Texas Football: All blame for loss to TCU shouldn’t fall on the defense

Blame should be going all around in the Texas football program after the downtrodden Week 9 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs.

One of the more difficult losses to deal with for the Texas football program under the direction of head coach Tom Herman fell on Oct. 26 against the TCU Horned Frogs. That 37-27 road loss at the hands of TCU came amid a myriad of turnovers from junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger last weekend at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.

For the Texas Longhorns football program, responding to this loss involves a good amount of reflection and in-season adjustment as all this talent is not being utilized in the best way possible. Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, in particular, came under a lot of pressure after the way his group played of late.

What makes matters worse for Texas, at least in terms of magnifying problems constantly in the coming days, is the upcoming bye week. There’s no turnaround time for Herman and the Longhorns to help the fans have a quick memory. It won’t be until Nov. 9 against the Kansas State Wildcats that Texas will get its first shot back at redemption. That home showdown against Kansas State won’t be a breeze either.

Where do the Longhorns go from here? And where does the blame fall after last weekend’s loss to the Horned Frogs?

Texas can’t keep opponents they should be beating handily around in the game for as long as TCU did. The Longhorns didn’t do much to help their defense with all the turnovers that Ehlinger had in the passing game. Ehlinger’s four picks constantly put pressure on the defense to stop a rolling TCU offense in the air and on the ground.

Allowing more than four yards per carry and 10 yards per pass didn’t do anything to help the case of the Longhorns defense. There aren’t many reliable options that Orlando has to turn to in the secondary right now amid a tough stretch in Big 12 play and a ton of injuries. Senior safety Brandon Jones is the backbone that is holding any portion of this defense together at this point.

If the Longhorns get healthier in the defensive backfield, then we might see this level of the defense make strides before the end of the regular season. There is just too much too handle for Jones to be taking over this defense by himself.

But it might be too little too late by this mark in the regular season. Texas has lost two of their last three games. Two losses in Big 12 play is no way for Herman to be building up this program in the proper direction, but patience is a virtue.

Winning out through the rest of the Big 12 slate could still get the Longhorns into the conference title game. They will have to knock off the Iowa State Cyclones and Baylor Bears, both on the road, to get back to Jerry World in early December (site of the Big 12 Championship Game). Texas would be likely to either face the Sooners or Baylor in the title game if they make it back.

It is also easy to see how this could fall off the rails with the narrative of a lot of the games the Longhorns played in during the 2018 regular season. This wasn’t too far fetched when Ehlinger declared that essentially Texas was back after the Sugar Bowl victory over the then-ranked No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs.