During Tom Herman’s weekly press conference last week, he was asked about speculation that Urban Meyer would take his job in 2021 if not sooner. In summary his response was that reports in the press and blogs about his shaky job status were based on unnamed sources and was driven by people with an agenda.  Sounds about right to me.

I saw Herman answer that question on LHN and his response seemed strong but reasonable. But the media reported that Herman had launched into a five-minute diatribe in defending himself. Diatribe? By definition can a diatribe be only five minutes long? Anyway, I thought I must have missed Herman’s answer to a follow up question on the same subject, so I skimmed through the press conference again. I hadn’t missed anything. His answer wasn’t a diatribe.  And how did the reporter and the press expect Herman to answer?  Did they think he would say, “Yeah, I’m going to be fired if I don’t win the Big 12 and I’m very worried about my job security?”

Seems to me that asking that question was a waste of time. In fact, I find about 90% of the questions Herman gets asked in his press conferences are a waste of time and it annoys the heck out of me when a reporter can’t articulate his or her question in less than a 150 words.

Urban Meyer

Let me state this succinctly.  Do we Texas fans really want that creep heading our football program?  Are we that desperate?  I’m not.  I do hope that the next coach–unlike Tom Herman and Charlie Strong—has a resume that includes consistent winning as the head coach at a power five conference program.

Such as:

1. Dabo Swinney – At least a 100-1 shot I know but you have to ask, don’t you?
2. Brian Kelley – Kelley is in his 11th year at Notre Dame where his record is 100 – 37. That includes a BCS Championship appearance and CFP appearance. Notre Dame’s record in the four years prior to his hiring was 26-24. Before Kelley was hired, a consensus was developing that Notre Dame would never be an elite program again because of geography (Have you ever been to South Bend?) and academic standards. Kelley has proven that consensus wrong. Maybe Kelley would like the idea of living and recruiting in Texas and earning more than $1.66 million a year.
3. Kirby Smart – Smart is in his fifth year at Georgia where his record is 49-14 including an appearance the CFP Championship Game in 2017. The last three years he’s won 13, 11, and 12 games. Maybe Smart would like to compete in the Big 12 rather than the SEC.
4. Mack Brown – He fulfills my criteria of consistently winning at a power five program. Okay, just kidding. ????

Iowa State

It just so happens that this is a huge game. Texas must win to remain in Big 12 Playoff contention and a loss would put Tom Herman’s tenure at Texas on its deathbed.  Iowa State needs to win to stay in control of their Big 12 Playoff hopes and prove they’re not a pretend contender as they’ve turned out to be so often during the Matt Campbell era.

Iowa State leads the Big 12 in rushing averaging 205 yards per game and Breece Hall is the conference’s leading rusher averaging 147.5 yards per game at 6.3 yards per rush.

They’re third in the conference in total defense holding opponents to 333.8 yards a game and fourth in scoring defense allowing 23.4 points per game.

Bottom line, statistically Iowa State is better than Texas. The latest line has Texas favored by 1 ½ points. Betting wise, given that the home team is spotted three points, Vegas thinks Iowa State is a better team than Texas.

Seems to me the difference in this game will be the choke factor for three of the most important participants.

1. Will Brock Purdy choke? He’s overrated as far as I’m concerned. I expect a rested Sam Ehlinger to play great in his last game at home for Texas.
2. Will Tom Herman get scared and play too conservatively on offense in big moments as he so often does in big games? Will he commit any major gaffes in clock management?
3. Matt Campbell will not lose his job if Iowa State loses this game, but Iowa State has not a won a conference championship of any kind in more than 100 years, so the pressure is on.  If his team loses in an embarrassing fashion, Michigan may lose interest in him.

This should be an exciting game with plenty of drama. Too bad there will only be about 17,000 fans in attendance. Has anybody noticed that without Sam Ehlinger’s heroics versus Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, Texas would have lost those games and would have lost to Oklahoma by a wide margin? My gut tells me that Sam Ehlinger puts on the performance of a lifetime and Texas wins a nail bitter.

HooK Em,

W.E.