Texas coach Mack Brown is shown in this Oct. 1, 2011, file photo. Brown says his Longhorns will have no trouble maintaining focus with Kansas coming to town.

During his 28 seasons as a college football head coach, University of Texas’ Mack Brown has won 223 contests, 11 bowl games and one national championship.

Still, it’s a little advice from his wife, Sally, that helps Brown enter even the most favorable match-ups with a dose of caution.

“My wife has a saying,” Brown said Monday on the Big 12 coaches teleconference. “She knew nothing about football, and we got married, and she’s been around a long time, and she says, ‘About the time someone says, ‘That absolutely cannot happen,’ that’s when it happens.'”

The phrase used to make Brown chuckle, but then came last year’s match-up with Iowa State in Austin, Texas, and the outcome changed the UT coach’s outlook.

“Everybody talked about how Iowa State was struggling because they lost to Utah in the 60s and lost to Oklahoma in the 50s,” Brown said of last year’s shocking 28-21 home loss to the 3-4 Cyclones. “Those two teams were really good last year, and then Iowa State came in here and thumped us.”

The loss to the Cyclones set off a string of four straight setbacks, and Texas, which dropped five of its final six games in 2010, finished 5-7 and sat home during bowl season.

With UT (4-2 overall, 1-2 Big 12) entering this week as a 28-point favorite against Kansas University (2-5, 0-4), Brown vowed to remember the lesson he learned from the loss to Iowa State and made sure to emphasize that his players would be ready for the Jayhawks.

“Kids sit around all week, and they listen to fans, and they listen to the media and when people are talking about the other team not having a chance to win or you start talking about a game down the road instead of the one you’re playing that week, it is a very, very dangerous thing,” Brown said. “And that’s why coaches get so paranoid about games each week. All of us have been in one of (Iowa State scenarios). When you’ve been in one, that’s enough. That’ll keep your attention for the rest of them.”

While Brown compared this week’s match-up with Kansas to last year’s letdown against Iowa State, he quickly showed he had more than that reason to be ready for the Jayhawks.

“They’ve played maybe the toughest schedule in the country to this point,” Brown said. “And I don’t think people have talked enough about that.”

Brown also praised all facets of KU’s offense.

“They’ve got a good offensive line,” he said. “They’re big and strong, and they can run the football. And then because of that, they’re able to have the controlled passing game. They’ve struggled some on defense, but they’re playing better, with more confidence. And I think that’s the thing that scares you.”

Steven Johnson cracks Top 10

With his 13 tackles against Kansas State, senior linebacker Steven Johnson jumped into a tie for 10th in the nation in total tackles, with 76. That number currently leads the Big 12 and also has the Media, Pa., senior in 10th place nationally in tackles per game at 10.8.

KU coach Turner Gill said Sunday night that Johnson’s play this season had shown why he earned the title of co-captain.

“That’s what you expect out of your best players,” Gill said. “And you hope that they are performing, every game, at the level you expect them to perform. We want other people to raise their level of play to those guys.”

KU-ISU gets 11:30 start

KU’s Nov. 5 game at Iowa State will kick off at 11:30 a.m. and will be broadcast on Fox College Sports.

The Jayhawks’ Week 2 victory against Northern Illinois was shown on the FCS network, and KU also played on the network twice during the 2010 season, falling to North Dakota State in the opener and drubbing New Mexico State in Week 4.

After its Oct. 8 game at Oklahoma State was not televised, KU has appeared on television twice since then and will be on TV again this week, when The Longhorn Network and Jayhawk Network team up to broadcast KU’s 6 p.m. kickoff at Texas.