Very excited. Going to be a fun week, difficult week to prepare. Guys have earned the right to continue to play. Only 10 Power 5 teams playing this week and they're one of them.
Have a big-time test ahead of them. OU is a phenomenal team. One thing that's unique to the Big 12, every other conference, your rival is in your division so they play in the regular season and no opportunity to play in the championship game. Big 12 is very unique. Opportunity to play cross-state rival for a second time. Told the guys, this is not the Red River Showdown. That one is over. Their motivation, he would hope, would be the same if it was any other opponent since they're playing for the conference championship.
Plan is to redshirt John Burt and play him for a fifth year. With new rule, Burt played against OU in October, will play this week. If the scenario was to repeat itself next year, he could play OU seven times in his career.
Brandon Jones is on track, meeting with doctors right now. Everything is pointing to a return to play around Wednesday, Thursday at the latest.
Other than that, banged up, guys walking around like they're old men, but nothing that will keep anyone out an extended period of time.
On Ehlinger's shoulder and if it bothered him against Kansas ... It was bothering him. It'll bother him this week too. But it'll bother him significantly less playing OU in the championship game than it bothered him in Kansas. He'll be throwing again on Tuesday. Last week didn't throw in the Tuesday version of that practice.
On playing a team a second time ... Defensively, you can see some differences, not a ton. The OU offense, averaging nearly 10 yards per play, has never seen anything like it. The thing you have to be careful of, especially with Kyler Murray being such a special player, but you have to stop the run. Have to stop the run and contain Murray, which means you have to play well on the perimeter because he can really throw it. Haven't gotten better, they were doing all this stuff before they played Texas the first time.
Doesn't think there's a whole lot to beating the same thing twice. One challenge is that they have a new defensive coordinator. That's the biggest challenge ... what wrinkles are you going to see? OU will have some adjustments. There's been plenty of distance since the first meeting, both teams have evolved into a little different teams than played in October. When you watch the film, that's what you break down, what has happened since their game.
On how they kept Murray bottled up for three quarters ... Did a good job of collapsing the pocket. Did not want Murray on read plays carrying the football in the open. Were able to get the ball out of his hands early. If you can get the ball out fast, a lot of his big scrambles have come when you're covering him and don't get good pressure on him. When it's pressure and get it out, he doesn't have time to make those decisions to run.
On his team overachieving and his definition for what that means ... Overachieving is a big-time compliment to the team. They're winning with toughness, with culture, red zone defense, playing smart, physicality. They're controlling the football on offense. All that makes up for some talent discrepancies. He nominated a bunch of guys for first-team all conference, but when you look at the conference as a whole, how many no-brainer first team all-conference guys do they have on their team? Maybe Omenihu. Ehlinger's having a historic year, but is he going to be all-conference? Probably not. Guys are finding ways to win, doing it with toughness, tenacity, physicality and playing smart.
On if he's comfortable being in a track meet ... Not comfortable, but they'll do whatever it takes. They've shown that in October, in Lubbock, against WVU in Austin. Texas' offense is capable of doing that. They always believe they're going to play good defense. You're not going to shut OU out, but they do feel they can do some things defensively that others haven't been able to do. If it does turn into a track meet, the offense is perfectly capable of winning the game that way.
On if there was a moment he saw the light switch come on with his team ... A couple. Winter conditioning coming back from the bowl game was phenomenal. No off-field issues, guys really wanted to better themselves and improve as athletes and football players. And then after they lost the first game. In previous years, there would have been a lot of rats scurrying, this team really came together. This team believed in what it was capable of doing.
On how Texas has evolved since the first meeting ... Thinks they're running the ball more consistently. If they need to throw it for 300+ yards to win, they can. Defensively, the last two weeks, have gotten back to being a physical, tough, hard-nosed defense they may have strayed from for a couple weeks.
On David Beaty helping this week ... Doesn't know why that's news. Whenever you play an opponent and don't play that opponent again and have friends on that staff, you're going to call them and ask what they have on your team. They did the same at USC. It's self-scout stuff. You're so focused on game-planning for your opponent, sometimes you lose sight of what your opponent is game-planning for you. It's always nice to have a fresh set of eyes. They talked about needing to change some signals. All of it was self-scout stuff. It's very common. It just so happened Texas is playing this week, Kansas isn't, Beaty is a friend and they're not going to be playing each other again. Visit didn't happen due to weather in K.C., but they did talk on the phone about things.
On facing OU with Brandon Jones and Gary Johnson back ... Texas needs speed, you have to be able to run with these guys. Ran with them pretty well in October. It's all hands on deck on defense against OU. OU is an offense that has done some things that haven't been done in college football, or done very rarely. Texas is going to need everybody on that side of the ball and going to need them to play at their best.
