Kansas State puts up strong defensive effort in 23-0 shutout of Texas

In an era of high-octane offenses producing gaudy statistics and prodigious point totals, it makes sense that Kansas State’s old-school coach can appreciate an old-school defensive performance.

The No. 11 Wildcats shut down Texas quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, made a couple of key stops deep in their own territory and put together the first shutout of the Longhorns in nearly a decade with a 23-0 victory Saturday that kept Kansas State the lone unbeaten team in Big 12 play.

“It means a great, great deal,” said Wildcats Coach Bill Snyder, who turned 75 this month. “It just doesn’t happen in this day and age.”

Especially to the Longhorns. They were last shut out by Oklahoma on Oct. 9, 2004.

“You don’t ever want to be shut out. You want to get some points,” Texas Coach Charlie Strong said flatly. “We just didn’t make the plays that we should have made.”

Matthew McCrane kicked three field goals, and DeMarcus Robinson and Charles Jones each ran for a touchdown to lead the Wildcats (6-1, 4-0). Jake Waters threw for 224 yards, and Tyler Lockett had eight catches for 103 yards to climb another notch in the school record books.

The shutout was the first by the Wildcats since beating Kent State, 37-0, three years ago, and the first in conference play since routing Iowa State, 45-0, on Nov. 8, 2003.

Meanwhile, Swoopes was just 13 for 25 for 106 yards for the Longhorns (3-5, 2-3), who were blanked one week after putting up 524 yards of offense in a 48-45 victory over the Cyclones.

The Longhorns managed 196 yards in losing to Kansas State for the fifth time in six meetings.

“We just didn’t execute,” said Swoopes, who had more than 400 yards himself last week. “That’s the bottom line. We didn’t execute and it puts you in a really tough position to win.”