Texas football: Tom Herman: 'We Got Back to Who We Are This Week'
Five days removed from a disappointing loss in the Cotton Bowl, it was clear that Texas coach Tom Herman believes a good week of practice can go a long way toward healing wounds.
"I told our team coming off the field just now, 'I feel great'," Herman told reporters during his Thursday press conference. "I feel like we got back to who we are this week."
"It was a really, really good week of preparation," he added.
Herman said his players were eager to get back on the practice field and address some of the issues everyone saw in the Cotton Bowl against the Sooners.
"It was the first time in a long time I can remember us being out-physicalled," Herman said. "Call a spade a spade. We were"
While many will point to the obvious missed tackles on defense, the Longhorns also lost the battle in both trenches against the Sooners. Herman attributed it to a lack of phsyicalit in practice as the team dialed back contact due to a recent rash of injuries.
"I told those guys on Tuesday, 'it doesn't matter how fresh you are on Saturday. It doesn't matter who jogs out there because of injury. If you can't tackle on defense and move people on offense, it doesn't matter. So we've gotta take care of those things first and handle our freshness and availability secondary."
Once the team got back on the practice field, all talk of the loss to Oklahoma was over, according to Herman. He pointed out that just one year ago the Sooners bounced back from a disappointing loss in the Cotton Bowl to run the table in the regular season, win the Big 12 and go on to the College Football Playoff.
"They (Oklahoma) had that same Sunday (a year ago). Same Tuesday practice the same everything, and they went on to play in the playoffs and win the conference title so there is no hangover with these guys."
In addition to getting back on the field and putting Oklahoma behind them, there's also the added motivation of returning home to DKR for the first time in four weeks.
"Our guys will be cranked up," Herman said.
