There have been so many games where we were SO close....would better "in game" coaching have produced a 13-0 TEXAS team in 2018??? No criticism, just throwing it out there....we came so close to being an elite team this year...
first part of the tenure. u bet. Tom's game management cost us, even against ISU. Play calling is always questioned, too, in losses/squeaked victories but I think the staff has generally improved as has the player's play. (penalties in the CCG notwithstanding) I think the hindsight is now ... able to say this team can meet high expectations ... I don't believe many could have suggested 13-0 as a legitimate possibility 3 months ago, due in part to what you've mentioned. Last year Herman's game day coaching lacked BIG TIME. Good question. IDK if I'm the guy with THE answer ... but ... you get that for which you pay around these parts! HOOK 'EM!
While Herman has cut down on his brain farts, it seems now they are now bigger and come at crucial times. QB's have not developed into legitimate passers (proficient on all passes including 15+ yards down the middle) which goes against Beck. Wide-outs/TE's playing better and beginning to understand what it takes to be a real receiver so Meekins, Mehringer, and Warehime get pluses. Hand is building a solid OL rotation, but until that is finished the RB's grade will be incomplete. Depth on Defense is a problem that actually resulted in a retrograde in 2018. DB's are shaky and graduation will take care of the biggest violator. Need to find another Gary Johnson JUCO to provide leadership to the young LB's.
Given what we have in personnel Herman has done a fantastic job. We have some good players but two great ones, Colin and LJ imho.
I thought last year our offensive play calling killed us which would have otherwise been a much better season. This year, I think it was the defensive play calling. Why give so much cushion to the receivers when we are DBU? Play some bump and run at times and mix it up. We are on the right track and happy with the coaching for the most part. We are in the mix in all the games which is how it should be.
I don't want to necessarily disagree on this point. But truly feel this is more of an incomplete. Sam was well on his way to huge Improvement as a passer until his shoulder injury. If Sam doesn't get injured I don't think you would be right about this. But it's hard to know for sure now
Understand, but he wasn't throwing and completing passes down the middle of the field consistently before the injury. This is important to keep the middle LB's honest and away from the LOS.
I think his overall effectiveness had reached a level that justifies some praise for the coaching, even if not perfect. But ok
How’s our coaching? IMO, immature. Meaning 1) the current regime is still in its infancy and 2) Herman needs to grow up. (Full disclosure: I’m not a Herman fan - yet.) It’s only year #2 and every college coach is supposed to get at least three years to implement his system and begin to get his recruits on campus before critical judgement starts. However, in this day and age of the $5MM coach, you’re getting paid to produce immediately. We came close to having an elite record but our lack of maturity from the coaches and players held us back. On top of producing, it needs to be accomplished in a professional manner that the school and its supporters can be proud of. That’s where Tom, IMO, needs the most improvement (i.e. no more chicken dances like he did in the bowl game last year). Tom needs some thicker skin (although the “OK, cool. Hook ‘em” response was right on). Don’t be a smartass in press conferences. Bite your tongue when needed. I think we’re on the right track but still have some growing up to do, both literally and figuratively. Just my $0.02.
This is where I am at, even if we finish 9-5. I, like most, are not happy with a lot of Herman’s decisions. There is definitely room for improvement in the coaching department. The 4th quarter meltdowns, for one, need to stop. That said, 7-6 was an improvement on 5-7 and 9-5 is improvement on 7-6. Mack was fired after 8-5. For me, a Texas coach needed to win at least 8 games within 3 years to justify a 4th year. Herman has hit 9 so he has justified 4, probably 5 years for me assuming no collapse next year, which I think is unlikely. Herman seems on pace to get 10 wins a year and could even start this year with a huge Sugar Bowl upset. All and all, I agree the talent and his coaching will both need to improve to get to 12+ win seasons. There have been some big disappointments, and I was irate after the Maryland game, but any 9 win season is good, especially in year 2 following the Charlie Strong era.
