Longhorns look to rebound against No. 13 West Virginia
Texas’ attention to its culture and the way its policed by the coaching staff and the players won’t change, according to Longhorns’ coach Tom Herman, even after the benching of three players in the first quarter of its 38-35 loss to Oklahoma State last Saturday could be directly attributed to substandard play by the team’s backups.
The Longhorns sat starting cornerbacks Davante Davis and Kris Boyd for the first quarter against the Cowboys on the road after they broke team rules. Texas surrendered 260 of total offense to Oklahoma State in that quarter, the second most the Longhorns have allowed in one quarter in the past 15 years.
Wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey was also benched against Oklahoma State but only for a series.
“It doesn’t matter if we were playing week one or week ten or who the opponent is, or if it was Oklahoma State or Oklahoma or Tulsa or San Jose State, we have standards to uphold and when those standards aren’t met, there’s consequences for that,” Herman said Monday in his regularly scheduled Monday media availability.
“We don’t love them any less,” Herman said about Davis, Boyd and Humphrey. “When you ground your kid, it doesn’t mean you love them any less. It doesn’t mean your feelings have changed for them. Our culture needs to be reinforced on a daily basis so that moving forward especially our young guys know that it doesn’t matter who you’re playing or what your name is.”
Texas (6-2, 4-1 in Big 12 play) came in at No. 17 in Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff ranking and is in a tie for first place in the conference race with No. 7 Oklahoma (a team the Longhorns have already defeated) and No. 13 West Virginia, a powerful and balanced squad that ventures into Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Herman said he expects the Longhorns to bounce back well from the loss to Oklahoma State, saying the team can continue to define its season by the way it responds.
“We responded fantastically to the opening season loss (to Maryland),” Herman said.
“I don’t think anybody can dispute that. And so this is very similar. So now, we’re going to figure out, you know, what’s really inside of our guys.”
