Strong sense of urgency
Charlie Strong. (Will Gallagher/IT)
Charlie Strong came to the postgame press conference and said, “It is fun to see the team where it should be.”
Fun was a peculiar word used in that instance. Fun is not the exact vernacular that I would use to describe most of the tenure of Strong, save for the West Virginia game in 2014 and Oklahoma in 2015.
The Kansas game was indicative of the Strong tenure at Texas. Success comes in spurts, Texas struggles to handle that success, inconsistency rules the day, the future should be bright. But Texas seems to be a program with a general lack of a sense of urgency.
Texas never seemed to have a sense of urgency about the quarterback position, especially when David Ash got hurt in 2014. Strong talked about a sense of urgency in changing the offense for 2015 but Tyrone Swoopes let the cat out of the bag right before the season started when he told the media, “We are doing the same thing we’ve always done, just faster.”
Texas got the one win that qualifies as a huge win in 2015 when they beat Oklahoma and even followed up with a victory over nemesis Kansas State only to go on the road, lose focus, used an unexplainable offensive game plan and got blanked by Iowa State.
Texas played strong from the beginning against Kansas. The first play from scrimmage went for 84 yards and a touchdown from Jerrod Heard to John Burt. The defense held Kansas to a three and out. Texas got to the 11- yard line when the drive stalled but Nick Rose kicked a 29 yarder through the uprights. Five plays into the next Kansas drive, Dylan Haines intercepted a Ryan Willis pass and returned it to the Kansas four-yard line. 36 seconds later Texas had a 17 – 0 lead.
Between that lead and the end of the first half, Texas fans started to wonder if Kansas was going to give the Longhorns a run for their money. By the end of the first half, Texas was winning 24 – 14 but were down in rushing yards, passing yards, and first downs. The conversation around the press box was about the two big plays (84 yard TD pass and Haines interception to the 4-yard line) and Texas being out-played during the rest of the half.
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Texas went in the locker room at the half and found urgency. They had 24 points in the first half and finished the game with 59. They had 47 yards rushing in the first half and finished with 299 yards. They had 190 yards of total offense in the first half but finished the game with 598 yards.
This is the way the season is going to finish for Texas. Strong and his staff have not figured out the right recipe to keep this team on edge even though most people think being on the downside of .500 and being a national punch line should be enough.
It is frustrating covering this team. It has to be frustrating to be a fan of this team. Not saying that those two do not matter but I think it has to be even more frustrating to wear a headset or a uniform.
Strong finally chimed in to the media and said, “I want you to keep writing how bad we are. Don’t give them any hope at all.”
Charlie, we don’t want to write it, we have lost our sense of urgency as well.
