Flashback: It was almost four months ago when Texas head coach Tom Herman sat down with Anwar Richardson for a live video chat session with Orangebloods and thousands of University of Texas football fans.
During that session, I gave Anwar a rather long and detailed question to specifically ask Herman with regards to expectations for the football program from his perspective.
The question noted among other things ...
* For the last 20 years, I have publicly declared each season that a successful season at The University of Texas can only occur if the Longhorns win a Big 12 title and/or play in a major bowl game.
* In the last 25 years, Texas has won only four conference titles and played in only seven major bowl games.
* Zero conference titles and only one major bowl game in the last decade.
Full disclosure: I prefaced the question by suggesting that people like myself that create such apparent incredible standards for excellence are part of the problem that this program deals with.
His response?
"No, that bar is definitely not too high," he immediately responded.
Herman then paused for a few moments and collected his thoughts.
"I think we have to differentiate success and failure. Successful season? Yes, it's conference title ... major bowl game. We had that two years ago in 2018. We played for the conference title, came up short (and) beat a top-five team in a New Year's Six Bowl game. Good year. Now I wouldn't say the opposite of that is a failure if those things don't happen. Everyone wants to be black and white. You guys always say, 'What percentage? Or on a scale of 1-10. There's a lot of gray. There's a lot of gray. We were really proud of the season we had in 2018. We were proud of the way we finished in 2019, but there's so many different circumstances that apply to each and every season that to say if you didn't win the conference and didn't play in a New Year' Six game … that the season wasn't successful and was a failure ... that to me is not accurate.
"But, the bar for what success is? Yeah, absolutely. Conference title. New Year's Six Bowl games. Playoffs. Absolutely. That should be the bar."
If you're wondering if there's some sort of "gotcha" moment coming in this column regarding his comments, you're not going to find it.
Quite the opposite, actually.
I think I'm 100-percent in line with everything that Herman said, including his comments regarding the term "failure" and how he was reluctant to call anything that isn't a success an absolute failure just because it didn't reach those stated levels of success. It's a bit of a wonky way of refusing to call an 8-win season or any season that comes up short of "success" a "failure" because of the implications that often come with the word, but I feel him.
I get it.
What's most important from my perspective is that he agrees with the notion that I might be a lunatic that needs to be locked up, but not with regards to this matter. On the subject of the bar for success that defines his program ... it’s conference titles, New Year's Six bowl games and making the playoff. Full stop. Anything less than that leaves us in a position of quibbling over the word to call it, but it won't be "success."
So, why am I bringing up a four month old quote if I'm not going to use it in some sort of smart-ass, passive-aggressive, snarky way that I'm sometimes known for?
Three reasons.
a. As the season grows nearer, I thought it was a good idea to reestablish the proper expectations for the 2020 football season, especially when those expectations are co-signed by the CEO of the program.
b. This was the thought pattern in my brain on Sunday and I'm not sure that I had much else inside of it.
c. Expectations almost certainly won't change in the wake of a lingering pandemic.
Once football resumes to the point that the scores of games count and the records of those games are recorded, the expectation for Herman and his program going into year four will be for it to compete and win a conference title, while earning a major bowl game bid in the process.
Those are the goals. Those never stop being the goals.
Those aren't just my words.
They're Herman's as well.
The moment when we all drop our standards for what represents the definition of success is the moment we've ... dare I say ...
Failed.
No. 2 - One more full disclosure ...
This is the Gif I thought of when I imagined @CS and others reading Herman's comments on not winning a conference title not automatically qualifying as a failure.
No. 3 - The most uplifting thing about the 2020 season I can remind you of ...
* Mike Yurich >>> Tim Beck
* Chris Ash >>> Todd Orlando
* Jay Boulware >>> anything Texas cobbled together on special teams in 2019
Man, we can argue about almost anything, but surely we can all agree to the above, right?
Because if we can agree on those three things, we can also acknowledge that those three truths represent a pretty important X-factor when going into the season.
No. 4 - Little nuggets to remember going into the start of practices ...
... We probably can't stress enough how impacted Sam Ehlinger was in 2019 because of his floating rib injury suffered early in the season. Keep in mind that these were the game ratings that he posted in the four weeks following the bye week last year:
at West Virginia: 122.2
vs. Oklahoma: 114.8
vs. Kansas: 172.1
at TCU: 99.1
It wasn't until the final two games of the season against Texas Tech and Utah that Ehlinger posted a single game rating that was as high as any that he had posted in the first four game of the season outside of the Kansas game in week seven. Every other performance in games 5-11 fell below the marks established in games 1-4.
As Herman has let us know during the off-season, that injury was a bigger deal than they every admitted to.
... For all of the memories of the LSU game and a few other low moments in the 2019 season, junior running back Keaontay Ingram still averaged 5.9 yards per carry in 2019 (third-best in the Big 12), had four games of 100+ rushing yards, scored 10 touchdowns (seventh-best in the Big 12) and didn't lose a fumble all year. Those numbers aren't insignificant.
... If we include Brennan Eagles with the company of Roy Williams, Jordan Shipley, Quan Cosby, Limas Sweed, BJ Johnson, Mike Davis, Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay as sophomores, Eagles' numbers in touchdown receptions and yards per catch would rank first and first, respectively.
