Despite problems, defense continues to be optimistic
AUSTIN — The sun rose above Austin on Sunday morning, just like it always does.
Texas coach Tom Herman reminded his team of that celestial certainty, of the fact the world around them still stood despite Saturday’s setback at the Cotton Bowl.
Practice that day, about 24 hours removed from a 34-27 loss to Oklahoma (6-0, 3-0 Big 12), was lively. A Longhorn leadership meeting later that night was suffused with optimism and resiliency.
A Forty Acres funeral scene this was not.
“The guys are in a great place,” Herman said Monday. “The thing about this rivalry game is we play it in the middle of the season, unlike a lot of rivalry games that are played at the end of the year. So you’d better be able to bounce back if it doesn’t go your way and put it behind you.
“But there’s no finger pointing when adversity hits. Our guys come together. They rally. They give great effort for their coaches. That was encouraging to see.”
The 15th-ranked Longhorns (4-2, 2-1) are living a glass-half-full lifestyle at the moment despite what transpired last weekend in the middle of the State Fair. Maintaining a positive outlook is important during the regular-season grind, but this team faces real problems.
The latest game tape was probably scarier than anything else coordinator Todd Orlando will watch during Spooky Season.
The footage was full of missed tackles, many of them whiffs on otherworldly receiver CeeDee Lamb. It featured quarterback Jalen Hurts dashing free into open space, nimbly eluding Longhorns as if this was an ill-matched game of two-hand touch. And there certainly was some emphasis placed on senior defensive lineman and captain Malcolm Roach getting ejected for targeting with 8:41 remaining in the third quarter of a 17-10 game.
And Orlando’s stomach surely kept churning once he received the full injury report.
Junior safety Chris Brown will
require surgery to repair a fractured forearm. Senior linebacker Jeffrey McCulloch will miss “a couple weeks” with a dislocated shoulder. And JUCO transfer linebacker Juwan Mitchell suffered a “significant” elbow sprain, though the team doesn’t expect him to be too limited this week as Texas prepares for Kansas (2-4, 0-3).
Insult to injury, Roach will be suspended for the first half of Saturday’s home tilt with the Jayhawks because of his targeting ejection.
Still, even though Texas ranks last among Big 12 teams in total and pass defense, Herman believes Orlando’s unit would be better suited for some creative tinkering as opposed to a fullblown overhaul.
“I don’t know if change is the right word,” Herman said. “Get better, improve, develop — those are all words that come to mind.
“You know, with all the young guys playing, we’ve got to simplify moving forward. Not that we haven’t been trying to these last few weeks, we have. But we’ve got to let our guys play fast. We’ve got to let them play fearless, unafraid to make mistakes.”
The outcome of last year’s high-octane affair at the Cotton Bowl resulted in the firing of longtime coordinator Mike Stoops. Orlando’s seat isn’t as hot as the Bob’s brother’s was, but this has been by far the worst performance of his Texas tenure.
Injuries started snowballing back in August, leaving Orlando and his staff to deal with constantly shuffling parts and unfamiliar faces and an unstable chemistry. And there have been some successes despite all the gaudy numbers opposing offenses have posted against the Longhorns.
Texas has been able to get solid production from second-year linebackers Joseph Ossai and Ayodele Adeoye. Sophomore corner D’Shawn Jamison has made some strong plays on the ball and fellow 2018 signee Anthony Cook came up with a clutch end-zone interception of Hurts. Redshirt freshman Keondre Coburn is playing with more poise by the week.
But Orlando hasn’t been able to get this group of talented, somewhat inexperienced parts to reach the level required to beat the nation’s elite offenses, like the ones run by LSU and Oklahoma. He has six games remaining to figure out how all the pieces fit ahead of a potential Big 12 championship game rematch with the Sooners.
“There is zero sense of panic,” Herman said. “There is zero sense of woe is me. There is zero sense that our issues are unfixable. That’s a good point. The things we did do poorly, we have shown at times to be able to do well.”
The sun will rise above Austin again Tuesday, and Herman will again remind his team the sky is not falling — it’s just a little lower than it was last Tuesday.