Wildcat territory.

The Texas drive stalled, but the damage to the clock was done. K-State couldn’t manufacture much on its final drive, and the clock hit triple zero ending Texas’ six-game losing streak.

Johnson put the game on his shoulders and lifted Texas to a win.

“Every guy in that locker room respects No. 2,” Sarkisian said.

It wasn’t a singular effort that got the job done. Coburn’s fourth-down stop was the second turnover on downs forced by the Longhorns. Moro Ojomo made a similar stop earlier in the fourth, corralling Vaughn short of his own 31-yard-line. Texas took over and Cameron Dicker hit a 22-yarder to put the game at its final score and help the senior from Lake Travis take the No. 1 spot on the school’s all-time made field goal list.

After allowing a 71-yard run to Howard in the second quarter, the Longhorn defense played one of its best games. K-State had 102 total yards in the second half, including just 17 in the third quarter. David Gbenda and Jaylan Ford combined for 13 tackles, including 3.0 tackles for loss.

Pete Kwiatkowski’s unit kept KSU off the scoreboard in the second half, and Texas scored the six points it needed to win the game in the final 30 minutes. None of those instances would have been possible without Johnson’s performance.

“It was just win,” Johnson said of his mindset. “However that looked. If I had to throw it, run it, even if I had to kick it, I’m just trying to win.”

He did, helping Texas reach a 5-7 record and avoid going into the offseason on a seven-game losing streak.