No. 12 Texas unwilling to settle for moral victories

Longhorns’ 45-38 loss to LSU might get them closer to where they want to be, but winning is the goal

By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas refuses to settle for the possible moral victory that was accomplished last week when the then-ninth-ranked Longhorns went toe-to-toe with No. 6 Louisiana State and lost 45-38 in a game that was even closer than the score indicates.

But if Texas fans are looking for true proof that the Longhorns are back among the best in the college game, [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] Texas certainly did more than pass the eye test against the Tigers.

LSU moved up to No. 4 in the most recent Associated Press poll following its win in Austin, while the Longhorns fell to 12th, and are the highest ranked team in the poll with a loss. The big move up the ranking by the Tigers is a pretty big indicator of what the rankers, and the nation, thinks about Texas and what it means that LSU narrowly took the win.

Texas (1-1) will look to bounce back and continue to build momentum when it travels to play former Southwest Conference-rival Rice on Saturday in NRG Stadium in Houston. The Owls are 0-2 after losses on the road to Army and at home last week to Wake Forest.

Texas coach Tom Herman was asked Monday at his media availability if there was any justification gained by his team from the close loss to LSU.

His answer, belying the “we-are-Texas-and-we-won’t-settle-mantra,” touched all the correct chords.

“There are a lot of positive things we can glean from that game,” Herman said. “We will be a better team for having played that game, and I’m glad we did. But our goal is not to just belong – our goal is to win those things.”

Herman acknowledged that over the past decade or so, winning on a constant basis was not as common as Longhorns followers would like.

That was then and this is now, and this team has higher expectations and the talent to achieve those goals.

“I get there is a bit of PTSD around here for the prior decade or so,” Herman said. “But I told our team, in three years we have come this far (spreading his hands wide from his waist to above his head), and we’ve got this far (holding his fingers apart up an inch) to go to be elite. That last bit is the hardest part, right? We’re getting there.”

Despite being down 20-7 at halftime, Herman said there were no doubters in the Longhorns’ locker room – another indication that Texas has turned the corner in a big way.

“There was nobody feeling like we weren’t in the game,” Herman explained. “The team last year, it’s well documented, we were a bit overachievers, and that’s a compliment.

“When you increase your development and you increase your talent pool, you increase your culture, and you still have that overachiever mentality of playing hard and fighting and scrapping and all that, that’s when magic starts to happen. I was really, really proud of the effort and the physicality of our team.”

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