Honestly, who thinks we're actually better than OU this year? Not me. That we went .500 against OU and .750 on the year was an over-achievement if you ask me. We almost never put a team away this year, and IMO a really great team puts games away and do it often. The fact that we had so many gut checks and won many of them is an encouraging sign of things to come. But to me its a sign of program immaturity, to take that concept a little further. We're learning what it takes to win but we still don't know how to dominate yet. OU is far from perfect either. But they are a more mature team, and they dominated their opponents in all but a few games. Does Herman need to grow up some? Sure. But I think he is doing that AND we have to remind ourselves that we are in year two of a program rebuild under Herman. (year 9 if you want to go back to other coaches but I digress.)
This season is a lot like 1999 when we lost to Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game and then lost the Cotton Bowl to Arrr-Kan-zuss. We lose the Sugar Bowl, VERY similar seasons. Herman just didn't have the prior seasons leading rusher from the prior season when he got the job....
The facts need to be put into their proper perspective. The overall record may look good on paper, but how many people projected that TCU, KSU and okie lite would all suck so much this year? I projected 8-5 before the season started, but I also projected TCU and okie lite to be ranked at the end of the year. Do people not realize Texas only beat 1 team with a winning record all season and went .500 against the other? The team was grossly unprepared for a Maryland team that not only had a losing record, but was shut out by Iowa and only scored 3 against PSU. Texas also lost to an okie lite team that only scored 12 against KSU and lost a very winnable game against WVU for the same reason. Stupid penalties and mistakes. I don't believe that's fantastic coaching. And remember on paper Texas has the 2nd best talent in the B12 and the gap between 2-3 is far greater than the gap between 1-2. IMO, Texas underachieved when all the facts are analyzed. How many years did Mack coach Texas with the B12 as weak as it was this year? I don't know the answer, but I do remember OU being highly ranked almost all the time, Neb nearly always ranked, KSU often highly ranked, Col almost always ranked, Tech some good years under the pirate, and even aggy and okie lite generally pretty good.
In Mack's first year he had Blake at OU and won 34-3 over an unranked OU. Then Stoops came in and Mack still won over an unranked OU 38-28. The next year a #10 Texas lost to #11 OU 63-14, and lost the next 4 in a row to OU, including another absolute pasting 65-13. In all of those years during this span both Texas and OU were top 10 ranked teams going into the game (save the 65-13 year OU was #1, Texas #11, but close to top 10). The next year was Texas' NC year, winning over an unranked OU. Then for the next 5 years or so, back and forth, both teams ranked each year, then another pasting 55-17 by #1 OU over #11 Texas. Followed by another pasting 63-21 of #15 Texas by #13 OU. Yeah, during the majority of Mack's tenure, his Texas teams were facing a top 10 or better OU team; but Texas was also regularly ranked top 15 or better. Both were in the national title conversation at the beginning of most of those seasons. But getting beat 65-13, 55-17, and 63-21 while comparably ranked going into those games during that period kind of makes one's eyebrows go up.
I think the weakness of tcu, ksu, usc, ttu, bu helped the horns. But the rise of isu, wvu were real tests, and TH did beat isu, which is a good team. We should have beat wvu, and osu, defense failed in those games. Should have beat Md: Total game failure. The biggest offensive flaw was the lack of explosiveness. I put this squarely on the shoulders of of Beck and TH. Sam's strength is the mid range and short pass. Not the long bomb. But with practice and good QB coaching, he would/could develop proficiency in that too. Sam did a magnificent job of eliminating turnovers. Great improvement there. Hand deserves credit for developing a decent O line. Orlando was above average most of the time, but failed badly in Md., wvu, osu. And almost failed in the bu game. No way bu should push this team to the last play of the game. No way is this a 13-0 team, talent wise and depth wise. Even with the various deficiencies, they beat my prediction of 8-4. I applaud the team and coaches, look for a close game against Ga. And hope they can build real explosiveness into the offense next year. If they do, the sky is the limit.