On Herman's record as an underdog and if he uses that to rally the team ... Not sure why he has such a good record. Has been asked that before. Thinks they always see themselves as underdogs. They have a chip on their shoulder. They have a saying, train like you're the underdog and play like you're the champ. They relish in that distinction in being the underdog, take a lot of pride in training like the underdog. But doesn't know that there's something magical they do. His speeches aren't any different, the way they go about their business isn't any different. Guys just enjoy being an underdog because that's how they train every day.
On Jones possibly not playing as punt returner ... Jones will not be returning punts. Open tryouts for punt returner this week.
On tight ends and opening up the playbook for Beck ... Offense isn't about opening playbooks. A lot of what it's about is taking what the defenses give you. They saw some opportunities for Beck to have a bigger role. It's not a concerted effort to open the playbook. The playbook is always open.
On not challenging some of the close plays (Kansas onside kick, etc) ... Everybody needs to understand that the Big 12 reviews every play. Only time they'll use a challenge is if they are certain, and they feel like whatever is happening on the field isn't giving the guy in the booth enough time to review it. Every single play is reviews immediately, then the whole buzzer operation happens when the guy needs more time. If the guy doesn't get buzzed and there's been 30-40 seconds of him reviewing it, odds are you're not getting it overturned. Brewer did recover the onside kick, but recoveries are not reviewable.
On the significance of the trajectory of this program since he took over ... It's been a long two years. Thinks the progress that has been made throughout the program, not just on the field on Saturdays ... what's in their DNA ... is different. It's really fun to see some of these leaders and players maturing and evolving. Probably ahead of schedule with one real full cycle recruiting class under their belt. Class of '19 will be huge for them on the field to have two and a half classes that are their kinds of guys. They feel like they're recruiting that at an elite level and developing at an elite level. Can't be understated the impact Chris Del Conte has had with his vision. Texas will move out of Moncrief in the spring of 2019. Going to be exciting. Long overdue, but exciting. You see the trajectory, the progress. Winning is really hard. Winning this game will be extremely hard. Winning the bowl game will be hard, winning next year will be hard. Loves where they are with the development of the players. Texas isn't good enough to blow anyone out, but they're just good enough to beat anybody. That's a testament to the development of the players.
On the OL ... Playing well in the run game. As coaches, they're doing a good job of giving them things to play to their strengths and trying to minimize their weaknesses. Thought in the TT game and ISU game, they really established the line of scrimmage. Playing for the conference title but longest run is 39 yards. Not extremely explosive, but when they go on a 10-play drive they're leaning heavily on the offensive line. And they're staying together, lots of continuity in the line-up.
On 1999 against Nebraska and playing a team twice ... Thinks that might be the only time he's played a team twice. Remembers Jones' big catch on the sideline. Called him slow Jones after that catch. Amazing atmosphere to win that game. Also remembers not scoring an offensive TD down in the Alamodome. Two opposite memories. That was a phenomenal defense Nebraska had. Off the top of his head, thinks this will be only the second time to play an opponent twice.
On the possibility of getting into the playoff ... Haven't talked to the team about that. They're not a big picture team. They just want to win the Big 12.
On the high scoring games and if there's something wrong with it ... Different strokes for different folks. Different styles work. As long as you're committed to what you believe in, you can win football games a lot of different ways. Thinks it's certainly entertaining, but shutting someone out and knocking them around is entertaining too.
On Mack Brown at UNC ... He's a mentor, loves coach Brown, gave him an opportunity to come be a graduate assistant not having known who Herman was. He's been instrumental in providing a great sounding board on being the head coach at Texas and the challenges it presents. If Mack chooses to get back into coaching, he'll do a great job and whoever gets him will be lucky to have him.
On why the puzzle pieces have come together for this team ... Belief. Zero sense of panic from the staff and from their message that the players receiver day in and day out. They had a plan, just because they went 7-6 last year doesn't mean the plan was broke. It just needed more time, needed more people to buy into the plan. Kept the entire same staff, same people were coaching these guys. Thinks that's important to have that kind of continuity. Can't stress enough, first time in five years that Texas has had the same offensive system in place for two consecutive years. Thinks a belief in what they do and how they do it, plus the buy-in from the players is why they've come together.
On OU RB Kennedy Brooks ... There's a plethora of good backs at OU. What makes their run game go, elite OL. Have been the past couple years. Brooks is another one they can plug in behind that OL and go churn out big yards each carry. It starts up front, have to make sure you tackle the back without allowing Kyler to get loose in the read game stuff.
On at what point he saw things that made him think this team knew how to win ... The bowl game last year was a big turning point for them. Thought the USC game, even though they haven't had the season people expected, they were an elite team when Texas played them. Back to back games against USC and TCU, Texas dominated the second half in those games. Guys started to have a sense of confidence that they had turned the corner.
