Longhorns Stop Skid With 27-6 Victory over Iowa State

AUSTIN –The Longhorns returned home after more than a month on the road as they looked to end their three game losing skid against Iowa State. Texas seemed to be off to a good start as they forced a Cyclones punt on their first drive. The Longhorns moved the ball in big chunks, but they were backed up out of field goal range following a Jake Oliver offensive pass interference play. Iowa State drove 58 yards and got themselves on the board first with a 39 yard field goal from Cole Netten. The Longhorn mistakes continued when D’onta Foreman fumbled the ball on his own 33 yard line. An unnecessary roughness after the recovery compounded the Texas mistake and gave Iowa State starting field position at the Texas 18. The Cyclones weren’t able to manage anything more than three points, and Texas kept things within a one score range.

The usually potent Texas offense struggled to get anything going early on. Shane Buechele struggled with ball placement in some spots, and the Longhorns committed several drive killing penalties. Sophomore punter Michael Dickson was the star of the first half with his 4 punts for an average of 46.5 yards to pin the Cyclones back. The Longhorns did get a scoring drive started late in the half, but a curious third down fade call resulted in an incomplete pass and forced the Longhorns to kick. Trent Domingue’s 21 yard field goal ended a nearly 90 minute scoreless streak going back to last season for Texas. D’onta Foreman found some running room early on, but the Cyclones were able to prevent the big plays on the ground and keep Texas out of the end zone. Sterlin Gilbert relied on his big back with 18 carries for 78 yards in the first half, but Texas couldn’t get much going outside of that.

The much maligned Texas defense looked improved against a less than stellar Iowa State defense in the first half. The Cyclones were held to 140 yards in the opening half, and the new cornerback combo of Kris Boyd and John Bonney limited busted coverages and tackled well in the open field. Texas also benefitted from a strong pass rush from the Texas front seven. Jeff McCulloch, Chris Nelson, Bryce Cottrell, Naashon Hughes, Breckyn Hager, and Malik Jefferson all factored in to a smothering Texas front which kept Texas in the game early. The pass rush was especially potent when you consider that Texas logged many of their sacks on 3^rd down.

The Longhorns took the ball on offense to start the second half, and exploited Iowa State’s ‘no deep ball’ defense with hitches and screens. A 37 yard touchdown to Armanti Foreman was wiped off the board when both Foreman and the defender committed offsetting facemask penalties. Texas came right back on the next play when Buechele found a wide open Jerrod Heard for a 37 yard touchdown to take their first lead of the game. After forcing Iowa State to a turnover on downs, Buechele found fellow freshman Devin Duvernay on a 75 yard wheel route for a touchdown to give Texas a 17-6 lead with 7:07 left in the third quarter. Buechele found his rhythm in the second half, and surgically moved Texas down the field on a 13 play 96 yard capped off by an 18 yard D’Onta Foreman touchdown run. That carry put Foreman over the 100 yard mark for a nation’s best 7^th straight game, and the Longhorns took a 24-6 lead into the final quarter. The Longhorns never looked back as they tacked on a a field goal and sealed the game with a 27-6 win.

Buechele was sensational in the second half as he reached a new career high for a single game. Buechele said there were no specific adjustments made at the half, it all came down to execution. “We just were executing. When you execute it creates tempo. First half there were penalties that killed drives. There were open guys, and I missed them”. Devin Duvernay echoed Buechele’s comments on execution within the offense. “We knew we could do it”, said Duvernay. “We just needed to all pull together at once and play a complete game”. Offensive Coordinator Sterlin Gilbert didn’t sense a tightness in the first half, he just wanted to see the team play a cleaner game in regards to penalties. “That’s something that we put ourselves in that hole. I believe it was nine for a hundred, and that’s something that’s just tough to overcome”.

The big topic after the game was the reported team meeting from earlier this week. Sources reported to several outlets that there were “fireworks” between players and coaches, but nobody seemed to acknowledge that much this evening. “I have a team meeting every Thursday”, said Strong in his press conference. Sterlin Gilbert was slightly more direct and to the point. “We know what’s true, and we know what’s false”. Naashon Hughes was one person who did expand a bit more on the closed door meeting. “Guys just challenged ourselves and challenged each other in that meeting. We all went in there with our pride to the side and said what we had to say to each other”. Defensive tackle Paul Boyette also expanded on the meeting. “We need everyone to pull their own weight and it’s time for us to get this thing together. We’re tired of having these meetings and we’re tired of talking about next week. There is no more next week”.

While there may be no next week for excuses, there is a next week for this team. The Texas players and coaches looked a bit more relieved with a win under their belt, but they go back on the road to a house of horrors for this program in Manhattan next week. If the Longhorn players have any hope of saving Charlie Strong’s job they must continue to put together strong performances and learn to play well on the road. “We have to go play better on the road”, said Charlie Strong. Look at California didn’t play well, and then we came back, played well at Stillwater, and then to go to Dallas and we didn’t play well. It’s going to be a good challenge for us right here and we’ll see exactly how this win will be a good carry-over for us”. Sophomore linebacker Breckyn Hager was a bit bolder in his proclamations. “We will go undefeated. We have no choice and we’re going to do whatever it takes to get there. We have our hardest games at home. You see how we play at home; the excitement, the energy. You see how our defense just played and we’re going to step it up because there are a lot of things we could have done better”.

Following the victory, Charlie Strong left the field with the student section chanting his name. It’s clear that the players love and respect their head coach, and Breckyn Hager spoke to that as well. “I can’t speak on the rest of the team, but I think we play for Charlie and each other. We’re tired of all the crap and we love that man. We want to keep him in house”. A win over Iowa State is not anything to raise a banner for, but this group needed something positive to get them back on track. The hallmark of the Charlie Strong era has been inconsistent results carrying over from week to week. At a time when every game truly matters for this coaching staff, they are going to have to make a change in that trend. They will get the first opportunity to do that in Manhattan next week.