Photo via Dallas Morning News
There is one thing everyone can say about Texas coach Charlie Strong after a 35-34 victory against Baylor on Saturday.
Strong is not going out without a fight.
Texas’ victory against Baylor was Strong’s second win against a ranked opponent this season. Notre Dame was ranked 10th in the season opener, while Baylor entered this game ranked eighth. Outside of Texas’ 18-point loss against Oklahoma State, three of the team’s four losses were by seven points or less. Texas had a seven-point loss against Cal, a five-point loss against Oklahoma and a three-point loss against Kansas State. Last season, Texas was blown out in four games (35-point loss against Notre Dame, 43 against TCU, 24 versus Iowa State and 18 against West Virginia). Strong can say this team is making progress, and he actually did that after Saturday's win.
“We’re very close,” Strong said. “We’ve got four left, and we just need to go play well in these next four and continue to build. Build in this game, and let this game carry us to the next one.”
Texas currently sits at 4-4, and a road win against Texas Tech will make things very interesting.
Strong still has a chance to finish 8-4, which is supposed to be the magic number for his job security. You have to wonder what the conversations might look like if the team finishes with seven wins, but the other loss this season was by another narrow margin. Strong said whoever coaches this team next season will win 10 games. Right now, it is hard to predict what will occur.
Until Strong is retained or removed, there will continue to be a lot of speculation. He admitted to hearing the outside noise from several people, which means he is aware of every negative word said about him in the media. Strong clearly knows his job is in jeopardy, and definitely understands there are a contingent of fans who want him gone. He is well aware his players might be the last group of people who still have faith in him.
From what I can tell, Strong does not care.
Instead, Strong defiantly addressed the negativity surrounding him during his postgame press conference.
“When you talk about the noise in the system, I know this,” Strong said. “I have a really good team. I have a special team, and I have a team that I really care about. A team that really cares about me. It’s not a program in disarray, which many of you think. It’s not a program that is going backwards. It’s a program that is headed forward. It’s a program that is going to be special one of these days when you watch this program really take off.
“As those guys continue to battle the noise. It helps no one. It’s just an embarrassment to everyone, and I just hate it for them. When you’re talking about 17, 18-year olds, and the way they feel about their coach and the way their coach feels about them, and for them to just have to continue to hear it.”
To be fair, it is not like people were criticizing Alabama after a 10- or 11-win season because the team did not win a national championship. The heat was getting turned up at Texas after a six win season in 2014, five wins in 2015 and sitting at 3-4 after a loss against Kansas State this year. There probably is not a coach in the country that would not have to answer questions about his job security, or face scrutiny from fans and media. When you are at Texas, the expectations are high.
I do believe Strong was trying to defend his players, and was upset about their feelings of disappointment.
“The thing that happens is they read it because they’re young kids, they’re social media people, and they’re going to get on everything from Snap Chat to whatever, and it bothers them,” Strong said. “When you have players that come to you and apologize for dropping the football, I tell them you don’t have to apologize. (They say) ‘No, coach because they’re putting all the pressure on you.’ There’s no pressure on me guys. I’m going to be fine. Don’t worry about me.
"When you hear those conversations, and then you hear parents continue to send you text messages saying, ‘I’m praying for you. You have our support,’ then somebody is saying it. I’m not reading it, but they’re reading it and they’re hearing it. Like I said, nobody wins in that situation. Every year a coach enters [he paused], and there’s a lot of coaches on the hot seat, but it’s just like the drama continues to play when it doesn’t have to.”
Strong is doing his best to end the drama surrounding his future at Texas.
Since the Oklahoma game, Texas’ defense has shown some improvement, even though tackling issues still persist. Texas held Iowa State to six points, Kansas State to 24 and Baylor scored 34, which is hard to do in the Big 12. The Longhorns recorded six sacks, 11 tackles for loss and three fumbles against Baylor. Strong said most of those sacks came off zero pressure.
Strong didn't start sophomore linebacker Malik Jefferson, who came off the bench and had his best performance this season. He found ways to get defensive back Kris Boyd more involved. Strong is mixing up his lineups, and seemingly worked on Saturday, even if it does not always look pretty.
