Horns’ win creates more questions
The name of the game is winning.
But it was Tulsa.
The Horns successfully put that Maryland experience in the rear view Saturday night. But it was Tulsa.
Tom Herman’s status as a .500 coach at Texas thankfully lasted just one week. Because it was Tulsa.
OK, the 28-21 win before a home-opening crowd of 90,563 was about as easy on the eyes as saltwater, but the real sting here was how Herman described the first victory of the season.
“Winning’s hard,” Herman said. “Really, really hard.”
Depends on your perspective. It didn’t appear very hard for Alabama, Oklahoma or Ohio State on Saturday. It did for Texas. Against Tulsa.
It could be that winning is only as hard as you make it. The numbers looked pretty good, but the Horns (1-1) were not impressive if you’re thinking they’ll be a player in the Big 12 title race, which starts next week. This was the team they were supposed to work before the USC game. They were supposed to turn that calendar back to last season when they rebounded from the firstgame shocker against Maryland with a 59-0 beatdown of San Jose State.
That shutout created hope. Saturday’s win created more questions than answers because the Longhorns, two games in, have yet to put together a full four quarters of football. Players in post-game interviews actually called Tulsa “a good team” despite the fact
the Golden Hurricane haven’t won a road game since 2016.
“We get everyone’s best shot,” Herman said.
What we have is a group that’s trying to figure out how to be good because great isn’t in the cards just yet. Want to hear a head scratcher? Texas got good production from quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who competed 21 of 27 passes for 237 yards and a pair touchdowns, while the running game produced another 241. Yet there the Horns stood with 4:53 left, clinging to a dicey seven-point lead against a team that’s 3-10 in its last 13 games.
Herman didn’t go Steinbeck on us this time, but spun a predictable tale of players remembering to have fun and how a dub over Tulsa cannot go unappreciated.
“Anytime you win, we’re going to celebrate it,” he said. “If we ever get to the point in our program where we don’t celebrate wins, then we haven’t done a good job as coaches.”
There’s nothing wrong with loving on one another after rebounding from that East Coast nightmare, but the question has to be: Has there been any real progress to make fans believe great things are coming sooner rather than later?
No, not yet.
Texas strode into the locker room with a 21-0 halftime lead, albeit against an opponent that had missed three field goals from reasonable range and dropped what should have been a touchdown pass in the end zone.
Herman said he was hard on his players at the break because he wanted to make sure they didn’t get complacent, but believed the move backfired because the Horns reverted back to pressing too much like he says they did at Maryland. The defense gave up 21 in the second half.
“We got too comfortable with the lead,” said nickel back P.J. Locke III. “We have to do a better job not letting the lead put us in that position. We have to keep our foot on their throats and finish the game.”
Texas won, but the perception is the team didn’t take a real step forward, which is about the opposite of what went down in College Station. Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M Aggies, a 12-point underdog, came within a twopoint conversion of forcing overtime against No. 2 Clemson.
And in case you’re interested in the burning rivalry no one on either side wants to acknowledge, four-star wideout Demond Demas of Houston North Forest and Fort Bend Marshall’s Malik Hornsby — another fourstar who’s one of the state’s top dual-threat quarterbacks — were in College Station for the game. Both had scholarship offers from Texas. Both committed to the Aggies.
Talk about two tales in perception. There was Fisher, incensed at losing to a team that may win a second national championship in three years while Herman was spinning it positive about a seven-point win over Tulsa.
Herman got the W, but the Horns didn’t take a big enough step to get anyone realistically excited. If they beat a wounded USC team on Saturday, that will mean much, much more.
This was Tulsa.