Ohio State QB Will Howard eager for revenge after going 0-3 against Longhorns with Kansas State

Asked about Ohio State’s offense last week, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said the Buckeyes are hard to stop when they have a balanced attack.

“We got to try to affect him in the pocket, and we need to disrupt timing in the back end,” Sarkisian said. “We need to disguise our coverage as well.”

Here’s a look at the last three times the Longhorns have faced Howard and the results:

2020: Texas 69, Kansas State 31

Covid upended everything during the shortened 2020 regular season, and Texas had its game against Kansas cancelled the week prior because the Jayhawks didn’t have enough healthy players. But the Horns still took care of business by running the ball and blowing out the Wildcats.

Howard completed 16 of 27 passes for 174 yards and threw two touchdowns to Malik Knowles along with two interceptions. As rewarding as it was to run all over K-State, Texas coach Tom Herman would be fired one month later.

2021: Texas 22, Kansas State 17

Sarkisian was desperate at the end of his first season in Austin. The Horns had lost six straight going into the regular-season finale against the Wildcats. They needed something, anything, to go right and avoid taking a seven-game losing skid into the offseason

Howard completed just nine of 15 passes for 65 yards starting in place of Skylar Thompson, who suffered an ankle injury the week prior. Howard’s best moment was a 71-yard touchdown run where he went untouched.

The Horns used Roschon Johnson all night long and essentially spoiled Deuce Vaughn’s return to his hometown. For the Horns, it was a relief at the end of a 5-7 miserable season.

2023: Texas 33, Kansas State 30 (OT)

This was easily Howard’s best game against UT as he completed 26 of 41 passes for 327 yards and four touchdowns at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Two of those came early in the fourth quarter to dig out of a two-score hole and tie things up 27-27.

The two teams traded field goals and then went into overtime. In the extra period, Texas went up first with a field goal and Kansas State chose to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line. Howard was pushed out of the pocket, chased and ultimately threw up a game-ending incompletion to avoid a sack.