That's it for today.
Have a big-time test ahead of them. OU is a phenomenal team. One thing that's unique to the Big 12, every other conference, your rival is in your division so they play in the regular season and no opportunity to play in the championship game. Big 12 is very unique. Opportunity to play cross-state rival for a second time. Told the guys, this is not the Red River Showdown. That one is over. Their motivation, he would hope, would be the same if it was any other opponent since they're playing for the conference championship.
Plan is to redshirt John Burt and play him for a fifth year. With new rule, Burt played against OU in October, will play this week. If the scenario was to repeat itself next year, he could play OU seven times in his career.
Brandon Jones is on track, meeting with doctors right now. Everything is pointing to a return to play around Wednesday, Thursday at the latest.
Other than that, banged up, guys walking around like they're old men, but nothing that will keep anyone out an extended period of time.
On Ehlinger's shoulder and if it bothered him against Kansas ... It was bothering him. It'll bother him this week too. But it'll bother him significantly less playing OU in the championship game than it bothered him in Kansas. He'll be throwing again on Tuesday. Last week didn't throw in the Tuesday version of that practice.
On playing a team a second time ... Defensively, you can see some differences, not a ton. The OU offense, averaging nearly 10 yards per play, has never seen anything like it. The thing you have to be careful of, especially with Kyler Murray being such a special player, but you have to stop the run. Have to stop the run and contain Murray, which means you have to play well on the perimeter because he can really throw it. Haven't gotten better, they were doing all this stuff before they played Texas the first time.
Doesn't think there's a whole lot to beating the same thing twice. One challenge is that they have a new defensive coordinator. That's the biggest challenge ... what wrinkles are you going to see? OU will have some adjustments. There's been plenty of distance since the first meeting, both teams have evolved into a little different teams than played in October. When you watch the film, that's what you break down, what has happened since their game.
On how they kept Murray bottled up for three quarters ... Did a good job of collapsing the pocket. Did not want Murray on read plays carrying the football in the open. Were able to get the ball out of his hands early. If you can get the ball out fast, a lot of his big scrambles have come when you're covering him and don't get good pressure on him. When it's pressure and get it out, he doesn't have time to make those decisions to run.
On his team overachieving and his definition for what that means ... Overachieving is a big-time compliment to the team. They're winning with toughness, with culture, red zone defense, playing smart, physicality. They're controlling the football on offense. All that makes up for some talent discrepancies. He nominated a bunch of guys for first-team all conference, but when you look at the conference as a whole, how many no-brainer first team all-conference guys do they have on their team? Maybe Omenihu. Ehlinger's having a historic year, but is he going to be all-conference? Probably not. Guys are finding ways to win, doing it with toughness, tenacity, physicality and playing smart.
On if he's comfortable being in a track meet ... Not comfortable, but they'll do whatever it takes. They've shown that in October, in Lubbock, against WVU in Austin. Texas' offense is capable of doing that. They always believe they're going to play good defense. You're not going to shut OU out, but they do feel they can do some things defensively that others haven't been able to do. If it does turn into a track meet, the offense is perfectly capable of winning the game that way.
On if there was a moment he saw the light switch come on with his team ... A couple. Winter conditioning coming back from the bowl game was phenomenal. No off-field issues, guys really wanted to better themselves and improve as athletes and football players. And then after they lost the first game. In previous years, there would have been a lot of rats scurrying, this team really came together. This team believed in what it was capable of doing.
On how Texas has evolved since the first meeting ... Thinks they're running the ball more consistently. If they need to throw it for 300+ yards to win, they can. Defensively, the last two weeks, have gotten back to being a physical, tough, hard-nosed defense they may have strayed from for a couple weeks.
On David Beaty helping this week ... Doesn't know why that's news. Whenever you play an opponent and don't play that opponent again and have friends on that staff, you're going to call them and ask what they have on your team. They did the same at USC. It's self-scout stuff. You're so focused on game-planning for your opponent, sometimes you lose sight of what your opponent is game-planning for you. It's always nice to have a fresh set of eyes. They talked about needing to change some signals. All of it was self-scout stuff. It's very common. It just so happened Texas is playing this week, Kansas isn't, Beaty is a friend and they're not going to be playing each other again. Visit didn't happen due to weather in K.C., but they did talk on the phone about things.
On facing OU with Brandon Jones and Gary Johnson back ... Texas needs speed, you have to be able to run with these guys. Ran with them pretty well in October. It's all hands on deck on defense against OU. OU is an offense that has done some things that haven't been done in college football, or done very rarely. Texas is going to need everybody on that side of the ball and going to need them to play at their best.
