Five Questions – TCU

 

By Steve Habel, Senior Editor

AUSTIN – Mistakes, poor execution and big-game pressure are hurdles a young, inexperienced football team should overcome early in the season — especially when the coach is under fire to keep his job.[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] 

The fact that the Texas football team was still having problems with the basics in its final, regular season game is what ultimately doomed the Longhorns. The lethargic 31-9 loss to Texas Christian University on Friday before an announced crowd of 99,065 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium spelled the end of the Charlie Strong era on the 40 Acres.

Everything was on the line for Texas and its beleaguered coach. A win would have granted the Longhorns a spot in a bowl game, given the team extra practices and perhaps saved Strong’s job (although the latter might have been a stretch).

Earlier this week, multiple reports said university officials had already decided to fire Strong; however, he did have an opportunity to save his job if the Longhorns were to decisively win against TCU. Instead the Longhorns laid an egg, dropping Strong’s record to 16-21 in his three seasons at Texas.

And the morning after he was let go, with Texas willing to eat the $10.7 million Strong was owed, to start with someone new.

Texas ended its tumultuous season at 5-7, marking the first time since 1936-38 the Longhorns had three consecutive losing campaigns.

“We never quit on one another this season,” Strong said. “Our record doesn’t speak for how good we are. What we’ve been going through … [there’s] just too much pressure placed on [the players]. This season is only going to make our guys stronger and a better football team.”

With the win, the Horned Frogs (6-5) became bowl eligible with a home game remaining on Dec. 3 versus Kansas State. TCU outgained Texas 487-407, had 25 first downs to the Longhorns’ 19 and won despite converting just one of 11 third-down attempts.

FBS-leading rusher D’Onta Foreman ran for 165 yards on 31 carries for the Longhorns, racking up his 13th straight 100-yard-plus rushing game. He became the first Texas running back, and just the second in school history, to rush for more than 2,000 yards (Ricky Williams in 1998).

Foreman was denied on a fourth-down and 1 dive at the goal line by the TCU defense in the second quarter.

“I definitely scored there,” Foreman said. “I don’t know how the officials missed that.”

TCU drove 75 yards in eight plays on its first possession to a 4-yard touchdown run by former Texas A&M quarterback Kenny Hill Jr. and a 7-0 Horned Frogs lead. Hill completed all six of his passes on the march for 65 of the yards.

The Longhorns answered on their ensuing possession when Trent Domingue converted a 21-yard field goal three plays after a 48-yard freshman-to-freshman bomb from Shane Buechele to Devin Duvernay.

Domingue had a chance to cut into the lead again at the 9:09 mark of the second quarter but missed to the right on a 38-yard attempt. The kick was the seventh field goal he’s missed this season. He also had four extra-point kicks blocked, adding up to a subpar season for the senior transfer from LSU.

DeShon Elliott’s interception of Hill late in the second quarter allowed Texas to set up shop in the TCU red zone. The Longhorns, however, had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Mitchell Becker that brought Texas to 7-6 with 2:25 to play until halftime.

Texas dominated the first-half statistics, outgaining TCU 254-102 (remember the Horned Frogs had 75 on their opening drive). The Longhorns had a 115-22 advantage in rushing, a 139-8 edge in passing and a seven-and-a half minute edge in time of possession. But they were still losing on the scoreboard.

TCU added to its lead on the opening drive of the third quarter, moving 79 yards in 13 plays to a 28-yard field goal by Brandon Hatfield. The key play on the march was a 25-yard pass from Hills to Desmon White that sent the Horned Frogs to the Texas 12 yard line.

Texas answered with a 31-yard field goal by Becker three plays after a 44-yard run by Foreman. With 9:30 left in third quarter, Texas had 300 yards of offense and still didn’t have a touchdown.

Hill stumped the Longhorns — and left Texas defensive back Dylan Haines grasping for air — with a nifty 41-yard scoring run at the 7:49 mark of the third quarter. The touchdown pushed the Horned Frogs lead to 17-9.

After a 74-yard punt by Texas’ Michael Dickson forced the Horned Frogs to start an early fourth-quarter drive on their own 3-yard-line, TCU used its reserve quarterback Foster Sawyer and running back Trevorris Johnson to engineer a 97-yard touchdown drive that salted away the win. Johnson scooted, untouched, around left end for a 5-yard touchdown run one snap after Sawyer hit Daniel Walsh on a 24-yard pass to push the TCU lead to 24-9 with 9:18 to play.

A 70-yard dash through the fatigued Texas defense 1:46 later by TCU freshman scatback Darius Anderson finished off the scoring and, ultimately, the Longhorns.

“We didn’t do anything offensively in the first half,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “We needed to run the football and get the quarterback involved and we did both in the second half. That changed the game because we were getting stops on defense.”

Anderson led the Horned Frogs with 106 yards on just three carries while Hill added 78 yards on 13 carries. Hill threw for 150 yards despite battling leg cramps in the second half that eventually forced him from the game.

 

Was the loss to TCU the last straw for Strong?

As mentioned above, people already believed the coach’s fate was decided when the Longhorns lost to Kansas on Nov. 19.

When his team had no answers for a little-better-than-average Horned Frogs squad and lost its third straight game to end the season, any doubt about Strong’s dismissal disappeared.