Most balanced post on the thread. Again, the criticisms of Ehlinger are goofy. If he had tweaked his results up in the ways suggested—more accurate on long passes, hit middle passes, eliminate every single missed open receiver—you would have basically had a Heisman quarterback. Is that what we really thought we had going into this year? Isn’t it kind of astonishing that he is actually within tweaking distance of actually being that? I would say the coaching of QBs has been outstanding. Again, you really thought we had John Elway on campus? Besides the two likely NFL receivers, Boyd and Sterns are also really good. Boyd did get beat a fair bit, but I think it is because he generally was assigned one on one coverage against the #1 WRs who are also likely NFL players and who are getting passed to by also likely NFL prospects without a lot of pass rush on our part. I think you might see Boyd lined up against the same receivers on Sundays, but the qb has a Miles Garrett or equivalent coming after him and the corner has a lot better chance. I agree with this post, that while we “could” theoretically have won each game—just as you “could” flip a coin heads five times—we had nowhere near 13-0 talent on this team.
and herein lies the problem with the run game. You have got to convince the defense that long over the middle is a real threat in order to get the LB's away from the LOS. Once that is accomplished (even if it is a second) the run game can take off.
I'll refer again to the comment I heard on the radio about what Tom will do with Beck since he is essentially an overpaid qb coach after Tom took over the offense in the USC game. If Herman did take over the offense then he has to do something. Its impossible to be the HC and OC full time and be effective.
I totally agree that the talent was not really there.....HOWEVER, in every game with better preparation for the Maryland game....we WIN....OSU, same thing...a faster start and maybe a pot of coffee for these kids on defense to make initial stops of the cowboys...we WIN....WVU, just luck itself...we blew it by not managing the clock and then giving the ball back at the very end when it was obvious as hell that whoever had the ball at the end....WINS....still, we could have pulled it out....I was there on Saturday and if Sam hits any of those three missed passes and another stop....we WIN!!!.....yes, we do not have a stable of running backs and are weak and not very deep in a lot of positions, but with smarter, more focused....better coached kids with great discipline as to NOT commit so many damn penalties....we would be 12-1 or 13-0....
Discipline and player development will improve over time. I guess I don't understand why Tom Herman is not cut any slack by the fan base for the dumpster fire he inherited. Texas was 46-42 in 7 damn seasons before TH. Now, he has gone 16-10. So that is 62.5% winning percentage. The previous 7 seasons that winning percentage was 52.27%. So if you objectively look at the math. TH has brought us a 10.23% jump in winning percentage in under two seasons. He beats Georgia, he is well ahead of Mack Brown 2 years in. Well ahead. I think we hang with Georgia. They don't have Kryler! I hate to say this, but I would not be surprised if OU wins the natty. Not that I am rooting for them, but they do have the best QB in the country and their defense can hold on enough. Back to my point. TH's system works! He just has no depth especially at DL and OL. We had no one to spell BH late in games and he wore down big time. Similar with the rest of the front 7, except maybe Ominihu and Nelson. Oline, same thing. Texas is a CFP team with their starters. But we lack depth. Remember when Charlie Strong dumped like 10 Olinemen in 2014? Where would we be now if that had not happened? I'm sorry but 2019 and 2020 will be the first years where we get ahead of the Charlie Strong impact on this program. He set Texas back that far! I know I did not see that back then because I wanted to believe his spin about how he was changing the culture into a winning culture. Well, BS! TH is doing that. CS did the exact opposite. Oh and one more thing. Expanding on TEXnSeattle. Frustrating penalties and late game mistakes happened this year but they happened a lot more often last year. This team is learning how to win in 2018. That is a good sign!
It’s funny, we were within range of 12-0 or 11-1, and also could have been 6-6. Think about it. KSU gave us all we could handle, Baylor was within a play of beating us, and OU would probably have won the October game had it gone to OT. So, I’m OK with 9-3. I thought Sam was the biggest key to our success. Think about it. After Maryland did anyone think we would have a competitive offense? I remember many on this board projecting that we might not beat anyone after that game until mid-Season. Ehlinger wasn’t perfect and he needs to improve his deep throws, but 300 passes without an int ain’t shabby. Additionally, few talk about ball security. It was outstanding, and the coaches deserve much of the credit. I agree though that TH made his share of mistakes, and those need to be eliminated or at least reduced next year.
don't get me wrong, I am ELATED with the progress of this year....but, we were so close to being ELITE....
