UT seeks solution to road struggles
AUSTIN — Before Shaka Smart took his Texas men’s basketball team on a weeklong trip to China for its season opener, he placed a phone call to Longhorns football coach Charlie Strong.
If Smart expected to receive any advice from his longtime friend, he wound up disappointed.
“I don’t know about playing games overseas,” Strong said. “I like playing right here.”
Strong’s distaste for traveling is understandable, considering the disasters he’s found even in domestic destinations. In three true road games this season, his Longhorns have found a new form of humiliation each time while being outscored by a combined 112-10.
Now they’re bracing for their fourth trip, which will take them to West Virginia for a Saturday game that could determine whether they qualify for a bowl.
“Oh, it’s important,” Strong said. “There’s no denying it. Our players understand that.”
With three regularseason games remaining, UT (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) needs to win two to qualify for the postseason. The Longhorns can get one of them at home against Texas Tech on Thanksgiving, but the other will need to be earned on the road, either against the Mountaineers or No. 4 Baylor on Dec. 5.
For obvious reasons, the Longhorns would prefer to get one of those victories out of the way against West Virginia (4-4, 1-4). But merely keeping the game competitive would be a step forward for a team that never gave itself a chance to win at Notre Dame, TCU or Iowa State.
So why has UT been so terrible in opponents’ stadiums?
“A lack of focus, a lack of detail, and a lack of execution,” senior UT tailback Johnathan Gray said.
He tried to warn his teammates about those things prior to the Longhorns’ humiliating shutout at Iowa State. According to Strong, Gray was the one player who said UT couldn’t take the Cyclones lightly, that games in Ames had been tight before, and that players should expect to be tested.
The message wasn’t received.
“With young guys, they kind of sit there, and they go, ‘Well, we’ll see,’ ” Strong said. “And they don’t really get it until they get there.”