The Kansas defense and its coordinator Brian Borland were acutely aware last week that the Jayhawks had given up 427 rushing yards to Texas in 2022.
When it came time to take on the Longhorns again, though, that awareness only meant so much.
“We were 100 yards better than we were a year ago against Texas,” Borland said Wednesday, “but that’s not saying much.”
This time around, KU gave up 336 yards on an average of 6.6 yards per carry and four touchdowns to the Longhorns, as the Jayhawks struggled with missed tackles for the first time all season. KU continues to refine its tackling technique in practice, but Borland said that just one potential stop won’t be enough this week against UCF: “It’s not going to get easier with the crew coming in here.”
The Knights rank third in the nation in rushing yards per game at 255.2, after rushing for at least 200 yards in nine of their 14 games last season. KU itself has one of the top running-back duos in the Big 12 Conference, but UCF is right up there as well with RJ Harvey (378 yards, five touchdowns) and Johnny Richardson (394 yards, one touchdown on a whopping 8.8 yards per carry).
Making matters worse for the Jayhawks, both possible UCF quarterbacks, injured starter John Rhys Plumlee and capable backup Timmy McClain, are threats to run. Borland said he views McClain as more of an improviser and Plumlee as a designed runner. Indeed, Plumlee led the nation in rushing yards among quarterbacks in 2022, though he has missed three games with a leg injury. However, Borland said he doesn’t see much difference schematically based on who plays: “Either guy, they’re running their offense.”
KU has struggled to limit quarterback runs all season (arguably more than it has with running-back runs), allowing the first three quarterbacks it faced to lead their teams in rushing, then giving up a pair of scores to Texas’ Quinn Ewers last weekend.
UCF also likes to run its offense at a high tempo, snapping the ball with as little as 15 seconds between plays. Defensive tackle Devin Phillips said Wednesday that taking on tempo requires “getting in very good condition, and just stopping them in the beginning, not giving them the momentum moving forward.” The Jayhawks have also worked on shortening the durations of defensive calls to get them in quickly.
“So we’ve got to be ready for that part, or else they’ll be three scores up on us before we even know what’s going on,” Borland said.
Despite all these challenges, though, KU has some cause for optimism. Phillips said that playing in the intense afternoon heat down in Texas helped the defensive unit build endurance for future adverse circumstances.
“Being able to go down there and feel that type of temperature and build that conditioning kind of put everybody through something that we weren’t used to,” he said, “and we just had to adjust and be able to play through it.”
The Jayhawks also had some players stand out, among the wide-ranging rotations and the overall struggles at Texas, who will look to channel that momentum into this weekend’s game back at home. Borland mentioned middle linebacker Cornell Wheeler, who picked off Ewers for the quarterback’s first interception in 246 attempts, and defensive end Austin Booker, who rose to the challenge of taking on the Longhorns’ front.
“He was a handful for those guys to try to block, again, so he’s really productive when he’s out there,” Borland said.
Both players, though technically not starters, will be key as the oft-rotating front seven looks for redemption against the Knights.
“We better be flying to the ball, because I don’t know that we’re going to be 100% tackling those guys,” Borland said. “We’re going to need that second, third guy to finish it up.”
This story has been updated to correct yardage totals for UCF’s running backs.
AP Photo/Eric Gay