... According to the Deep Dig stats, Moro Ojomo played in 272 snaps a season ago and finished with a better snaps per production (8.37) than anyone on the defense that received more than 200 snaps.
... In those same Deep Dig stats, Anthony Cook's production per snap was higher than anyone else on the defense with 110 snaps or more.
... Junior Caden Sterns recorded zero interceptions, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries or quarterback hits/pressures in 2019, while only recording a single pass break-up. By comparison, DeMarvion Overshown played in one less game than Sterns and finished with an interception, three pass-break-ups, a quarterback hit and twice as many sacks and (nearly) tackles for loss.
... Junior Joseph Ossai had eight different eight-tackle games in 2019, which is the second most by a Longhorn defender in the last 20 years.
No. 4 - The Longhorns are BACK at Lancaster HS ...
I'm not sure I've ever come right out and explicitly said this before, but I've had a crush on the talent at Lancaster HS for two decades.
Every year, it seems like the school produces difference-making talent. More times than I'd like to count, too much of the speed and raw talent that emerges from the Lancaster program hasn't found success at the major college level. Yet, over the last few years, we've seen the likes of Daeshon Hall, Demontre Hurst and Demarcus Ayers succeed at levels that led the to eventual NFL pastures.
For whatever reason, the Longhorns haven't had a lot of success in recruiting Lancaster High School, as the program hasn't actually signed a player from the school since Larry Dibbles committed to Texas on Christmas Day back in 2001 and eventually developed into a starter on the 2005 national championship team.
It's not that the Longhorns haven't tried. Texas actually had a commitment from Hall before he flipped to Texas A&M. The Longhorns offered LSU freshman running back Kevontre Bradford last year and missed. Same with Omar Manning in 2017.
During the same time frame, Oklahoma has signed four players from Lancaster High, while Baylor has signed six.
Perhaps the landscape for the Longhorns has finally changed with the commitment on Friday of 2022 wide receiver Phaizon Wilson, who just might be the most talented and highly-rated prospect at Lancaster since Dibbles walked inside of its halls nearly two decades ago as a national top 100 prospect.
As someone that looks forward to watching the talent at Lancaster on film each year (I think 2020 defensive back Lorando Johnson was wildly underrated), building roots in a school that has seen a resurgence in recent years towards developing high-level talent is critical. The Longhorns didn't just land a commitment from a future four-star receiver this weekend, they planted roots that might one day lead to more success in an area you want to have some established roots.
No. 6 - The five-time defending Big 12 champions ...
Never take your eye off the enemy, right? Well, the enemy is getting ready to defend its throne.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) I'm not sure he had the talent before what happened to him occurred, let alone seven years later.
(Buy) That contract of his represents a massive amount of job security at the moment.
(Sell) I'm selling for now, but we're closer to something like this happening than we've ever been before, especially if power five schools break away from the NCAA in the event fall championships are cancelled.
(Sell) I think the cancellation of that game is a win for Texas.
(Buy) I think Robinson and Wheaton are both closer to six stars than Brown and Gray were, if that makes sense.
(Sell) Not unless injuries hit.
(Sell) We all wish.
(Sell) Part of me thinks he will pick Texas, but the other part realizes that he's not a shoe-in starter at Texas and even if he does transfer to Austin, he's no lock to start half the season.
(Buy) There's a weird little thing behind the scenes that we're aware of that we might be able to talk about once this thing is all over, but for now it has me still buying the Texas side of this.
(Sell) That feels like a bridge too far for me.
(Sell) I'm expecting him to channel his inner-Marvel superhero this season and turn pro. That's good news and bad news at the same time, I suppose.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on the world of sports ...
.,.. The NBA set up at Disney not only looks fantastic on TV, but I barely miss the crowds. TV packaging is a hell of a thing. I expect the NFL to pull this off as well.
... How the hell did T.J. Warren drop 53 points on the Sixers in Philly's first game back?
... Rob Manfred is something else ...
... It's kind of hard to get into Major League Baseball when your team is one game into the season and suddenly dealing with a virus shutdown. Thanks, Marlins. But, hey, we're only two games out of first place!
... My issue with Major League Baseball during a pandemic is the sheer volume of games and travel involved in playing 60 games. I know it sounds crazy, but if there was ever a year for MLB to tinker with a 36-game, 3 month schedule with games played on the weekends only, this was the year.
... Attaboy, Arsenal.
... Christian Pulisic had a chance to be the star of the entire USA sports weekend, but another injury overshadowed the fact that he became the first American to ever score in an FA Cup Final and the youngest player to do so since a guy named Cristiano Ronaldo.
... I've watched almost every second of the MLS is Back Tournament Knockout Stage. I don't know how to feel about this accomplishment. If you've never watched an MLS game, but have considered it lately, check out Wednesday's Philadelphia/Portland game.
... I missed not having a UFC event on the non-streaming ESPN channels this weekend.
... Golf will absolutely have my attention next week with the arrival of the first major of the year, otherwise known as the Brooks Koepka Show.
... Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Larry Bird of Tomatoes.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Movie Sequels ...
10. Superman II
9. Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
8. Aliens
7. The Bourne Supremacy
6. Toy Story III
5. Rocky IV
4. The Empire Strikes Back
3. The Dark Knight
2. Silence of the Lambs
1. The Godfather II
No.10 - And finally...
We don't deserve dogs, but they have us anyway.
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