Strong, players react to Iowa State loss

After showing steady progress on both sides of the ball against Oklahoma and Kansas State, Saturday’s loss to Iowa State proves extremely problematic for head coach Charlie Strong and his team. Bowl eligibility, which was an expectation prior to the season opener, looks out of reach – especially if the Longhorns continue to regress. Texas will finish the season with Kansas, West Virginia, Texas Tech and Baylor. They need to win 3-of-4 to go bowling.

While there is plenty of blame to go around for the loss in Ames, the lack of results from the offense is the glaring weakness. The Cyclones held Texas to a meager 204 yards of offense which included just 85 passing yards. The Texas defense, after limiting both Oklahoma and Kansas State to less than 300 total yards, gave up 426 yards to the Iowa State offense.

Strong on the loss and how it affects the team’s momentum

“It concerns me because it looked like we were building on. We felt that we had something going, outside of the early losses we had. We just need to play hard, and with a lot of effort. I think defensively we played hard, we need the execution to be there now.”

Strong on the offensive play against Iowa State

“We can get in sync, but there were breakdowns at every position. When you look at it, it is not just at the quarterback position, we have to get better all across the board. It is not just on the quarterback position, it is all of them.”

Defensive End Bryce Cottrell on the loss

“Am I surprised? Of course, I’m always surprised. I mean, this is the University of Texas. It’s unacceptable.”

Defensive back Duke Thomas on the loss

“It’s definitely a tough loss. I don’t like losing at all. Coming into this game, knowing it was their homecoming we had to play with pride, and we didn’t make that happen.”

Safety Dylan Haines on how the defense played

“Offensively we couldn’t get anything going, but on defense we didn’t help them out at all, especially on third down. We’re going to look back on this game and see that we’re no executing on third down and this is not the team that played against OU and K-State, so we just have to continue to play better and execute and that just comes with preparation, It is a one-game season so this one is done so we just have to prepare for Kansas next at home.”