What Charlie Strong Must Do to Turn Texas' Season Around

You don't have to be a fan of the Texas Longhorns to know this is a frustrating, albeit sometimes exciting, team to watch. To classify Texas in a word, it would be "eventful."

On the surface, you could say this is a result of fielding a young and inexperienced group. To a large degree, you would be right. In the week leading up to the season opener against Notre Dame, Texas' depth chart featured 34 freshmen and sophomores, per Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News.

When so many young players take the field at once, mental errors are often in abundance. There will be good moments but probably far more not so good moments before and afterward.

So, not surprisingly, the theme for the 1-3 Longhorns is finishing—or an inability to do so.

If there's a silver lining for Texas, it's at least getting close enough to victory that the swift, icy grip of defeat is all the more soul-crushing. It's a sinister way to look at moral victories, something no one probably ever thought they'd associate with the Longhorns, but at least there's been reason for hope lately.

There's no way this program and its fanbase would have been able to handle any more 38-3 losses like the one suffered against Notre Dame.

Eventually, though, close is only going to get the Horns so far. What can head coach Charlie Strong do to help Texas get past the disappointment and back on some sort of winning track?

Veteran Improvement

So much has been made about how young Texas is. And it is young. But there are just enough veterans from the Mack Brown era sprinkled into the two-deep that youth isn't the only hindrance.

At some point, there are seniors who need to perform like seniors.

What Texas ideally needs is for senior running back Johnathan Gray to be the leading rusher—not quarterback Jerrod Heard. Of course, part of that responsibility falls on new play-caller Jay Norvell, who needs to give Gray more than 11 touches a game:

It needs receiver Daje Johnson to be more of a touchdown machine. He currently has one touchdown, and it came on a punt return. It needs offensive lineman Sedrick Flowers to be the anchor of a still-green group up front.

As Wescott Eberts of Burnt Orange Nation writes, Flowers has had lapses in blocking assignments and committed egregious penalties:

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Against Notre Dame, Flowers drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and was lucky to avoid an ejection when he punched a Fighting Irish player during an altercation. Last weekend, Flowers drew another unsportsmanlike penalty when he cut blocked a Cal player well after the whistle and right in front of an official. He was lucky not to injure his opponent.

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However, Flowers did take on a vocal leadership role by indirectly calling out backup offensive lineman Marcus Hutchins following Saturday's loss to Oklahoma State. According to Ryan Autullo of the Austin American-Statesman, Flowers said "lack of preparation" wasn't an excuse for poor play by Hutchins, who replaced Kent Perkins (knee injury):

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I think what happened is a lack of preparation by the backup. I feel as though he didn’t foresee (an injury). I don’t think he took that into consideration when he was preparing. He just saw this week as another week that he wasn’t gonna play. If he would have taken more time in practice and film review, took it more seriously, then it would have been different.

You can’t use "I had no reps" as an excuse.

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Cornerback Quandre Diggs was a vocal leader a year ago and had no problem calling out other players who didn't commit to the regime. Flowers can assume that role in 2015, but he has to be smarter as well.

The coaching staff needs to put its best players in a position to succeed, but the veterans have to take it upon themselves as well to play with a greater sense of urgency.

Limit the Mistakes

Texas has been a sloppy team this year and will probably continue to be a sloppy team. Eliminating mistakes isn't nearly as achievable as improving on them.

The two recent losses to Cal and Oklahoma State will be remembered for special teams gaffes: Nick Rose's missed extra point and the bobbled/shanked punt attempt, respectively. 

However, mistakes haven't been limited to the kicking game. The Horns rank eighth in the Big 12 in penalties per game and are last in third-down conversions. It's not a coincidence that they're so poor in those two areas. Getting behind the chains can be a drive-killer.

But it's not just penalties and turnovers that define the word "mistake." Poor decisions, coverage miscues and lack of communication all lead to bad execution.

On defense, that means giving up big plays and struggling to get off the field. The Longhorns currently rank ninth in the Big 12, ahead of only Texas Tech, in big plays allowed (10-plus yards) and are dead last in opponent third-down conversion percentage.

Tackling is also a major problem, as Anwar Richardson of OrangeBloods.com tweeted during the Oklahoma State loss:

What's the solution? Unfortunately for Texas, there isn't a quick fix, a magic wand that can make things better. That's just fundamental football not being played. The only remedy is more reps. Lots and lots of reps.

The same goes for the offense. Heard is an electric playmaker, and the decision to let him run around behind a patchwork O-line is a workable short-term solution. But for every long run and/or touchdown Heard has, he'll follow it up with a rookie mistake.

Confidence is easily Heard's best attribute and his biggest drawback.

On many occasions against Cal and Oklahoma State, Heard would sooner take an unnecessary sack or run out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage than throw the ball away. Heard would rather try to pick up more yards by running horizontally (or backwards) than simply picking up the first down.

Heard is a gifted athlete. Everyone watching him knows it. The coaching staff knows it. And, perhaps to his detriment, he knows it.

Part of coaching is letting players be themselves and do what they do best. Generally speaking, Texas' new approach to the offense has allowed Heard to flourish in that situation. But there needs to be a balance as well. Part of the coaching staff's job is to harness Heard's athleticism into better decision-making.

Knock off 1 of the "Big Three"

The front half of Texas' schedule was always going to be the tougher half. How would you like to play Notre Dame, Cal, Oklahoma State, TCU and Oklahoma in five of your first six games?

For all that's transpired over the past few weeks, the possibility of Texas starting 2-4 or even 1-5 has always been—and remains—extremely real. The damaging part of such a bad start is it can hurt a team's confidence in itself.

Despite all that's happened, and all that could continue to happen, the Longhorns have to believe they can still win.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

The best-case scenario for the remaining two games of the first six-game stretch is winning them to end up 3-3. That would require the Longhorns to beat TCU and Oklahoma. Without a doubt, Strong is getting his team to believe it can win both of those games, as well as every game remaining on the schedule.

At the risk of selling Texas short, the more realistic goal might be to go 1-1. For that matter, can Texas knock off either Baylor, Oklahoma or TCU?

Consider the 2014 season, when Texas went 6-7. The Horns had a nice three-game run in late October and early November when they knocked off Texas Tech, West Virginia and Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks. Beyond that, however, Texas lacked any sort of signature win.

Knocking off at least one of the Big 12's "Big Three" would be a tangible step in the right direction. It would require everything that's been discussed above (and more), but it would take some heat off Strong.

It would be a season-defining game.

The first year of the Strong era was defined by player attrition and no identity. The Longhorns' biggest drawback was they felt motionless. But such is the case with transition years for many programs.

The second year so far has been marked by moments of promise followed by crushing heartbreak.

The Longhorns are trudging through the mud right now. It's dirty, difficult and annoying. Who knows? They might not ever make it to the other side of this field, but at least Texas is going somewhere.

The only way to find out if the other side was worth the trip is by going through.

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All quotes cited unless obtained firsthand. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.