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Where is Texas at 1-2?

by:Sean Adams•09/21/15
Jerrod Heard, John burt
Jerrod Heard and John Burt after a TD at DKR. (Will Gallagher/IT)
Jerrod Heard and John Burt after a TD at DKR. (Will Gallagher/IT)

Jerrod Heard and John Burt after a TD at DKR. (Will Gallagher/IT)

AUSTIN — When you are a competitor, you worry about the competition because you are trying to beat the team or person you oppose. But the fact remains that most competitions are lost as opposed to won.

West Virginia is 2-0 and one spot outside of the rankings. They have played Georgia Southern and Liberty.

Baylor is 2-0 and ranked in the Top 5 and they have victories over SMU and Lamar.

Oklahoma State, that comes to Austin on Saturday, is ranked #22 and #24 in the AP and Coaches Poll and they have victories over Central Michigan, Central Arkansas, and UTSA.

Here’s a dose of perspective…

Texas would be undefeated against all three of those schedule ad guess what – Tyrone Swoopes would still be the quarterback and Shawn Watson would still be calling the plays for the Longhorns.

Texas playing Notre Dame, Rice, and Cal (three bowl teams) gave them exactly what the non-conference schedule should – a great lesson is who they are and where their flaws reside.

Texas knows more about themselves than just about anyone in the Big 12 whether you like what you know or not.

Texas learned something during Jerrod Heard’s first start against Rice but because of game situations and special teams, he only threw seven passes. He completed four and two of them for touchdowns. He also ran for 96 yards. He flashed hope against Rice but was more than a flash against Cal.

Heard’s 527 yards (364 pass/163 rush) of total offense breaking Vince Young’s single game record of 506 (239 pass/267 rush) at Oklahoma State in 2005.

He became the second UT quarterback in school history to throw for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards, joining Colt McCoy (304 pass/175 rush) at Texas A&M on Nov. 26, 2009

SMU was within five of TCU with 6 minutes left in its game on Saturday. Tulsa put up a lot of points against Oklahoma even though OU probably looks like the best team in the conference right now because of its offense.

The Big 12 is wide open and Texas will have something to do with who wins the conference even if Texas cannot win it.

Texas is worrying about Texas and they should. For every fan that is self-medicating their sadness by predicting that Texas will start the season 1-5, you need not be so depressed. The Horns offense is growing and will continue to grow and develop the pieces on that side of the ball.

As bad as it looks, the Texas defense can get a lot better. Strong was not lying when he said it was about gap control, assignment football and making the right reads.

But in the end, football is about the team you play for and not really about the team you play against.

On Friday of last week it was, “Texas is going to get blown out by Cal.”

On Saturday night after Texas loses by 1 and Heard goes over 500 yards of total offense it was, “It’s Cal, they suck.”

Don’t listen to fans of other schools, pundits and people that hate the University of Texas.

Texas is sitting at 1-2 and is in the best place they could be compared to where they would be had they had an easier non-conference schedule.

The Big 12 is wide open and Texas will make some noise because they know who they are, they know what they need to fix and they have an identity and direction as to how they can score points to win.

Turn the page and get ready for conference play.

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