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Post-game reaction: Texas players weren’t ready for BYU?

By Jeff Kubiszyn

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Listening to Charlie Strong’s post-game interview, it struck me funny when he said the team did not have a good vibe in warm ups. He didn’t feel the players were ready to play.

“Just the whole demeanor. Just how they took the field. Just how they carried themselves,” Strong said. “If you’ve been around long enough, you know. I knew that. I told them that before we ever went out. I said we’re not ready to play. When you’re not ready to play, this is a good football team, and we’re probably going to go out here and get embarrassed.”

Even co-offensive coordinator Shawn Watson saw the team wasn’t ready to play.

“You can just tell by the demeanor of the team,” Watson said. “We’re around them so much. We live together in this facility. We pour ourselves into these players. When something isn’t right, we can all tell. I know exactly what you’re talking about now. We just felt like there was a lack of attention that you have to have.”

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Wait, what?

How is every single player on this team not ready to play? BYU embarrassed you on nation TV a year ago. Some quarterback no one had ever heard of rushed for 259 yards on you. Here is your opportunity to return the favor – or at least win the game. The coaches shouldn’t have to get you fired up; the game film should do the trick. Players even talked all offseason about the rematch and how they wanted to show the world the team had improved.

How were the Texas players not mentally prepared for this rematch? Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

The defensive line did put up a pretty fight. Malcolm Brown and Desmond Jackson made plenty of plays in the Cougars backfield. Quandre Diggs had an interception to prevent the score from being worse. The defense was on the field for most of the third quarter, however. Eventually BYU’s offense just overwhelmed the Texas defense and tackles were missed, leading to big plays, much like in last year’s game.

It begs the question, then: Are the suspensions and dismissals causing too much of a distraction?

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    • If there was going to be a week to be distracted, this was it. Dominic Espinosa and David Ash were lost to injury – the Ash announcement was totally unexpected. Strong followed this news up by announcing four players were either suspended, or still suspended for the BYU game. Did all of this have the players wondering who would be next to draw the ire of Strong instead of concentrating on the game? It shouldn’t have.

    Let’s not take anything away from BYU. Bronco Mendenhall has put together a pretty good program. Taysom Hill is a load to bring down. His passing looks to have improved from last season. The Cougars were the better team on the field Saturday night. BYU deserved to win the game.

    One thing is for sure, this team better get up to play UCLA, or the season could turn ugly very quickly.

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