By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — Seven games into the 2016 college football season we know two things for certain about Texas, and neither one of them is good.
Four losses in seven games have shown that the Longhorns are a team of unmet expectations that can’t get out of their own way long enough to take advantage of opportunities they are handed … and that the only thing that predicable about them is that they are unpredictable.
Things have to change — and in a hurry — if Texas is going to salvage this year from the scrap heap.
“We just haven’t played well, and [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]we have to be better,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said Monday in his weekly media availability. “We’d like to see more (improvement), would like to be better, and we are so close, maybe just a few plays away each game. Every one’s tired of hearing me say that, including the players, but that’s where we are.”
The Longhorns had every opportunity to snatch a victory out of the jaws of defeat Saturday in a 24-21 loss at Kansas State, but couldn’t take advantage of the Wildcats’ rare show of generosity that included eight penalties, three turnovers and forgetting to cover Texas wide receiver Devin Duvernay on a deep pass that went for the Longhorns’ first touchdown.
“Kansas State tried to give us the game, and we didn’t take advantage of the chances we had,” Strong said. “There was always something stopping us when we needed to make the right play — a penalty, a bad snap, a sack, a dropped pass. We have to be better.”
The past seven turnovers created by Texas have led to just a single field goal; that’s not exactly taking advantage of chances.
After finishing with losing records in 2014 and 2015, UT is 3-4 for the third straight year. The Longhorns, on such a high when they won their first two games, now has lost four of their past five, is 1-2 in games against Big 12 opponents and enters this Saturday’s near-must-win game at home versus undefeated and eighth-ranked Baylor with momentum working against it.
In the loss to Kansas State, Texas posted season lows in points (21), total yards (344) and the number of plays (62). The Longhorns were just three of 11 on third downs, and failed twice on fourth down when they had big plays in their hands.
Texas is just 5-12 in games away from Austin (and 4-8 in “true” road games) in Strong’s two-plus-year tenure on the 40 Acres, and after the loss in Manhattan, the Longhorns are now 0-15 under Strong whenever they trail by 14 points or more.
Three of the final five UT games are at home, but two of those — this week against Baylor and Nov. 12 versus No. 9 West Virginia — are against teams without a loss and ranked in the top 10. The third is against TCU, which could salvage a disappointing season with a win over the Longhorns on the day after Thanksgiving.
Other items addressed at the Monday presser included:
• Strong’s determined statement that Davante Davis and Holton Hill, the two Texas sophomore cornerbacks who were preseason all-conference players but have barely seen the field for the defense this year, have to be better in practice to regain their spots in the secondary rotation. “It’s all about how you practice and how you work,” Strong said. “You can’t let guys beat you with passes over your head. Davis and Hill are part of the rotation, but others have played better.” Hill is listed on the latest depth chart as the “or” starter at one of the cornerback spots along with fellow sophomore Kris Boyd.
• Strong said he doesn’t expect Baylor to employ the direct-snap-to-a-running-back Wildcat package it employed against Texas last year when the Bears were basically without a quarterback because of injuries. “They are a different team this year,” Strong said. “Their quarterback (Seth Russell) is a good runner, so we think we will see him carry the ball some.”
• Texas running back D’Onta Foreman continues to impress, posting his FBS-leading eighth straight 100-yard-plus game Saturday against Kansas State, a streak which is now three shy of Earl Campbell’s school record of 11 straight games in 1977. Foreman is the nation’s third-leading rusher, with an average of 142.5 yards per game.
• Kickoff for the Texas-Texas Tech game Nov. 5 in Lubbock will be at 11 a.m., which means it might end before dark. The Red Raiders amassed 856 yards of total offense Saturday in a 66-59 home loss to Oklahoma; Tech quarterback Pat Mahomes II threw for 655 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 72 yards and another two scores.
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