The First Game of the Rest of His Career

When Charlie Strong was hired to coach the Longhorns in December 2013, the consensus was that he gets at least three years to turn the program around and he probably needs four years to make it championship caliber. When Strong took over, the talent deficit at quarterback and both the offensive and defensive lines was so stark that three–to–four years was a very reasonable timeline for him to achieve success. What this line of reasoning didn’t take into account was style points, positive and negative, and Charlie—like some of those poor Jeopardy contestants who have negative dollars—is in negative territory on style points, given the way 2014 ended and 2015 started.  We know Strong thought it was better to let last season play out with Tyrone Swoopes than to burn Heard’s redshirt. In terms of his grace period, I think Strong miscalculated and burned through more than one year’s worth in 2014 by sticking with Tyrone Swoopes. By doing so he earned zero style points, and lost the last two games in humiliating fashion. I don’t think I’m overstating the effect that Swoopes had on the team’s performance when you take into account the credible reports–which came from a person close to the program who I trust–that some team leaders went to Strong and told him they didn’t want to play with Swoopes any longer after the last game of the regular season versus TCU .

Changing play callers and naming Jerrod Heard the starter, and his performance versus Rice, earned Strong his first style points. I think Heard and the offense earned a few more style points for Strong in the California game even though it was a losing effort. There are no more style points to be earned by Strong with anything but wins from here on out.  Fewer than six wins for Texas this year and the unofficial three-to-four year grace period is going to look more like a two-year grace period.  If Jerrod Heard can’t carry this team to any more than four wins, there will be pressure on the athletic director—whoever he/she may be—to send signals to the media and Texas fans that 2016 is a win or walk year at UT for Charlie Strong.  Three wins or fewer and all bets are off on Strong coaching Texas in 2016.

What can Strong do to get his team to six wins this year?

1. Gamble on defense. Put another body upfront to stop the run and man-up in the secondary. Play freshmen cornerbacks Greg Boyd and Davante Davis more. They’re tall and confident. They’ll make mistakes. So what? The upperclassmen they’ll be taking playing time from are making mistakes. Boyd and Davis are potential playmakers more suited to playing man-to-man coverage.
2. Use Daje Johnson as a running back occasionally, if necessary, to get the ball in his hands more often than the current eight times per game.
3. Replace Jonathan Gray as the starter with D’Onta Foreman. Foreman is a bigger, faster, and harder runner than Gray. What more is there to take into consideration here?
4. Tell Nick Rose not to miss any more *#<&>@#*& extra points.

I’m sticking with the prediction I made earlier this week that the Horns win seven in the regular season. If you think that’s crazy consider this, the Horns won 5 Big 12 games last year. To fulfill my prediction they only need to improve to 6 wins in the Big 12 this year. And this year we got Heard.

Win #2 has to come on Saturday.

HooK ‘eM,

W.E.

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