Texas coach Tom Herman remains positive despite injury woes.
Longhorns coach remains positive despite setbacks on several fronts
AUSTIN — Tom Herman has had better weekends.
Saturday, Texas (3-4, 2-2 Big 12) failed to close out yet another game against a topranked opponent, falling to Oklahoma State (6-1, 3-1) 1310 in overtime.
In the midst of that defeat, Derrick Foreman, father of beleaguered receiver Armanti and former star running back D’Onta, launched into a tweetstorm with the red dot trained on UT’s coach.
Sunday night, the team confirmed quarterback Sam Ehlinger and center Zach Shackelford had been placed in concussion protocol for injuries suffered against the Cowboys. Meanwhile, team receptions leader Reggie Hemphill-Mapps is dealing with a sprained knee and won’t practice until at least Wednesday.
On top of all that, Herman is in the midst of the first two-game losing streak of his young coaching career.
So the coach appeared Monday in front of the media for his weekly news conference with all that pressure mounting and, as some noted, one more conspicuous loss — his meticulously manicured goatee.
“I have not shaved to change my luck,” said a clean-shaven Herman. “I don’t believe in luck. I believe in routine.
“It was a bad day grooming, I guess, and I went too far. It was going to look bad if I tried to keep it. So I shaved it off and figured I’d let it grow back again.”
Staying positive
Herman, despite UT’s recent tribulations, tried to strike a positive tone ahead of Saturday’s trip to Waco to face Baylor (0-7, 0-4).
“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,” Herman said. “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.”
Herman has said several times that he believes this team is “really close.” He said so Saturday and again Monday. He also said there is no way to know when the Horns will “break through that barrier.”
Would a victory over the winless Bears count as a barrier-breaking victory? It depends.
An offensive revival, even against the nation’s 125th-ranked defense, would at least provide some encouragement with No. 4 TCU looming. Another round of inconsistent playcalling and unit-wide struggles would ratchet up the outside criticism.
There’s also this: The Bears haven’t been wretched inside McClane Stadium. They lost 49-41 to Oklahoma on Sept. 23 and nearly clawed all the way out of a 25-point hole against West Virginia over the weekend. Record aside, coach Matt Rhule has his team playing with spunk.
Serious situation
Ehlinger’s genetic makeup is about 85 percent spunk, but his chance of playing Saturday remains in jeopardy. Head trauma is no joke and he’s spent the last three weekends absorbing dozens of blows.
On UT’s first offensive play of overtime against Oklahoma State, the back of Ehlinger’s helmet bounced off the turf following a gang
tackle. The week before against OU, he briefly exited the game to be examined by trainers in a makeshift medical tent after another blow to the head. His performance after each impact was shaky at best.
A concussed Ehlinger would give way to sophomore Shane Buechele, who appeared for a handful of plays against the Sooners but has otherwise been inactive since leading UT over Iowa State on Sept. 28.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the way he’s handled it,” Herman said of Buechele. “I tell him every week, I tell him thank you for being there for his brother, for being there for his team; not just for Sam, but for the entire team as a leader.”