Austin, Texas ? There’s a reason Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert has only six touchdown passes in eight games: his receivers keep dropping them.

They drop long passes, short passes and medium ones, too.

Long gone are the days of record-setting receivers Jordan Shipley and Quan Cosby catching everything Colt McCoy threw their way. Gilbert has been saddled with a group that treats the ball like it’s radioactive.

It’s a problem Texas (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) would like to fix when the Longhorns play Saturday night at Kansas State (5-3, 2-3). The Longhorns have lost four of their last five games.

“We’ve been over it and over it and over it. There is absolutely nothing that we can see except there is too many guys dropping a ball,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “It hurts our momentum, and it wears on everybody.”

First-year players and seasoned veterans alike are at fault.

Freshman Mike Davis looked early like he could be a big playmaker for the Longhorns with a couple of touchdown catches to offset some early drops. More puzzling have been drops by junior Malcolm Williams and senior James Kirkendoll.

The tight ends are struggling, too. Sophomore Barrett Matthews had a couple of drops in a loss to UCLA and a sure touchdown pass bounced off his facemask in last week’s 30-22 loss to Baylor.

The Longhorns dropped five passes against Baylor and also had to settle for five field goals instead of touchdowns when they drove deep into Baylor territory.