Texas football focus has changed to one of near-desperation

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — Any good feelings Texas has earned from close losses to the three ranked teams it has played this season continue to be mitigated by the cold, hard truth that the Longhorns need to win, and win now, to have a chance at even a break-even record that would get them into the postseason for the first time in three years.

Texas (3-4 overall, 2-2 in Big 12 Conference play) will have its best chance in a month to earn its fourth victory when in travels to Waco this week to battle winless but determined Baylor at McLane Stadium.

Kickoff is at 11 a.m. CDT in a game [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]that has to be considered a must-win for the Longhorns.

Texas owned fourth-quarter leads on the road against USC (then ranked No. 4), in Dallas versus Oklahoma (12th) and, most recently, Saturday at home when it lost to 10th-ranked Oklahoma State, 13-10, in overtime and came out with little to show for the effort.

Eleven points over those three games separate Texas from having a 6-1 record rather than scrambling to make a bowl game.

“I’m proud of the mood of our team right now and the resiliency of our team,” Texas coach Tom Herman said. “There’s a lot of teams in the country that would have splintered at this point, but I think our guys really do realize that it’s much better to be close than it is far away.

“Although the losses might hurt a little bit more because you are invested and you are on the doorstep and you can see the other side, that makes losing a little bit more painful, and that’s OK. It should because that allows us learning opportunities to grow, and our guys have embraced that.”

The Longhorns’ offense is the issue, especially the running game. Texas had just 42 rushing yards against Oklahoma State, with just 13 of its 33 carries in the game coming from running backs.

“We’ve got to go out and do our job with laser-like focus every single time the ball is snapped,” Herman said, “and in order to do that we’ve got to be confident. In order to do that, we’ve got to be sure of what we’re doing, especially offensively.

“We’re not a confident group on that side of the ball, and we need to play much better there for us to win some games here down the stretch.”

Any continuity with the Longhorns’ struggles on offense took another hit — well, actually three more hits — in the form of injuries. The team announced Sunday night that freshman starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger and sophomore center Zach Shackelford suffered head injuries and leading receiver redshirt freshman Reggie Hemphill-Mapps sprained a knee during the loss to Oklahoma State. All three missed practice Sunday and their availability will be evaluated during the week.

Only two of the Longhorns’ five remaining games are at home, and two of the road games are against ranked teams — Nov. 4 at No. 4 TCU and Nov. 18 at No. 22 West Virginia.

THIS AND THAT: Herman said that running back Kyle Porter, who missed the Oklahoma State game with a chest injury, would be available against Baylor … With the lingering question mark about Ehlinger’s availability, Herman said he expected Jerrod Heard to practice at quarterback some this week … The Big 12 Conference announced in Monday that UT’s Nov. 4 game at TCU would kick off at 6:15 p.m. will be televised by ESPN.

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