Friday, April 19All That Matters

The Kansas Jayhawks, a 31-point road underdog that hadn’t won a road conference game since 2008, go for 2 in overtime and beat Texas

by suzukigun4life


The Kansas Jayhawks, a 31-point road underdog that hadn’t won a road conference game since 2008, go for 2 in overtime and beat Texas

The Kansas Jayhawks, a 31-point road underdog that hadn’t won a road conference game since 2008, go for 2 in overtime and beat Texas from sports




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27 Comments

  • suzukigun4life

    A bunch of notes regarding the significance of what happened here:

    Kansas has had a dire decade-plus in football. Since going 5-7 in 2009, after which they fired Mike Mangino primarily due to team culture issues, their overall record is 21-116, and their conference record is 6-87. They have not won more than three games in any of the last 12 years. They have not had more than one conference win in any season since 2008. Entering this game, they had not won a conference game on the road since October 2008.

    Texas hasn’t had a dominant decade or anything, but they’ve certainly fared a lot better than Kansas over the last 13 years. During that span, Texas has been to nine bowl games, averaging 7.5 wins a year and five conference wins a year in the process. Whereas Kansas is in the midst of its 13th straight nine-plus loss season, Texas hasn’t lost more than eight games in a year since 1956.

    Entering this game, Texas had been struggling. They had lost four straight games after starting the season 4-1, and needed to win two of their final three games to become bowl eligible. Still, the expectation was that they should win this game with relative ease, to the point that they were 31-point favorites. A win here, combined with a win against a struggling West Virginia team next week, or at home against Kansas State in the final game of the season, would be enough to get them into a bowl game.

    I won’t go into detail about everything that happened in this game, but the bottom line is that Kansas dominated the first half en route to a 35-14 lead, only for Texas to storm back and tie the game in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Entering overtime, all the momentum was with Texas.

    In overtime, Texas scored quickly to take a 56-49 lead. When Kansas got the ball, they ultimately had to deal with a 3rd down, with seven yards needed to keep the drive alive. They converted, and scored a touchdown on the next play. This left them a choice: either kick the extra point to send it to double overtime, or go for 2 and try and win right there. Well, they went for the latter, and the clip above is what happened. This two-point conversion gave Kansas its first road conference win in over 13 years. They have won just four conference games over the last six years, but two of them have come against Texas.

    About 50 seconds into the clip, you can hear “SEC” chants. Those chants are coming from Kansas fans, in Texas’ home stadium. Before this season, news came out that Texas, along with Oklahoma, are leaving the conference to join the SEC as early as 2025. Their decision to do so led to a massive realignment through the college football world, and every time they lose, they garner more scrutiny than they otherwise would. But the fact that they are getting mocked by Kansas football fans, who have been through a ton the last decade-plus, is next level.

    What’s more is that the player who caught the game-winning pass, Jared Casey, had never played an offensive snap for Kansas before this particular play. The only reason he was in the game at the time was because he was an injury substitution. Now, he’s a player that Kansas football fans will remember forever.

    **tl;DR:** Kansas has been one of the worst teams in college football over the past decade-plus. Texas has been disappointing by their standards during that span, but have still been a lot more successful than Kansas. Kansas entered this game with a 1-8 record, while Texas needed a win to keep legitimate hopes of going to a bowl game alive. Kansas was a 31-point road underdog, but got off to a great start, leading by 21 at halftime. Texas came back to tie it and the game went to overtime. After Texas scored in overtime, Kansas did the same, except they elected to go for the win instead of a tie and a second overtime session. They converted, pulled off the monumental upset, the person who caught the pass had never played an offensive snap for the team, and he is now a legend for his program.

    Reply
  • big_sugi

    I love the fact they very obviously don’t know how to celebrate, from 77 coming into jump on the pile and just sliding off, to 47 getting laid out when he tries for a chest bump.

    You can tell they don’t get a lot of practice.

    Reply
  • imanAholebutimfunny

    i always look to see if we get a “Replacements” congratulatory tackle and we have the congratulatory clothesline tackle at 21 seconds. beatuiful.

    Reply
  • justadimestorepoet

    47’s going to be able to go anywhere he wants in Lawrence (the city KU is in) for a little while, and someone’s gonna offer to pay.

    Reply
  • Longjumping_Round_37

    I’m from Texas and my wife is a UT alumna and good golly do I enjoy seeing them lose. My favorite UT loss was to Texas Tech in 2008 with the Michael Crabtree snag.

    Reply
  • triggoon

    Kansas fan here. I know to some it might not mean that much but when it comes to football we don’t get many fond memories of games against big opponents (like not just this past decade but for most of Kansas football history). But winning a game of football, against Texas on their turf and the being able to celebrate with other college fans is a real treat. It’s also nice to read nice things in the weekend articles regarding Kansas. Most of them are about Texas losing but I’ll take the compliments peppered in about Kansas.

    Reply

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