COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS

Longhorns look to build on positives

The Sports Xchange

September 05, 2017 at 7:15 am.

Sep 2, 2017; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns wide receiver Reggie Hemphill-Mapps (17) carries the ball for a first down against the Maryland Terrapins at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Photo Credit: John Gutierrez-USA TODAY Sports

Sep 2, 2017; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns wide receiver Reggie Hemphill-Mapps (17) carries the ball for a first down against the Maryland Terrapins at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Photo Credit: John Gutierrez-USA TODAY Sports

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas rebuilding efforts won’t be a quick fix, but a 51-41 loss to Maryland was still a shock to new Longhorns coach Tom Herman and his staff.

And now for the bad news: Starting quarterback Shane Buechele sprained his right (throwing) shoulder in the loss, will miss practice on Tuesday and be evaluated during the week as the Longhorns prepare to face San Jose State on Saturday afternoon in Austin.

Last Saturday, Texas got two special teams touchdowns and another score on an interception return, passed for 375 yards and still lost to a Maryland team that is picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten’s seven-team Eastern Division.

“Obviously it was not the result that any of us expected or anticipated, or planned for,” Herman said at his Monday press conference. “But there were a lot of positives to build on, and there were certainly mistakes that need to be corrected if we’re going to get to where we all want to get.”

Some of the 88,396 folks at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium began pelting the field with paper fans and booing midway through the fourth quarter, a sign of disappointment that the product on the field was not what they had expected to see.

“They’re disappointed — we are too,” Herman said. “Nobody is more so than the players and coaches that are fully invested in this. This is a process and we’re in this thing for the long haul.

“These nine months of training wasn’t just to beat Maryland,” Herman added.

“This was to instill and solidify a culture and a way of doing things and an attitudinal shift that I feel like we’re on our way. Did I think we were ahead of where we showed on Saturday? Yeah, I did. Hopefully, we’ll show that this week.”

If Buechele can’t go, then the quarterback position will be manned by true freshman Sam Uhlinger, who pushed Buechele in preseason workouts.

Texas ran the ball just 31 times for 98 yards, with only 14 of those carries (and 52 of the yards) coming from its running backs. Herman said the offense tried to take what Maryland was giving.

When the Terrapins went up 27-7 in the second quarter and added an extra player in the box to push the Longhorns away from the run, the Longhorns relied mostly on Buechele’s passing.

“We got to do a better job of establishing the run game,” Herman said. “Now, obviously, it’s difficult when you fall down by 20 points in the second quarter. It changes your thought process a little bit.

“The defense and the circumstances of the game dictated that more than any kind of faith that we have in the run game. I believe that being a balanced offense, which is what we want to be, does not mean we want to throw it 40 times a game and run it 40 times a game. It means we want to be able to win the game on offense the way the defense dictates us.”

A win at home versus San Jose State (1-1) would ease some of the pain the Longhorns suffered in the loss to Maryland. It’s essential for Texas to make hay now — on Sept. 16 it travels to USC and begins Big 12 Conference play at Iowa State on Thursday, Sept. 28

–Sophomore QB Shane Buechele passed for 375 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score against Maryland. He set career highs for passing yards, completions (34) and attempts (52).

–Redshirt freshman Reggie Hemphill-Mapps returned a punt 91 yards for a touchdown in the season-opener and caught seven passes (tying the high on the team) for 69 yards.

–Texas and San Jose State are meeting for the first time.