“It’s so funny because everybody thinks within these walls, it’s crumbling, but if you’re coming within these walls you’ll never see a team so close and a team that knows what they have to do, and a team that just hurts inside when things don’t go their way,” Strong said. “It’s not a group of guys that is filled up with egos who walk around beating their chests, and it’s us against the world. I told them, we don’t need that attitude. Let’s just continue to bond together and let’s play together, and we’ll get things accomplished. Good things are going to happen for us.”
Strong is not going out without a fight.
Postgame wrap-up
- Texas offensive lineman Connor Williams entered the postgame interview area wearing a boot on his right leg. Williams said he sustained a minor ankle injury and was fine.
- Here is Baylor coach Jim Grobe on Texas running back D’Onta Foreman’s performance: “Yeah, great player. What he does a great job of is he’s a good inside runner, very physical inside but he’s got pretty good foot-speed, he gets out on the perimeter, and so you make a decision defensively, try to hunker down inside to stop the inside run. Did a really good job with our splits on the plays today and two or three times that we really sold out to get down inside, he bounced outside and had nice runs, really good football player. And a nice offensive line, nice job by them today.”
- The Foreman brothers said they were proud of the other’s performances. D’Onta said, “He’s been down a lot about his performances. Tonight he just went out there and showed the world. I’m so proud of him.”
- Texas offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert said what he loved about Saturday’s performance is the kids fought, battled and overcame adversity.
- Here is what Gilbert said about Foreman’s performance: “He’s a special back, number one. And congratulations to him. He’s a guy that just continues to get better week in and week out and battles and pounds for yards. The thing about him that is unselfish is that he knows those guys up front are the reason he’s able to accomplish that. I saw him hugging those guys in the locker room, and that’s what it’s about. So those guys up front paved the way, and I always say, 'As y’all go, we go,' so those guys paved the way for that to happen today. D’Onta was special enough to accomplish it with his legs himself. That’s huge. That’s a huge accomplishment to be a 1,000 yard back for our football team. That means we have some effective things happening on our end."
- Gilbert said Armanti’s catch late in the fourth quarter was huge for his team. He described the catch as a momentum swing for Texas.
- When asked about using Tyrone Swoopes as a running back, Gilbert said it was, “An opportunity to try take a little bit off of 33. He’s a guy that’s handled the ball before. He’s obviously a big kid that has played in a lot of football games. If you look at what’s behind those two, there’s some young guys. We’re just excited and fortunate we have a guy that’s toted the football a lot, played in a lot of football games that’s a fighter, a battler that we know will go out there and do the things we ask him to do.”
- Offensive lineman Patrick Vahe did not play against Baylor, and Gilbert would only say the guard needs to play better in practice.
- Texas safety Dylan Haines did not mind discussing Baylor quarterback Seth Russell’s incredible leap over him in the second half: “I was kind of thinking to myself what are the odds that happens to someone two times in their career because two years ago, Taysom Hill (BYU) does it. I come down, it’s in the open field, I try and break down and the guy just makes a great play. He had the field to work with. I’m waiting for him to go in a direction, and he makes a great play … I’m going to try not to watch (the highlights on ESPN), but if they do come up, hats off to him. The good thing is the next play I make a tackle, and they don’t end up scoring on the drive. That’s something I took away from it. Obviously, that’s kind of hard to swallow.”
- Longhorn kicker Trent Domingue said he wanted to win Saturday’s game for Strong. Domingue has struggled this season, but nailed that 39-yard game-winning field goal was for his coach: “That one was for coach Strong, honestly. I’m not letting that guy go anywhere if I could control it. He’s done so much for me. He’s worked so hard to get me here, and I’m going to work just as hard to keep him here. I’ll do whatever I can to keep him here”
- Texas defensive back P.J. Locke said the team has heard a lot of the outside noise, but they have tried not to focus on it.
- In addition, Locke said the team came together against Baylor, especially late in the fourth quarter: “We all come together. We never dropped our heads this game. I’m proud of my team for that. We get a stop, and we expect offense to score. If the offense doesn’t score, we’re going to get the ball back.”
TEAM NOTES
(Provided by UT)
• D’Onta Foreman surpassed 1,000 rushing yards on the season in today’s game. He is the first Longhorn since Jamaal Charles in 2007 to surpass the mark, snapping the longest stretch in school history without a 1,000 yard rusher since UT’s first 1,000 yard rusher in 1966.
• Texas moves to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12 Conference. The Longhorns are now 4-0 at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium in 2016.
• The Longhorns are now 76-26-4 all-time against Baylor with a home record of 46-10-2 against the Bears.
