Texas is a team playing scared

Saw this piece with comments from Herbie and I couldn't agree more.
I noted this in the gameday thread last week and again in my ou prediction.
I've caught heat bringing up the culture and fanbase surrounding Texas in the past, which I believe is part of the problem, but there is plenty blame to go around. The players, the coach, the media, the fans(in that order)...all complicit.
This is a game....suppose to be fun. I, for one, want to watch a game.....coaches and dudes going all out, balls to the wall, screaming, laughing, yapping, running, launching, high-fivin, celebrating, crying, whatever....but play the game to the best of your ability and have fun doing it...That's what I want to see. It's a game. I'm as competitive as anyone and want to win everything, always...but it is a game.
The fans who say NC every year or else...ridiculous. Can we just root and support, week to week, 10-2, 8-4, 11-1, 9-3, 12-0, whatever...and enjoy being fans and let them enjoy trying to get better?
I thought the woke stuff was aweful, misguided trash of an idea, I think our coach isnt in the top 25 rankings, alot of the players are preschool children emotionallly and maturity-wise, many fans are terrible fans.......but, this is my team....has been since I was 5, and I'm not stopping now.
As long as these are our players wearing that uniform, and our coach on the sideline, and our name on the scoreboard....I support them. (Doesnt mean we can't also critique or criticize...I'm saying if not balanced with genuine care for and support you are wasting your time and doing more harm than good).

They are playing not to lose, they look tight and scared (have for a few years now)....and we should all do whatever is necessary to show our unconditional support, let them know we are for them win or lose. and, together, try to have some fun....and I bet we will win more games.
Sport is getting ruined enough already...no need to make it worse.
I want to ask myself and you, as well...
Are we giving our best??

Go ahead... take your shots....


Texas Longhorns feeling outside pressure, Kirk Herbstreit says

 

Didn't Herbie cry on TV? But, I don't disagree. This team sucks.

 

Herbstreit, when he is not acting as a shill for the $EC and B1G, does come up with some good observations. Texas played scared last year in the ou game, and I haven't seen anything to make me feel this year will be any different. Forget what has happened up to this point in the season as the ou game is won by the team who wants the win and, more importantly, plays like it.

 

This particular team has gone out of its way, both players and the head coach, to alienate the fans. They did this to themselves.

Blaming the fans is old hat and a big no-no in my book. Don't *ever* blame the fans. Without them, you got nothing.

 

Texas is a group of individuals - not a team - that plays scared.

 

The customer is always right.

 

Disagree with you on most of it ...."the woke stuff was aweful, misguided trash of an idea"...100% with you on that. As a coach and administration you CAN NOT let misguided kids who are influenced by a false narrative dictate to you. You have to educate them and if they are too brainwashed to understand, you have to let them leave. Enough with that...Don't want to get into politics or anything else....
I do know about coaching and athletes....
These kids don't want to play for The University of Texas. They want to play and be treated like kings, but they don't care about Texas. No school pride, etc. They have no real discipline. Thus all the bone-head infractions and mental miscues week after week. As a coach you have to rule the roost. ( Like Royal, Saban, etc...) Sort of a 'my way or the highway'...Coaches have gotten more lax over the years but the good ones still rule with somewhat of an iron fist.. If you let kids run the show and get away with crap, you have lost them. Herman has lost them.

 

I totally agree with the first part of this ^^^^^^

 

Funny...you disagree with me, yet I stand by my assertions and still agree with most everything in your post. It just isn't an either or for me.

 

Herman gonna be Herman.He doesnt care about the University. Most of the players dont care about the University.Herbie has an opinion,just like the rest of us. He is no authority. Royal said that Texas is a tough job,because they expect you to win.
My advise to Herman and the players is "If you cant take the heat,get outta the kitchen.

 

I go by.." Ya got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything." " If you give an inch, they will take a mile." " If you don't teach kids to love their country they won't fight for it as adults when it is threatened." Its the same line of thinking in football. Its all about pride and fighting for your school. You play for the names on the front and back of that uniform. I truly bleed burnt orange since birth and sent my kids to UT, and the whole ball of wax. Pride and tradition means a lot and should not be discarded like old socks. These players aren't playing for the name on the front at all, and when the going gets really really tough they can't dig deep enough to put forth the effort to win. We need players and COACHES who want to fight for TEXAS !!!!!