Before the game, a canvassing of 100 fans heading into the stadium revealed to the Austin American-Statesman that 72 percent wanted to keep Strong for another season. It would’ve been interesting to check back with those folks after the game, but they were likely long gone before the end of the blowout.

After the game, Strong said that when he came to Texas he came here to win the national championship and to change lives.

“I look at the impact I had on the players here,” he said. “I look at a program I was asked to rebuild. There are players that left the program. It hurts to know that those players didn’t get an opportunity to do what I asked them to do and to stay the course.

“What bothers me is that the seniors didn’t have a chance to go to a bowl game for the second straight year,” he added. “There are guys that have put a lot into it. Some guys have been here four years, some five. I just wish we had a different outcome for them.”

 

Was the pressure too much for the players?

It was clear to see when most of the freewheeling, fun-seeking players responsible for the Longhorns’ three-win stretch in the middle of the season played tight in the last two games.

“I got crushed down with people following the media, but it’s not what you’re supposed to do,” Texas linebacker Malik Jefferson said. “You’re supposed to get rid of the distractions and focus on the team. [Strong] wanted us to go out there and have fun. Some guys kept forgetting that it’s about playing football, going out there and enjoying the time you get because you only get it once and people want to be in your shoes.”

After the Longhorns lost at home against a good West Virginia team and then barely showed up against Kansas, it was almost as if their hearts weren’t invested anymore. By the time TCU started pushing on the Longhorns in the third quarter, Texas didn’t have much left to push back.

“I told them, ‘I never wanted you to make it about me,’” Strong said. “‘I wanted you to go enjoy the game. I wanted you to go have fun. Don’t play tight, loosen up and go make plays.’

“But when they read and hear so much, they get caught up in it and it affects them,” he added. “It especially [affects them] when they come up to you and say, ‘Coach, we’re going to do it for you, this is all about you.’”

 

Can Tom Herman coax Foreman back for his senior year?

Keeping Foreman will take a heck of a sales job.

The Longhorns’ workhorse running back should be invited to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist (he has this voter’s vote). After the event, he plans to sit down with his family and coaches to formulate a plan for the future.

“I was kneeling (after the game); I cried,” Foreman said when he was asked if this was his final game for the Longhorns. “It’s emotional for us to put everything on the line and everything on the field. I’ve given my all, every game, every practice and every step I took. I’ve given my all. To come up short in a game like this is very emotional.”

Foreman said he’d reach out to Ricky Williams, who was in a similar boat when Texas changed coaches from John Mackovic to Mack Brown after the 1997 season. As we all know, Williams returned for his senior year, set the all-time NCAA rushing record and won the Heisman.

He said if he comes back it would be to help the Longhorns win.

“I love those guys in the locker room,” Foreman said. “They all came up to me and told me how proud they were of me and what I’ve done for the team and put on the line every day. To come back, it would be the same thing. Put it all on the line and try to set us in the right direction.”

The guess here is that Foreman takes the money and heads for the NFL. But I would love to be wrong.

 

What went wrong with the Texas offense in their final three games?

Texas scored just 50 point combined in its losses to West Virginia, Kansas and TCU. And the Longhorns got worse with each game.

Some of that blame could be heaped on the Longhorns dependence on Foreman. Some could be placed on the fact that opponents figured out how to stop Texas’ attack — all they needed to do was crowd the line and not get beat over the top in offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert’s passing game.

And then there’s the Buechele factor. Buechele carried a heavy load for the team, both emotionally and physically, and finished his true freshman year with 2,958 total passing yards — the seventh-most in a campaign by a quarterback in school history. The TCU game was Buechele’s 12^th start of the season, the second-most among freshmen and behind Colt McCoy’s 13 in 2006.

The media asked Gilbert after the game if Buechele wore down as the season progressed.

“It’s a long season but I don’t have anything to compare it back to with him being the first true freshman quarterback that I’ve coached,” Gilbert said. “We just needed to execute and we weren’t able to do that at times during the last three games.”

Buechele is far from a liability for the Longhorns; he’ll only get stronger and better over the next three seasons as long as the incoming coach and staff find a way to make the most of his strengths.

 

What’s next for the Longhorns?

And so the off-season begins a month earlier than expected for the Longhorns, who will miss out on the postseason for the second time in a row. Three weeks ago, we were all speculating if the Longhorns would spend the week around Christmas in Phoenix, Houston, Memphis or Fort Worth.

Now we’ll all be home for the holidays.

On Saturday afternoon, Texas named former Houston coach Tom Herman — no surprise — as Strong’s replacement. Herman’s hiring had been largely expected after rampant speculation in the media during the last half of the season.

Herman comes to Texas after compiling a 22-4 record in two seasons at Houston, the fourth-best record in the FBS in that span. His first season as head coach at Texas will mark his 14th spent in the state of Texas out of 20 years coaching on the collegiate level. That includes his time as a graduate assistant at UT (1999-2000), where he earned a master’s degree in education.

“The opportunity to come back to Texas is a dream come true for me and my family, and I can’t thank President Fenves and Mike Perrin enough for providing me with this incredible opportunity,” Herman said in a statement. “Longhorn football has been — and always will be — a national power, winning and playing for national championships with great pride and passion, supported by an unbelievable fan base.”

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