We beat Georgia and we will be a couple of bad calls away from Elite. 10-4. Now that's progress! I just read this book "Failing Forward" by John Maxwell. It's great. TH and the Longhorns have been knocked down plenty. But that doesn't matter. It's how many times you get back up that matters. As long as TH keeps getting back up, and motivating the other coaches and players to do so as well. Texas will become an elite program. We can all learn from that. KEEP GETTING BACK UP!
This season showed improvement, but the coaching needs to improve in several areas for the program to take the next step. In retrospect Texas could have done better this year and coaching could have had a lot to do with changing he outcome in some of the losses. Defensive depth also was a problem and not sure that gets better next year. Herman’s in game decisions needs to improve especially with clock management. The end of the first half of the last game against blowu is prime example. After the penalty and blowu with no time outs run clock and only give them 35-40 seconds left instead of a full minute more. Going in to half 14-13 changes the entire trajectory of the game. Special teams must improve. Some of the decisions by the punt returners were simply incomprehensible ( see osu game) and the onside kick fiascos shouldn’t happen. Mental penalties like delay of game, offsides and false starts need to be eliminated. Those are not judgment calls by the officials ( except for sometimes when blowu dies it) and are within your control.
The KO returners had issues with the new rule (downed inside the 10 & out to the 25) for the first half of the season, but towards the end of the season seemed to have it down.
I don't see us being that close to elite. We're good and getting better. But you don't get taken down to the wire in so many close games if you're close to elite. As someone else pointed out we were as close to being 12-0 as we were to being 6-6. When we start blowing out some of the teams we are supposed to beat, I will believe we are getting close. Elite teams do it often and early. Once we are there, playing Tulsa or Maryland etc, will look like a scrimmage.
AND OSU, ND, Georgia, UM, even Clemson had two or three close calls. Bama is the exception not the rule. AND it took Saban 30+ years of coaching to get to his level.
Wins by more than 7 points: Clemson: 11 Georgia: 11 Michigan: 9 Ohio State: 9 OU: 8 Notre Dame: 8 Texas: 3 Wins by 7 points or fewer: Texas: 6 Notre Dame: 4 OU: 4 Ohio State: 3 Clemson: 2 Michigan: 1 Georgia: 0 Loses by more than 7 points: Clemson: 0 OU: 0 Notre Dame: 0 Georgia: 1 Michigan: 1 Ohio State: 1 Texas: 1 Losses by 7 points or fewer: Texas: 3 Georgia: 1 Michigan: 1 OU: 1 Clemson: 0 Notre Dame: 0 Ohio State: 0 Games decided by 7 points or less: Texas: 9 OU: 5 Notre Dame: 4 Ohio State: 3 Clemson: 2 Michigan: 2 Georgia: 1 Truthfully we could be 3-9 or 12-1. We are not close to being elite at this point. We are at a crossroads. We are at the corner. Next year will determine whether this year was a “one off” or if we have turned the corner. Here is another comparison: Unfortunately, our team is similar to the 2006 Dennis Franchione led Texas A&M team which finished 9-4. After 5 close wins, 3 close losses, and no blowout losses, that team was taken behind the woodshed by Cal in their bowl game and lost 10-45. I remember aggies saying with their closs losses that they could be 12-0 and they were almost elite right before Cal destroyed them. The next year they fell to 7-5 and Fran was fired. Wins by more than 7 points: 2006 Texas A&M: 4 2018 Texas: 3 Wins by 7 points or fewer: 2018 Texas: 6 2006 Texas A&M: 5 Losses by more than 7 points: 2006 Texas A&M: 1 2018 Texas: 1 Losses by 7 points or fewer: 2018 Texas: 3 2006 Texas A&M: 3 Like I said, we are at a turning point. Are we frauds or getting back to elite? It is too early to say. We could just as easily be 3-9 as 12-1 right now. The bowl and next season will tell the tale.
