Three things to know from Sark: Keys to defending Kansas, wide receiver blocking, Jayhawk defensive improvement

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was available for his regular Thursday morning Zoom call. Here are three things to know from his almost 20 minutes with the media.

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Physicality at the line of scrimmage

Considering the unique style of offense the Kansas Jayhawks play with, a style overseen by KU head coach Lance Leipold and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, there are certain elements of playing defense that are of the utmost importance this week for Pete Kwiatkowski’s side of the ball.

“I think it’s important that we play a disciplined brand of football,” Sarkisian said. “I think we’ve got to have great eyes, we’ve got to have great communication so that we’re tight on a string and that everybody’s working well together, that everybody trusts their keys and what they need to do, and that they can trust the guy next to him that he’s going to do what he’s supposed to do. That’s always important, especially when you start talking about option football.”

That’ll hold especially true when Kansas, led by quarterback Jalon Daniels, uses some of the option principles that make the Jayhawk offense one of the Big 12’s most difficult to defend.

“We have to have great eyes, we have to trust our training, and then (have) that communication amongst everybody so we’re all on the same string,” Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian was asked what the closest comparison he could offer to the Jayhawk offense was. He gave Kansas State in 2022 under Adrian Martinez as his selection.

Last year in Manhattan, Texas played a Martinez-led Wildcat team and left Bill Snyder Family Stadium with a victory decided in the game’s latter stages. The Longhorns won 34-27 and recorded a sack-fumble of Martinez in the final few minutes to seal the victory over the eventual Big 12 champions. Martinez was 24-for-36 for 329 yards plus two touchdowns and also added 52 yards and a score on the ground, but threw an interception and turned the ball over late to cough up a chance at the comeback.

Deuce Vaughn and Malik Knowles aren’t suiting up for the Jayhawks, nor is Martinez. However, Sarkisian recognized Kansas has more than enough offensive weapons to threaten a defense.

“In that game, it kind of felt like when you play Kansas,” Sarkisian said. “You better maintain and corral the quarterback because he’s a weapon throwing and running it in Daniels. The running back Devin Neal is a very good player, a versatile guy. I think he has 11 catches on the year as well for almost 200 yards. Then they have the scheme to do all the other things with the play action pass and what not.”

Put more succinctly by Sarkisian, “Kansas is unique to themselves in what they do. The best thing that we had to prepare for Kansas was having to defend them the past two years quite frankly.”

WR Blocking

Texas throws a good amount of screens, and as a result wide receivers and tight ends are asked to block regularly. It’s been an area that’s served the Longhorns well this year, but Sarkisian admitted there remains room for improvement.

“We definitely take a lot of pride in it,” Sarkisian said. “When you’re a RPO, advantage throw type offense like we are, those work better when you block. Anybody can throw a bubble. Like on the first play of the (Baylor) game, if you don’t block, you get minus-5 yards. I was probably the most upset I was the entire game after the first play of the game last week because we take a lot of pride in our perimeter blocking.”

To start things off versus Baylor, Quinn Ewers threw to Xavier Worthy but a missed block at the point of attack blew the play up before it started. From there, the blocking by pass-catchers improved.

This season on passes behind the line of scrimmage but outside the numbers, a sample size made up largely of screen passes, Ewers is 8-for-9 for 120 yards and a touchdown. In between the numbers but behind the line of scrimmage, he’s 24-for-26 for 177 yards and a touchdown.

Many of those yards can be chalked up to individual effort, but there’s also several perimeter players deserving of praise for their blocking.

“We put a lot of time and effort into that,” Sarkisian said. “I think our players take a lot of pride in that. I think that also is what spurns the long touchdown runs. We’ve seen longer runs the last couple of weeks because of the commitment to walk downfield.”

The challenge of the Kansas defense

While not a nationally elite unit, the Kansas defense has improved over the course of Leipold’s tenure. KU even is ahead of Texas in the often deceiving total defense category, allowing 296.8 yards per game to Texas’ 298.5. A distinction between what the two schools do on defense can be seen in yards per play allowed, as Texas allows 4.5 yards per play while the Jayhawks give up 5.0 yards every time the ball is snapped.

Still, the Jayhawk defense has some playmakers and as a unit has made strides since 2021.

“Defensively, sometimes it’s getting the pieces to the puzzle right,” Sarkisian said. “Obviously they hit the portal really hard on the defensive front this offseason and they’ve got some playmakers up there, guys who not only do well against the run but affect the quarterback and have gotten some sacks. I think the other thing you see defensively out of them is they believe in the scheme. They’ve got a veteran secondary. They’ve got veteran linebackers that all work well together.

“You just don’t see the lapse in coverages in things from year one. It gets better in year two, and now they’re in year three. I think they’re playing that physical style up front. They’re playing sound in the back end. Now four games in, they’re playing with a lot of confidence.”