AUSTIN — Tom Herman winced when Sam Ehlinger’s “We’re back!” reached his ears.
It wasn’t annoyance or mortification that caused the Longhorns’ coach to feel a sickness in the pit of his stomach after winning a Sugar Bowl title. It was an understanding of how those words would be received and what kind of added pressure they would place on a program that’s already among the nation’s most visible.
Still, Texas felt good that night in New Orleans. Year 2 under Herman was a resounding success and everyone on the inside believed in a future where seasons like it would become the norm.
“I know we’re headed in the right direction,” Herman said on New Year’s Day in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. “But I don’t ever want to give any kind of finality to where we’re at because we are always making progress.”
Instead of moving forward, Texas (7-5, 5-4 Big 12) backslid big time in 2019.
After a 4-1 start that included a one-touchdown loss to then-No. 6 LSU, the Longhorns went 3-4 down the stretch. But in truth, UT’s cracks showed early on even as coaches, players and administrators kept faith in the on-field product.
“This is game two of a marathon,” Herman on Sept. 7 after the 45-38 home loss to LSU. “We wanted to win this game, certainly, very badly. We prepared to win. I loved our plans. We’ve got to do a better job coaching our guys to execute those plans at an elite level.
“Obviously, it hurts. It hurts a lot, but I think they all realize that all of our long-term goals are still out there.”
But Texas, as a team, never executed together. Either the offense dominated and the defense slumped or vice-versa, and the special teams units were an unpredictable mess almost all season.
Even a one-score loss to a then-No. 6 Oklahoma on Oct. 12 was somewhat misleading.
The Sooners dominated everywhere but the scoreboard. They outgained the Longhorns 511-310, and had quarterback Jalen Hurts not committed two avoidable turnovers inside UT territory, the final score would’ve looked far less favorable for Herman and Co.
“We’re going to find out who’s really about it,” Ehlinger said following that 34-27 loss to OU. “When times get hard, you can either come together or you can separate. And we’ll figure out who really wants to win and who’s really about it.”
The fissures grew more pronounced from that point.
Lowly Kansas gained 569 yards and scored six TDs in a 50-48 loss at Royal-Memorial Stadium that sent shockwaves through ever-frantic Texas Twitter. The Longhorns’ defense looked absolutely helpless as quarterback Carter Stanley tormented them through the air as Pooka Williams (190 rushing yards) found space to run and broke tackle after tackle, a recurring theme all year.
That Texas required a walk-off field goal from kicker Cameron Dicker just to escape with a win over the Jayhawks was a sign that this team had more problems than it cared to admit.
“Sundays after a close win versus Sundays after a loss versus Sundays after a blow-out win, they are not any different in terms of the way that we approach the way that we coach,” Herman said about 20 minutes after Dicker’s game-winning kick. “Which is why we’ve got to identity the areas we’re deficient in and continue to do our very best to improve them as a coaching staff.”
The staff couldn’t patch all the team’s holes. The same mistakes kept occurring over and over again and continually foiled Texas as its dream of a Big 12 title slipped away.
There were ill-timed and unnecessary penalties that killed UT drives or prolonged opponents’ drives, like the back-to-back personal fouls on senior offensive linemen Zach Shackelford and Parker Braun late in a 23-21 road loss to Iowa State.
The defensive line struggled to consistently create pressure on the quarterback and disrupt the run game. Defensive backs struggled to finish tackles and often failed to properly track the ball in the air.
Much of that is on coaching, especially for a defense as young as the one Texas rolled with. And the offense, which looked as explosive as any in the nation earlier this season, regressed after the Kansas game before torching a porous Texas Tech defense in the regular-season finale.
And Herman’s words after that 49-24 win Friday indicated there will be some staff shakeup.
“Obviously, we know 7-5 is not our standard here,” Herman said. “There will be certainly time enough to evaluate the whole program from the top down, from myself to the support staff, everybody involved.”
Injuries matter, and the Horns dealt with their share this year.
Safeties Caden Sterns, B.J. Foster and DeMarvion Overshown, and defensive backs Chris Brown and Josh Thompson all missed significant time. So did cornerback Jalen Green, receiver Collin Johnson, tight end Cade Brewer and tailback Jordan Whittington.
Maybe with another year of development, some fresh faces and better health this season will look like the anomaly of Herman’s tenure rather than 2018. But there’s no denying 2019 was a major letdown after what transpired last season.
“Obviously, we would’ve liked things to be different this year in a couple ballgames,” Ehlinger said Friday. “But I have full faith we’re headed in the right direction.”
nmoyle@express-news.net
twitter.com/nrmoyle
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