The last question in Charlie Strong’s news conference Monday put a punctuation mark on exactly where Texas stands, opening as an 181/2-point underdog to TCU.
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“I didn’t know it was that bad”, Strong said. Hey, it’s a start.
When Strong opened the season with 24 true or redshirt freshmen on his depth chart, it wasn’t just on account of wiping the roster clean of Brown’s problem children; it was because there were only a handful of upperclassmen worth building around.
His Texas team is 1-3 for the first time since 1956 under Ed Price, before Darrell Royal came to town.
No. 4 TCU looks to remain unbeaten on Saturday when it hosts Texas at Noon ET on ABC. In part because of the record and in part because of the ticket policies of former athletic director Steve Patterson, significant numbers of seats at Royal-Memorial Stadium are unfilled.
Walt Anderson told the American-Statesman that the crew led by referee Alan Eck “got the vast majority of the calls right”, even though Longhorn fans have been outraged ever since they felt 16 penalties for 128 yards helped cost Texas the game in a controversial 30-27 loss.
“Oh, I’ve seen a quite a few of them”, Anderson said of defensive holding penalties on runs.”We’ve got a lot of examples of that”. And of course, the botched punt at the end of the game that led to Oklahoma State’s game-winning field goal. Let’s just hope that Texas can manage a.500 year. It’s not being reflected in the only ledger that matters. His Week 3 performance against Cal-364 yards passing on 64.5 percent passing and 163 yards rushing with three touchdowns, including a should’ve-been-game-tying, 45-yard touchdown run with under two minutes to play (the kicker missed the extra point)-recalled Vince Young at his apex.
Against that backdrop, Texas actually is making progress.
Strong is 7-10 in the second season of a five-year contract that pays him more than $5 million per year.
At a players-only meeting before Sunday’s practice, the upperclassmen tried to set a tone. Does Chris Carson go for another 100 piece this week against a pretty poor Texas rush defense? This game was no different than any other game.
“Well, it’s going to depend on the vets”, Strong said. If that happens, the noise will get louder and the Best Job In College Football will once again be rumored to be Nick Saban’s or Chip Kelly’s (or someone else’s) for the taking.
The defense has improved in the second half against Cal and Oklahoma State.
Senior running back Johnathan Gray urged his teammates and Texas fans to stay positive. “You have to have faith”.
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But most of all, Strong will lean on Heard, who has begun to elevate those disparate cogs into a unsafe, cohesive whole.