On Herman's record as an underdog and if he uses that to rally the team ... Not sure why he has such a good record. Has been asked that before. Thinks they always see themselves as underdogs. They have a chip on their shoulder. They have a saying, train like you're the underdog and play like you're the champ. They relish in that distinction in being the underdog, take a lot of pride in training like the underdog. But doesn't know that there's something magical they do. His speeches aren't any different, the way they go about their business isn't any different. Guys just enjoy being an underdog because that's how they train every day.
On Jones possibly not playing as punt returner ... Jones will not be returning punts. Open tryouts for punt returner this week.
On tight ends and opening up the playbook for Beck ... Offense isn't about opening playbooks. A lot of what it's about is taking what the defenses give you. They saw some opportunities for Beck to have a bigger role. It's not a concerted effort to open the playbook. The playbook is always open.
On not challenging some of the close plays (Kansas onside kick, etc) ... Everybody needs to understand that the Big 12 reviews every play. Only time they'll use a challenge is if they are certain, and they feel like whatever is happening on the field isn't giving the guy in the booth enough time to review it. Every single play is reviews immediately, then the whole buzzer operation happens when the guy needs more time. If the guy doesn't get buzzed and there's been 30-40 seconds of him reviewing it, odds are you're not getting it overturned. Brewer did recover the onside kick, but recoveries are not reviewable.
On the significance of the trajectory of this program since he took over ... It's been a long two years. Thinks the progress that has been made throughout the program, not just on the field on Saturdays ... what's in their DNA ... is different. It's really fun to see some of these leaders and players maturing and evolving. Probably ahead of schedule with one real full cycle recruiting class under their belt. Class of '19 will be huge for them on the field to have two and a half classes that are their kinds of guys. They feel like they're recruiting that at an elite level and developing at an elite level. Can't be understated the impact Chris Del Conte has had with his vision. Texas will move out of Moncrief in the spring of 2019. Going to be exciting. Long overdue, but exciting. You see the trajectory, the progress. Winning is really hard. Winning this game will be extremely hard. Winning the bowl game will be hard, winning next year will be hard. Loves where they are with the development of the players. Texas isn't good enough to blow anyone out, but they're just good enough to beat anybody. That's a testament to the development of the players.
On the OL ... Playing well in the run game. As coaches, they're doing a good job of giving them things to play to their strengths and trying to minimize their weaknesses. Thought in the TT game and ISU game, they really established the line of scrimmage. Playing for the conference title but longest run is 39 yards. Not extremely explosive, but when they go on a 10-play drive they're leaning heavily on the offensive line. And they're staying together, lots of continuity in the line-up.
On 1999 against Nebraska and playing a team twice ... Thinks that might be the only time he's played a team twice. Remembers Jones' big catch on the sideline. Called him slow Jones after that catch. Amazing atmosphere to win that game. Also remembers not scoring an offensive TD down in the Alamodome. Two opposite memories. That was a phenomenal defense Nebraska had. Off the top of his head, thinks this will be only the second time to play an opponent twice.
On the possibility of getting into the playoff ... Haven't talked to the team about that. They're not a big picture team. They just want to win the Big 12.
On the high scoring games and if there's something wrong with it ... Different strokes for different folks. Different styles work. As long as you're committed to what you believe in, you can win football games a lot of different ways. Thinks it's certainly entertaining, but shutting someone out and knocking them around is entertaining too.
On Mack Brown at UNC ... He's a mentor, loves coach Brown, gave him an opportunity to come be a graduate assistant not having known who Herman was. He's been instrumental in providing a great sounding board on being the head coach at Texas and the challenges it presents. If Mack chooses to get back into coaching, he'll do a great job and whoever gets him will be lucky to have him.
On why the puzzle pieces have come together for this team ... Belief. Zero sense of panic from the staff and from their message that the players receiver day in and day out. They had a plan, just because they went 7-6 last year doesn't mean the plan was broke. It just needed more time, needed more people to buy into the plan. Kept the entire same staff, same people were coaching these guys. Thinks that's important to have that kind of continuity. Can't stress enough, first time in five years that Texas has had the same offensive system in place for two consecutive years. Thinks a belief in what they do and how they do it, plus the buy-in from the players is why they've come together.
On OU RB Kennedy Brooks ... There's a plethora of good backs at OU. What makes their run game go, elite OL. Have been the past couple years. Brooks is another one they can plug in behind that OL and go churn out big yards each carry. It starts up front, have to make sure you tackle the back without allowing Kyler to get loose in the read game stuff.
On at what point he saw things that made him think this team knew how to win ... The bowl game last year was a big turning point for them. Thought the USC game, even though they haven't had the season people expected, they were an elite team when Texas played them. Back to back games against USC and TCU, Texas dominated the second half in those games. Guys started to have a sense of confidence that they had turned the corner.
That's it for today.
