AUSTIN – Pre-game festivities included paratroopers, a fly-over, and a pregame skirmish between teams as Texas prepared to take on West Virginia. Texas chose to receive the opening kickoff, and moved down the field efficiently. The Horns stalled in the red zone after Shane Buechele missed Collin Johnson on consecutive throws. Trent Domingue opened up the scoring with a 27 yard field goal to give Texas a 3-0 lead. West Virginia matched the score after a similarly promising drive stalled. Both teams traded turnovers, but neither were able to put much together on offense. The Mountaineers found their footing first with a 9 play, 66 yard drive punctuated by a Kennedy McKoy touchdown run. An experienced West Virginia defense began to dial up pressure on the Texas offense. While Texas sputtered, Skyler Howard found his groove. West Virginia put together a 70 yard drive ending with a spectacular catch from Ka’Raun White after he was clearly interfered with. West Virginia took a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter.
As they’ve done all season the Longhorns fought back from the brink of a blowout. D’Onta Foreman found his groove in the second quarter, and with the defense keying on him in the red zone, Shane Buechele kept the ball for a 10-yard touchdown run. The Texas defense responded to the offensive surge by stopping West Virginia on the following drive. Texas took possession with nearly seven minutes left in the half, and started a methodical drive down the field. D’Onta Foreman’s amazing season continued as he exceeded 100 yards for the 11th straight game to tie Earl Campbell’s record. With time winding down in the half, Jerrod Heard was brought down just short of the goal line forcing the Longhorns to kick a field goal. Trent Domingue’s second of the day from 19 yards brought Texas within 4 at the intermission.
West Virginia came out strong to start the second half, but the Texas defense started to force turnovers. PJ Locke stepped in front of a Skyler Howard pass to steal a possession for the Texas offense. The Longhorns were able to move the ball well, but West Virginia excelled at locking down in the red zone. The Longhorns tried to kick a field goal, but Domingue’s attempt was blocked. West Virginia was able to drive the field, and score their last points of the game in the third quarter by virtue of a Kennedy McKoy 3 yard touchdown run. Shane Buechele appeared to throw a back breaking interception with Texas down 24-13 on the following drive. The ball was juggled by the much maligned John Burt into the hands of Rasul Douglas. The Texas defense was equal to the task, and Dylan Haines intercepted a badly overthrown ball to prevent the blowout. Texas turned their second interception of the day into points when Shane Buechele found Collin Johnson in the red zone for a 20 yard touchdown to bring Texas within 4 points near the end of the third quarter.
The Longhorns continued to chase the lead, and the defense did their part to shut West Virginia out via a mixture of turnovers and punts. Dylan Haines recorded his second interception of the game at the beginning of the 4th quarter, but a promising Texas drive halted when Shane Buechele was sacked on a vicious hit and fumbled the ball into the hands of Kyzir White. Texas threatened twice more, including a throw into the end zone on the last play from scrimmage, but the result was just out of grasp for this Texas team. The Longhorns drop to 5-5 (3-4) on the year, while West Virginia improved to 8-1 (5-1 with their road win. Mountaineer coach Dana Holgorsen was pleased with the fight he saw in his team. “Hats off to our players just for hanging in there, and believing in each other. They wanted to get this win pretty bad, and I’m proud of themâ€.
Every game is pivotal for Charlie Strong in this season, but the Texas coach acknowledged a measure of growth that came along with this loss. “You don’t’ ever want to lose a game. It burns. It’s burning them right now in the locker room, but we still have two left and we’ll see how we take this game and use it to our advantage, and just continue to get betterâ€. Strong continued on evaluating the progress of his team, “I really do think we have a really good football team, and I think we’ve made a ton of progressâ€. An argument for progress can definitely be made. The Texas defense held their fifth straight opponent under the season scoring average, which is a number that coincides with Strong taking control of the defense. The Longhorns held West Virginia to 383 total yards, but the Mountaineers were 8 for 15 on third downs, while Texas was just 5 for 17.
Charlie Strong told the media that he can’t worry, and doesn’t worry about the rumors surrounding his job security after the game. While the Head Coach may not worry, the truth is that every win counts at this point. A win over West Virginia could have catapulted Texas into the final portion of their season with momentum and a measure of security. The Longhorns have two games remaining, and they probably need to beat both Kansas and TCU to retain Strong for another year. Texas has a chance at bowl eligibility next week in Lawrence, but that should never be the bar at a program like this. The Texas staff must also worry about a few key injuries. Malik Jefferson left the game with a reported head injury early in the first half today, Jake McMillon is already dealing with injuries, and D’Onta Foreman looked a bit banged up in the 4th quarter. Strong refused to use injuries as an excuse when asked about them after the game. “You look at Jake (McMillon), Vahe’s been a starter, so we can’t use that as an excuseâ€.
At times during the Charlie Strong tenure, a turnaround has felt just out of grasp. Today’s game was a microcosm of that mantra. The Longhorns fought and clawed to stay in the game, but they never could close the deal. Mistakes borne of youth and inexperience just won’t do when you’re playing against a talented, well coached team as Texas learned today. The struggle to rise above mediocrity has been on display since 2010 in Austin. The good news is that once again, Texas looks to have a talented group of young players to build around. Some programs take the next step, while others find that the turning point can never truly be attained. The Longhorns will go on the road next week looking to get back in the win column, but the ramifications of this season won’t truly be on display until Black Friday.
