By Steve Habel, Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas football team is not in the moral victories business. It’s in the business of winning games and being a major player in the college football landscape. The Longhorns didn’t win last Saturday against 11th-ranked West Virginia, but they did take a step forward that could pay dividends in the final two regular-season game and beyond.
Now it’s up to the Longhorns to continue to improve and make sure the lessons learned are worth the price they’ve paid. The first part of that equation is taking care of things this Saturday when Texas travels to hapless Kansas in a game that’s the closest thing to low-hanging fruit the Longhorns have had all season.
Texas coach Charlie Strong lauded his [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]team’s guile and effort in the loss to West Virginia and continued to lament the fact that his team let victory escape it.
“I like how hard we played and how we competed (against West Virginia) but no game is a moral victory,” Strong said Monday in his regular weekly media availability. “We had opportunities to win, but didn’t make the right plays at the right time.
“When you’re playing a team as good as West Virginia, you have to take advantage of your chances.”
The Longhorns changed from a team that at the start of the season was hoping to win to a squad expecting to win, and the difference is palpable for Strong to his players.
“When you compete the way we did, you expect to win and that’s why not getting it done hurts the way it does,” Strong said. “It’s about the pride and trust these players have in each other and this program.
At 5-5 overall and 3-4 in Big 12 play, Texas certainly has underachieved in finding wins. Strong said Monday that there have been “two or three” games the Longhorns let get away from them in the first half of the schedule.
Texas can’t afford any complacency this week against the Jawhawks, who are 1-9 and mired in a nine-game losing streak.
“We have no reason to be complacent,” Strong said. “We can’t walk in there and feel we can dominate a team, especially the way we’ve played on the road. We just have to go play the way we know we can and challenge ourselves.”
If the Longhorns take care of business in Lawrence, they’ll be bowl-eligible and guaranteed of a 13th game. But will earning a postseason berth take any of the pressure off Strong and his staff? Only time will tell.
“We will continue to take every game one at a time,” Strong said. “I look at the progress we’ve made and those higher up will take a long look at the whole picture.”
Other items addressed in Monday’s press conference were:
• Texas linebacker Malik Jefferson, who was forced from the West Virginia game after two defensive series with a head injury, is going through concussion protocol. His availability for the Kansas game is uncertain.
• Strong said kicker Trent Domingue’s field goal attempt that was blocked by West Virginia “never got up in the air. Domingue came off after the kick and said he just didn’t hit it well. It was not a breakdown in blocking on our part.”
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