Recreating the magic
Herman again finds knack for winning big at NRG Stadium
That is the Tom Herman we knew.
Winning the games he wasn’t supposed to.
Finding some way to fight off the inevitable and still come out on top.
Turning a perceived negative into an emotional positive, and convincing you he was on the right path the entire time.
The former leader of the HTown Takeover returned to the NFL stadium he once dominated Wednesday night. And while knocking off Missouri 33-16 in the 2017 Texas Bowl just to reach 7-6 with the Longhorns doesn’t exactly ring out like a New Year’s Eve Peach Bowl victory with the rebranded Cougars, Herman’s first year in Austin at least ended with a little more hope for 2018. Modern time moves so fast. One day you are beating the life out of No. 3 Oklahoma, tak-
ing over Houston inside NRG Stadium.
A year later, you’re back on the same field with your new dream job, fighting for better than .500 in an average bowl that was supposed to be barely worth watching.
Herman did almost everything right during his two brilliant but oh-so-brief seasons recreating the Cougars.
A sparkling 13-1 record and Peach Bowl victory over ninthranked Florida State in the first year. Then taking down the Sooners and No. 5 Louisville in his second season — yes, Houston, there really was a time when the Coogs were the sixthbest college football team in the nation — before Austin came calling and the supreme leader of the Takeover just couldn’t say no.
Wednesday night back inside NRG Stadium couldn’t touch taking down Jimbo Fisher, Bob Stoops and Lamar Jackson while painting a real big city red. The best Herman’s first-year Longhorns could finish was 7-6. The worst was below .500 during the same season when Charlie Strong (remember him, burnt orange faithful?) went 10-2 with a bowl win at South Florida.
Then again, this is the era of the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl, Dollar General Bowl, Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl. It has become the College Football Playoff and everything else in the huge-money modern game. And if someone told you there was a Chuck E. Cheese’s Bowl, you would nod your head and flip the channel during the never-ending journey to find the next somewhat watchable holiday game.
Missouri (7-6) entered the 12th Texas Bowl with six consecutive victories, which included five blowouts. The Tigers possessed the No. 9 scoring offense (39.3-point average) in the country, while junior Drew Lock (3,695 yards, 43 touchdowns) was the team-leading quarterback Herman searched for all season.
The Longhorns were uneven from the start during Herman’s first year.
Sophomore Shane Buechele and freshman Sam Ehlinger kept splitting time, totaling 16 TDs to 11 interceptions. And even though Herman’s team played USC, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State close — falling to all three by a combined 11 points, which included three total overtime periods — a season-opening faceplant versus Maryland set the tone for a mostly uninspiring year. By the time December rolled around, Herman was an average 6-6 and the post-Strong Longhorns couldn’t beat Texas Tech.
During an era of meaningless, watered-down bowls and mostly empty stands televised to the country, the 2½-hour drive from Austin was one of the only selling points of what would normally be a no-brainer: The Longhorns playing a bowl inside an NFL stadium Herman once dominated.
“I mean, (UT’s players) haven’t been in a bowl game in three years. So if that doesn’t excite you as a player, then you probably need to quit football and go do something else. Go join a club or something like that,” said Herman, whose Longhorns last won a bowl contest in 2012 and last appeared in a holiday game in ’14, when Strong’s team was blown out by Arkansas in the (you guessed it) Texas Bowl.
“Winning this game will be important for us, in terms of momentum,” Herman said this week. “It’s not, you know, it’s not life or death.
“But we sure as heck could use this to springboard us into the offseason for 2018.”
After more than a month of waiting, Texas started the end of 2017 like the team Herman was supposed to create.
Three Missouri flags on the opening drive gave the Longhorns 40 easy yards. Buechele then discovered a wide-open Daniel Young for a 22-yard TD, capping a 75-yard scoring drive that required just five plays and 1:32.
It was 14-0 before the first quarter was complete, after Ehlinger hit John Burt for a 7-yard score.
Then it was 21-7 when Anthony Wheeler scooped up a fumble and bounced 38 yards for another Longhorns TD, and 26-16 as Todd Orlando’s defense keep holding on and punter Michael Dickson kept pinning Missouri deep.
Herman’s Houston magic was back for one more night.
His Longhorns were relearning how to win.