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The Texas Longhorns eeked out a 21-17 road win over the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday afternoon in Lawrence, due in large part to late-game heroics from backup quarterback Case McCoy, who subbed into the game for David Ash in the fourth-quarter and led Mack Brown’s team on two sustained scoring drives.
David Ash began the day with one of his poorest performances of the season, looking rattled and uncertain behind center, doing a poor job of clock management, and throwing two interceptions which stalled potential red-zone scoring drives for the Longhorns.
While the Texas defense certainly didn’t do the offense any favors in the first half in getting gashed by the Kansas running game led by James Sims–which has become the rule rather than the exception to it–the defense stepped up enough in the second half to give McCoy an opportunity to move the ball late.
It’s the second big, late-game performance from McCoy in the last year in games with great implications. Last Thanksgiving, McCoy led the Longhorns to a last minute win over the Texas A&M Aggies in the final meeting between the two in the traditional rivalry game. Today, McCoy helped Texas win a game that, on paper, should have been an afterthought.
More than likely, the ball will be placed right back in the hands of David Ash as practice resumes on Monday, but should it be?
I’m not one to stir up controversy for it’s own sake–there are plenty of people that make a “living” doing so–but will the Texas players on both sides of the ball be willing to forget who helped them earn the most important win of the young season next week and return to the status quo?
It’s a question that has to be asked whether each person reading this article believes in its validity.
Case McCoy has a leadership quality–this is something that is obvious, and has to be recognized, by even the most fervent David Ash apologist.
On the flipside, a poor performance by Ash, and the way he bounces back from it in preparation for the Texas Tech Red Raiders next week will say plenty about his maturation process as a person and as a quarterback.
If Ash is truly the leader of this Texas team, he’ll have a short memory and turn things right back around. If he doesn’t, you can rest assured Case McCoy will be there to pick up the pieces.
It’s a role he’s obviously comfortable in.
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Kris Hughes is the College Football Network Manager for Rant Sports and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his Facebook page.
Kris is also the host of Rant Sports Radio on the Blog Talk Radio Network Wednesday evenings at 8 Central Time.
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