• The win is Texas’ second over a Top-10 ranked team this season after defeating then-No. 10 Notre Dame in the season opener.
• Against the Top 25, Texas improves to 124-145-8 all-time with a home record of 45-39-4. Against the Top 10, Texas is now 60-86-4 all-time.
• Texas recorded 548 yards of offense, the fifth time the Longhorns have compiled at least 500 yards of offense this season. The school record is six 500-yard games (2005, 2009).
• With 291 passing yards today, Buechele has passed for over 2,000 yards this season. It’s taken Buechele 8 games to reach 2,000 yards, tying him for the second fastest to do so in school history. He is also just the 20th player all-time with 2,000 passing yards in a single season.
PLAYER NOTES
(Provided by UT)
• D’Onta Foreman rushed 32 times for a career-high 250 yards. He now has 1,105 yards this season and became the first Longhorn since Jamaal Charles in 2007 to surpass the 1,000-yard mark.
• Foreman has now rushed for 100 yards in an FBS-leading nine straight games. That mark is second in school history behind Earl Campbell’s 11 straight in 1977. It was his seventh 100-yard game this season (tied-5th UT history) and 11th of his career (tied-7th UT).
• Foreman moved to 19th all-time with 1,859 career rushing yards. He entered the game at No. 24 on the list.
• Foreman rushed for 100 yards in the first quarter, becoming just the third FBS Power 5 player to rush for 100 yards in a first quarter this season, joining Louisville’s Lamar Jackson (twice) and Florida State’s Dalvin Cook.
• Shane Buechele finished 12-of-21 for 291 yards and two touchdowns. It was his seventh 200-yard game of the season. He now has 17 touchdowns on the year, tied for 13th all-time in UT history for a career.
• QB Shane Buechele made his eighth start of the season today, tied with Bobby Layne for most in school history by a true freshman quarterback. His fourth victory of the season is second all-time by a UT true freshman QB, behind Bobby Layne’s 5.
• Armanti Foreman finished with a career-high 142 receiving yards and a touchdown.
• Malik Jefferson finished with 10 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks.
• Anthony Wheeler forced two fumbles in the game while Breckyn Hager forced a third.
Funniest Thing You Will See This Week
Chose one:
Sports On A Dime
1. I asked Strong about this previously, but I believe receiver John Burt needs to give up track and focus on football. Burt has regressed too much to continue being a two-sport athlete in college.
2. Tyrone Swoopes as a runner appears to be going nowhere. Texas pulled off the win, but using Swoopes, especially on crucial downs, does not help this team at all.
3. Texas fans need to enjoy Foreman’s performance this season. As his draft stock continues to rise, the odds of Foreman returning next season are declining.
4. Longhorn punter Michael Dickson does not get enough credit. He averaged 52.7 yards on six punts against Baylor. He has been the team's most consistent special teams player this season.
5. Strong did not like the criticism his team has faced from media members, but this tweet by former Texas tight end Jermichael Finley is arguably worse than anything a bunch of hacks have written:
6. Houston had to overcome a 21-point deficit to knock off UCF at home on Saturday, and it is hard to tell what is going on down the road. Tom Herman may not be sprinting toward the finish line, which means he will have to rely on his body of work for another coaching opportunity.
7. Former Baylor coach Art Briles said the problem at Baylor was he was the last to know. However, Briles said nothing about his lack of response after being informed of criminal activities by his team, or his willingness to sign a player with previous sexual assault allegations. To read 17 women reported sexual or domestic assaults involving 19 players, including four alleged gang rapes, since 2011, further proves Baylor sold its soul for wins.
8. Thursday Night Football is just horrible. If you did not have any fantasy football players involved with Tennessee against Jacksonville, there was no need to watch that “game.” If the NFL wants to know why ratings are declining, over-saturating the market with bad games has a lot to do with it.
9. I previously questioned Tim Tebow’s decision to pursue a baseball career, and he put all of his critics in place during his interview on First Take. Mr. Tebow, do your thing:
10. There is a part of me that just feels wrong about wanting Washington tight end Jordan Reed to play against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. As a fantasy football owner, I want Reed to help my team this week. However, Reed is recovering from his fifth concussion, and there is a part of me that believes his post-football health should be a huge concern. Ultimately, Reed wants to play football, but I wonder how his life will look after the NFL.
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