During the latest installment of his always entertaining Tuesday pressers, Kansas University football coach Charlie Weis tried to put himself in the shoes of Texas football players watching film of KU’s games against Southeast Missouri State and Duke.

“There weren’t any restless nights for their team when they watched those two games,” Weis said. “They’re sitting there and saying, ‘And this is who we’re playing next?’ I would think … (the Longhorns) feel pretty good about rolling into Lawrence for the start of their conference season.”

Agree.

“That being said, too, if all of a sudden it’s halftime, this game is close, you know, which I expect it’s going to be, I think that whole perspective changes,” Weis added.

Agree that the perspective would change, but don’t expect it to be close at halftime.

Sure, Texas is in a bad way by Texas standards. One starting offensive tackle was booted from the team Tuesday and the other won’t play against Kansas because he’s serving a suspension. All-purpose back Daje Johnson also won’t play because of a suspension. Starting quarterback David Ash wisely retired because of recurring concussions.

“On offense, their biggest issue is an offensive line going through transition,” Weis said. “They’ve had multiple guys suspended or dismissed from the team or just transfer and no longer be there. It’s a totally different line than we’ve seen from Texas the last couple years, and I think they’re just trying to get settled in at that position.”

And then came the line that partly explains why the Longhorns’ offensive woes are close to irrelevant in projecting a winner for this game.

“I feel their pain,” Weis said.

It’s not difficult to envision Texas, even with talented running backs Malcolm Brown and Johnathan Gray, working hard for every touchdown. But here’s the problem: Winning requires scoring. UT’s greatest strength — its fast, strong, big defensive line — matches up with KU’s greatest weaknesses, namely pass protection and a quarterback who hasn’t developed a knack for avoiding the rush. Polished quarterbacks with crafty pocket presence step in all directions to make the monsters miss. Montell Cozart straight back and when he runs, he heads toward the sideline, almost never up the middle.

“You can teach them how to step up, slide backwards, slide forwards, shuffle,” Weis said of young quarterbacks. “You can actually teach that. I think that over time he’ll become much better at that, just like when you bail out, always going to the same side, that’s another thing that’s a natural reaction that people have. But I think teaching people how to move in the pocket, not from the pocket, is something that can be improved over time.”

Such subtle feel aspects of playing quarterback can’t be absorbed overnight. Plus, Cozart hasn’t faced a defense quite this menacing. Iowa State shut out KU last season and Duke held the Jayhawks to three points two weeks ago. Neither had UT’s talent.

“Malcolm Brown, I think, is one of the best players that I’ve seen, period,” Weis said. “He’s big. He’s aggressive. He’s nasty. He moves well, makes several tackles for loss. He’s every bit of three and a quarter and probably runs 4.7. He’ll be a high draft choice, and he’s a very, very disruptive player.”

At the moment, the Kansas offense is ill-equipped to handle disruption.