 

I agree with most all this^^^^^^
But I'm still a fan...for now....and want to be a good one.
If I can't be...I'll disavow and move on. You won't see me here any longer.

 

I agree with this^^^^^^^, too.
If they can't...they should....but it still doesn't mean we are giving our best.
I guarantee you if I were there all it would do is motivate me. But, I'm talking about this team....not the hypothetical one you and I are on. I'm the same one who, last Saturday, was saying Herman needs to learn from Patt and get in his guys faces more.
Still think we can support them better, nonetheless.
I do agree Herman complicates the matter.

Excuse the rogue italics...can't remove them

 

These are different times we live in. There are a few kids like Sam that grew up Longhorns and saw no other way. Up until just a couple of years ago, we were still hearing kids say they wanted to be a Longhorn because of VY. Very few of them today even know who he was. Whatever you want to call it, allegiance, loyalty, or school pride, there just isn't much of it left these days.

I guess some of that has bled off on me. Once upon a time, if Texas lost it ruined my entire week. I had trouble getting over it. Now I'm over it by the time my head hits the pillow on Saturday nights.

 

Guess I don’t understand the ‘more from the fans’ aspect. I make my donation, pay for tickets, attend, sing the eyes, pay for a hotel, and cheer them in no matter what. I get upset when we lose and should have won, and I celebrate when we win. I critique the team but don’t remember ever calling out a single player. For several years I flew in from Tenn to attend the games, now I have the good fortune of traveling from Katy. just what am I not doing as a faithful fan?

 

I remember the good old days when a Texas loss would literally ruin my next 2-3 days and really make the whole week suck. They lose with such frequency since, really, 2010, that it just don't make a **** anymore.

 

Are they playing scared or playing arrogant, unprepared and soft?

 

Tom Herman is now entering the territory that killed Charlie Strong - fan apathy.

 

I respect you, Nash.. so I'll do my best..

All I am suggesting is...in addition to what you and I and others are already doing....for "us" to just lighten up a bit, spend as much time offering verbal support and encouragement as running down and demanding and criticizing and tearing down. Let them know we are for you, we support you, win or lose...we are here. I can tell you right now, if I were a coach or player of this team, I'd feel the fans are perpetually against me and it wouldn't be conducive to a successful partnership....nor very fun.
And yes the coaches and players have contributed to the current state of affairs. I cant control them, but I can control me,(sometimes lol) and, in relationships, just because soneone else isnt "doing their part" doesnt mean you shouldn't.
Our part, in addition to all you noted, is to behave like real fans.
To behave like real fans.
If one isn't really a fan of the team then we have the same choice as the woke dudes....quit crying, fussin, moaning, criticizing and walk away

Let me say this about out criticism...
There's a right and a wrong way to do it

 

Definitely unprepared and soft.. with some exceptions

 

Not sure I catch the meaning of the second response but I get the first although I’m still uncertain just what I could personally do to more support them.
I do remember making a comment on Sterns ‘wokeness’ and probably should have followed my rule of not picking on a single player. It was simply registering disappointment about a favorite player at the time.

 

And this^^^^^is why I respect you...
Introspective, self-aware, thoughtful, responsible.

Nah... I'm not talking woke stuff. Go outside the painted lines and you ask for whatever comes. I'm talking on the field stuff only.
I was just as critical of the other stuff as anyone.
(Some would say the lines have been blurred)

 

Interesting post, but I can't agree.

First, after Herb cried big ol wet tears on TV, most likely from putting some Ben Gay in his drawers, I can't believe to anything he has to say.

As for Texas playing scared, why? Their coach wasn't really on the hot seat coming in. Yes they were picked by a lot of folks to win the B12, but is that supposed to put such pressure on them that they can't play decent?

I've watched a lot of football in my years - the idea that a team can't win if they're listed as favorites to win a conference, finally, is something rather new. I guess unless we all expect Baylor/TT level results from Texas, it's just too much for the players, and they fold up and play poorly.

That's a concept that any real coach, or team, would laugh at. Stoops, to his credit, said something like "we don't run from expectations, we embrace them". Then he proceeded to lose the next 8 bowl games in a row or whatever, but did win the B12 about every year.

