Habe on the Horns: Strong says opponents have helped Texas shrug off doldrums

By Steve Habel, Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — Winning three of its past four games has put Texas back on track for a bowl game and into the consciousness of the college football world. But don’t expect the Longhorns to become complacent, especially with 11th-ranked West Virginia coming into Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday for a crucial Big 12 Conference showdown.

Texas coach Charlie Strong, whose spot on the hot seat has cooled some in recent weeks with wins against Iowa State, then-No. 8 Baylor and Texas Tech, credited the teams the Longhorns have played with helping his team recover from a 2-2 start.

“What’s helped us is who we are playing right now,” Strong said Monday at his weekly media availability. “Our opponents are [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]keeping us mentally focused. We can’t afford to be complacent and we want to be sure we continue to grow. We have to get ready for the next one. Each game is like a one-game season for us.”

Texas handled Texas Tech Saturday with execution of the well-conceived game plan that limited the damage that could be done by Patrick Mahomes II, the Red Raiders’ record-setting quarterback. In the process, UT won its first game of the season on the road.

The Longhorns (5-4 overall, 3-3 in games against Big 12 teams) will face just a stern as test this week with dual-threat quarterback Skyler Howard directing a West Virginia offense that is ranked 10th in the nation (510.8 yards per game). The Mountaineers are 7-1 overall and 4-1 in Big 12 play.

“West Virginia is a great team and they are very balanced,” Strong said. “Howard does a great job of taking care of the ball and they don’t turn it over very much as a team. I think we will play well, because the team we are playing will have our players’ attention and we play good at home. We’ve won two in a row. Now let’s go get the this one.”

Strong said that in his evaluation of each game, he always tries to find one play that made a difference in winning or losing.

This week, he pinpointed the off-the-charts-strange play when UT running back D’Onta Foreman carried eight defenders toward the goal line before Tech defensive back Douglas Coleman reached into the pile, wrenched the ball way from Foreman and sprinted 100 yards to the opposite end zone for a jaw-dropping touchdown and a reversal of fortune for the Red Raiders.

Texas wide receiver Devin Duvernay ran at an angle from the opposite side of the field to collar Coleman at the 2-yard line, but the officials were still in chase mode from the far end of the field and didn’t properly see the end of the play, granting Coleman a touchdown.

“We all thought Duvernay was going to catch him, but he had a long way to go from across the field,” Strong said. “The whole team was juiced from that effort. I told the guys ‘why don’t we all play that hard?’ It was a shot in the arm for us.”

Other items addressed in Monday’s press conference included:

• Strong lauded the play of linebacker Malik Jefferson, who has responded with his best two games of the season the past two weeks after getting benched at Kansas State and not starting versus Baylor. “Malik is a special player,” Strong said. “When he sat down, he could have taken it personally, but he took the criticism well and runs with it. All of our guys expect him to play well, and he has the past two games.

• Strong said he expects Texas offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert to continue to use the “18 Wheeler” package even though it sputtered some against Texas Tech. Tyrone Swoopes, the Longhorns’ power-running quarterback, scored once out of the package.

• Texas’ aggressiveness on defense in the past four games since Strong took over the defense has produced 19 sacks, 12 turnovers and 36 tackles for a loss. “Everyone is keeping the receiver in front of them and the overall defense is just being aggressive,” Strong said. “We still need to improve on our tackling.”

• The Longhorns have won four straight games against Associated Press Top-12 ranked teams, the second-longest in the nation behind Alabama.

• Foreman, who had 341 yards and three touchdowns against Texas Tech, was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for the second straight week Monday while teammate Michael Dickson earned Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time in his career. Dickson, a native of Sydney, Australia, punted five times for 255 yards (51.0 average) in Saturday’s road victory at Texas Tech. His average was the eighth-best in a single game in school history and he owns three of the top eight best single-game averages in Texas history.

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