“Sometimes there’s a player that comes through that’s a special player”, head coach Charlie Strong said. “We’ll sneak in there quietly, we’re gonna run the football, we’re gonna keep that offense off the field, we’re gonna hit them in the mouth and they’re not gonna be ready for what we bring to the table'”. “They have a lot of good athletes, are very well coached”. It was a true Texas team win.
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Remember, Notre Dame embarrassed Texas, 38-3, to start last season and Strong was firmly on the hot seat heading into this campaign following two mediocre seasons in Texas. Shane Buechele, a precocious true freshman, looked like an emerging star.
For one night at least, Texas football was back.
The kind of gut-check, team win over a Top 10 opponent that can get a program to believe it can be great again. In addition to playing at Texas A&M past year, the Wolf Pack played at Florida State and UCLA in 2013.
“With that chant and booing, I can’t really tell the difference”, Swoopes said.
“Like I said, it’s great conversation for everybody to have, but it’s so short-sighted of what really happened in the Texas game”, Kelly said. We have many more to go. Strong’s Longhorns now sit at No. 31 in the 2017 class rankings. Until Sunday. Suddenly, there’s plenty to like. He led the Longhorns with a team-high eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Meanwhile, the unit was much more stagnant with Zaire behind center.
He also saw something more tangible. Garrett Gilbert was the heir to Colt McCoy but transferred after a losing season in 2010 and an injury in 2011.
“Look, we all watch college football”.
VanGorder is in his third season as the defensive coordinator. To that point, Kelly responded, “Last year was last year”.
Will Texas be the former or the latter? More than that, he has the respect of his teammates and coaches. And after Buechele excelled in spring practice, Strong was pretty sure he had something. We don’t really know much about these teams after one week. Buechele was 16-of-26 for 280 yards through the air with two touchdowns and one interception.
This game against Notre Dame proved how bad the last few Longhorns teams have been.
Big 12 defenses may not be the best in the country, but they know how to slow down the offense that Texas runs. It would have been tough to sub him into the game, Kelly said, against the uptempo offense.
But Buechele emerged from the postgame celebration healthy.
Kelly said Kizer missed a couple “cupcake throws” against Texas and misread a couple of protections that led to sacks. “You being the player that you are, you’re going to make something good happen instead of trying to manufacture something”.
Strong did not announce a starter before the game. Swoopes has been booed by Texas fans the last two seasons and was treated to a chorus of “Swooooooopes” from the Texas-record crowd of 102,315. Texas fans like I didn’t understand how to feel. The Longhorns built a 17-point lead, then lost it. “I don’t know how to describe it”. Kizer’s performance, while impressive, was not enough to get Notre Dame the win. And while the eyes of Texas and everyone else focus on the quarterbacks, a nod to Strong’s trademark. When Texas ran into the locker room, both Buechele and Swoopes had added rushing scores of their own, and Texas was in command 21-14.
Swoopes went to work.
That’s the question everyone is asking in the wake of its thrilling 50-47 victory over Notre Dame on Sunday. Veterans and young players alike. “He checked us into some things early in the game on Saturday he wouldn’t have gotten to past year”. “It would have been amusing”. And now, after a signature moment, the challenge for Texas is simple, but not easy: Don’t drop this opportunity.
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“After the game in the locker room, I said I think past year we would’ve lost this game”, Strong said.