As for showing the team support, so they play better - they're not 8 year olds playing T-ball. Supposedly they're grown men, draft-able into a war, and that we should listen intently when they request Change!!! Then the fumble on the 1 yard line and it's back to participation trophy and trips to Chuck e Cheese?

Gotta say, the most embarrassing part of Mack Brown's tenure here was when they got skunked by OU, and good old LongHorn Bob, the founder of the original Hornfans, organized a group to meet the team at the school and wave banners and show them how much they were supported. If Brown had any fire in his belly he'd have said "No, we don't deserve this, and while nice, please just stay home and spend time with your families".

Showing support for this team might match that for being cringe worthy.

 

Never heard of LongHorn Bob. Interesting. But I see your point.

 

....I appreciate the take and your balancing out my views
My only comment ....even though I disagree with some of your post...
is in regards to the "grown men" comment.
You must not spend much time around 19-22 year olds these days, Duck!
But that's another discussion.
I will say, Herb and I arent the only ones that can see Texas plays uptight...like they cannot lose a game or else....more and more negativity and more and more degradation of the program.
It is more than just typical pressure to play well and win and this is a key point to the argument or view I espouse here.

Ok I lied I had two comments

No, three...
I want to be clear I would be and believe in being tough on these guys...be tough tough on the coach. too.
As I said...lets just balance it with uplifting support, encouragement (hey theres an idea), and a bit more grace. .less negativity.

...that Ben Gay bits funny

 

This all has me wondering...

Is there anything in this thread or discussion which might shed light on why this program/team seems to loosen up and perform better at the end of the season in bowl games when everything else is a wrap???

Think about it

 

Bowl games - Herman has done well in them. Maybe a couple of reasons:

Played hard and well against a Missouri team that was good but wasn't great. Good win regardless.

Sugar bowl - Herman had the team ready to play, to his credit, while Georgia was caught up in a 100% media created controversy (if there's no controversy, the media creates it) as to if they should be in the playoffs, even though they had been beaten in the SEC title game. So I don't think Georgia was ready to play, got behind early, and Texas held on.

Alamo bowl - again, Texas was ready to play, and Utah, which had dreams of a Pac title and playoff spot till they lost to Oregon, wasn't. Texas dominated that game and whipped up on them. Also, Utah was mostly a running team, and Texas' big weakness last year was passing, not running. Texas got up early, Utah had to try to play catch up, and got beat badly.

So, I think it was more of a case of good preparation by Texas, combined with teams that failed to prepare for the game, instead of some sort of mental aspect, where "the pressure's off, now we can play well" type thing.

And with regards to the pressure - Texas isn't nearly the pressure cooker that real football teams are. If Clemson, Alabama, OSU, lost 5 games last year, 4 the year before that, it would have been far more of a storm that at Texas, where the prime disappointment has been, correctly, zero conference championships in 3 years with Herman.

At some point, the players need to decide if they want to be at a big league school where success and championships are expected, or if football is just some enjoyable hobby that fills up the weekend. 'Cuz right now they seem to want the prestige of being a player at Texas, while having the expectations of McNeese State.

 

I do believe most of the players on the other B12 teams have more motivation than the Texas players, and course the fans too. Texas is the Joneses, Texas didn't want me. I'm going to prove them wrong.

What do Texas players have to play for? They certainly aren't playing for the fans. A NC is a motivator, but when it's not realistic it's really not a motivator. Every book I've ever read on goals has a chapter about why you can't set them too high.

 

A conference Championship would be nice. Haven't had one of those in 11 years. Otherwise you're saying as soon as they can't win a National Championship, it's time for the players and coaches to mail it in?

Anyone associated with the Texas football program who uses as an excuse the fact that other teams play hard against Texas should be run off. No one at OSU claims that they can't win because everyone wants to beat Ohio State.

It's worse than just loser talk - it's entitled loser talk. "Yes I like the prestige of being a coach or player at Texas / No I can't be expected to win as everyone else plays really hard against us. Just support us and buy tickets and clap for us as we ignore you and run off the field while you're singing the Eyes of Texas".

 

I grew up like Sam only with little athletic talent. My Dad said he held me watching the 1969 Arkansas game. He didn’t attend Texas but admired Daryl Royal and was proud I graduated from the state’s flagship university. He would be embarrassed today if he was still alive.