Texas Football: Longhorns Getting Back to Basics
Texas' recent rash of injuries left the Longhorns short-handed and thin through practice over the past few weeks.
Because of this, the team has dialed back physicality and tackling.
After a poor tackling showing in a 34-27 loss to Oklahoma, the Longhorns will ramp up contact in practice going forward.
"Again, so banged up defensively, it was not a great decision on my part, in retrospect, to limit the tackling these last few weeks in practice, and it showed," Herman said. "We're going to have to find a way to keep our guys healthy but also get some quality reps because we need to improve in that area."
Even though the Longhorns weren't in pads on Sunday, the team still spent time working on wrapping up and angles, something that will take on a bigger role going forward.
The Sooners not only exposed the Longhorns' tackling at times in the Cotton Bowl, but seemed to win the battle in the trenches on both offense and defense.
"It (the Oklahoma game) was the first time that I can remember that we got out-physicaled on both sides of the ball," Herman said. "That's not us. I'm obviously disappointed in everything -- in the way that the game unfolded and the way that we played. But the only anger -- I'm not going to get angry at the kids. I'm not going to get -- you know, coach the coaches, and the coaches will coach the kids."
As the leader of the program, Herman ultimately shouldered the responsibility.
"If there's anybody to be angry at, it's me for, obviously, I didn't do enough to get our guys to play at the level that they're capable of playing.," Herman said.
It's not completely back to the drawing board for the Longhorns, who are still 4-2 and ranked No. 15 in the country, but there will be a search for answers over the coming days and weeks.
"Kevin Washington, our director of player development, had a great kind of visual," Herman said. "If you're driving down I-35 and you're heading south and all of a sudden you realize you need to be heading north, it's not just okay to just realize it. You've got to do something about it, and doing something about it is getting off the off-ramp, making the U-turn, and start heading north."
