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Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown met with the media on Monday morning for his weekly availability in advance of the Kansas Jayhawks coming to Austin on Saturday.
Here are the news and notes from the press conference:
-- The West Virginia game time has been set for 6 p.m. CT on FOX. This weekend, the Longhorn Network will televise its third and final game of the season at 2:30 p.m CT.
-- Over the last nine quarters, the Longhorns have not allowed a single sack, a remarkable run, especially since TCU entered the game as one of the hardest teams to keep a quarterback clean against, as the Horned Frogs had 24 sacks in the first seven games of the season. The pass protection has been a huge key in allowing McCoy to stand in clean pockets and deliver crucial third-down passes.
-- The last two weeks have seen resolution of the tackling issues that plagued the team throughout the early part of the season, as the Horns only missed two all game, resulting in a mere seven extra yards for the Horned Frogs. The secondary deserves a lot of credit, as the group had a 100% hit rate on their open-field tackling opportunities.
-- How will the Longhorns avoid a letdown against the Jayhawks this weekend? Brown said that he will have to team go back and watch the film from last season, when Texas narrowly escaped from Lawrence with a victory.
-- There was plenty of talk during the Monday availability about the weather delay, which included chicken fingers for the players. Brown said he wanted McCoy to keep from eating too many to avoid greasy fingers that could have impacted his ability to throw the football, but noted that the offensive linemen like to do two things -- eat and run block, both of which they got to do plenty of Saturday night.
-- Brown also had plenty of praise for the front four defensively. He said the group has been playing well all season, but it was harder to notice in the early going with all the other defensive issues, citing confidence as the major difference with the unit. Minutes later, cornerback Quandre Diggs pointed to players trusting each other to execute their own assignments instead of trying to do everyone else's job as the biggest factor in the recent improvements.
-- There were "It is what it is" alerts that sounded twice on Monday, once in reference to to the poor start to the season and once in reference to the lack of home games over the last months. Even that frustrating phrase is better when Texas wins.
-- The only change on the depth chart was safety Leroy Scott moving ahead of Josh Turner on the depth chart, though the two players are still co-backups. Scott had a solid game against TCU in some of his first extended game action at safety in his career, making two tackles and adding a stop on a kickoff return and a fumble recovery on the muffed punt by Daje Johnson. Scott is listed as 13 pounds heavier than Turner on the official roster and may be closer to having 20 pounds on the slight Oklahoma native, giving Texas a bit more physicality and strength on the back end.
-- The seven points scored by TCU were the lowest by the Horned Frogs since 2006. They did not cross the 50-yard line in the second half.
-- Defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat was named Defensive Player of the Week for the Big 12, while kicker Anthony Fera named the special teams honors. Jeffcoat helped provide the pressure on the first quarter forced fumble that led to the first Texas touchdown and added another sack, 2.5 tackles for loss, two batted passes, three quarterback pressures, and four total tackles. Fera hit all three of his field goals (43, 37, 36) and averaged 40 yards on his seven punts, which did include his worst effort of the season, but overall did not result in TCU picking up any positive yardage in that phase.
-- McCoy said that he and wide receiver Marcus Johnson had the opportunity to develop a strong rapport last season when they worked together as back ups. The senior also said that the wheel route that has produced touchdowns in each of the last two weeks was his father's favorite play call.