Texas' Loss to West Virginia All but Guarantees Longhorns Will Miss Bowl Game
Saturday was the kind of day that could make or break Texas’ 2015 season. At 4-5 with three games remaining, Charlie Strong’s Longhorns badly needed a victory for a realistic shot at postseason play.
Well, consider the season broken. An uninspired 38-20 loss at West Virginia dropped the Longhorns to 4-6, making a bowl bid all but impossible for Strong and the Horns.
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In other words, it’s going to be a long winter in Austin.
The Longhorns were always fighting uphill bid for postseason play following a 1-4 start that featured blowout losses to Notre Dame and TCU and inexplicable late defeats to Cal and Oklahoma State. But an upset of Oklahoma (the Sooners’ only blemish this season entering a showdown against Baylor) gave Texas a chance.
A softer second-half schedule that included games against Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas left Texas with an opportunity to make a postseason run, but the Longhorns failed to take advantage. They beat Kansas and K-State, but suffered an inexplicable 24-0 loss at Iowa State highlighted by Cyclone fans standing and cheering at game’s end for their team to preserve the shutout.
That meant the ‘Horns needed to win two of three games against West Virginia, Texas Tech and at Baylor just to get bowl-eligible.
Saturday was a very winnable game against the Mountaineers, who entered 4-4. Texas actually outgained WVU 439-379, but five turnovers (three of which led to scores totaling 17 points) were the Longhorns’ undoing. Quarterback Jerrod Heard was largely ineffective, throwing for 162 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Now, Strong’s group must outscore high-powered TCU and win its season finale at Baylor, which will likely be playing for a Big 12 title and a College Football Playoff berth, just to make a bowl game. The only other potential path would be an NCAA waiver as a 5-7 team if less than 80 teams reach six wins, forcing bowls to scramble for eligible participants.
This surely isn’t what Texas had in mind when it hired Strong to replace Mack Brown, who had slowly let the program slip from national relevance. Under Strong, the Longhorns are building a defensive identity but have largely been unable to score consistently enough to keep up with prolific Big 12 offensive schemes.
The Longhorns are now 10-13 overall under Strong, and 8-8 in Big 12 play. Strong has been connected to the Miami opening, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, and while he’d likely have to take a pay cut from his $5 million annual salary to leave for the Hurricanes job, some Texas fans might not be too sad to see him leave at this point.
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