Texas Football: Regular season ends amid 23+ Longhorns COVID-19 cases

The 2020 regular season ends for the Texas football program in the wake of roughly two dozen COVID-19 positive tests emerging this week.

It took a while for the novel coronavirus pandemic to have an effect on the side of the Texas football program, in terms of cancelling or pushing back games. But this game that is now reportedly cancelled against the Kansas Jayhawks, that was already pushed back once in the wake of COVID-19-related issues, is one of the most impactful events to happen for this team this season in the midst of the pandemic.

A report from Horns247 indicated that “at least 23” Texas players are now sidelined with positive COVID-19 tests. There definitely wasn’t a large enough roster for head coach Tom Herman and the Longhorns to pull together to play this game against the Jayhawks, scheduled for this weekend.

This means that the Longhorns will round out this roller coaster ride of a regular season slate with a record of 6-3 (5-3 Big 12). It also ends on a bit of a sour note with Texas missing out on a shot to play in the Big 12 Championship Game, and only reaching six wins for the regular season. A bit of a positive takeaway is that the Longhorns finished out the regular season by winning four of their final five games.

If the Kansas game had taken place, Texas was more than likely going to come away with a seven win regular season. This would’ve been the second-highest winning percentage that Herman posted in a regular season in his four years as Texas head coach to date.

The best regular season that Herman had in his four years as Texas head coach to date was back in 2018. Texas finished up the 2018 season in total with a record of 10-4, including a berth in the Big 12 Championship Game, and a win over the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl.

What impact this will have on the Longhorns in terms of their bowl placement is yet to be seen. Maybe it will be a second consecutive year of Texas appearing in the Alamo Bowl. That also largely depends on who wins the Big 12 Championship Game, come Dec. 19, likely between the Iowa State Cyclones and Oklahoma Sooners.

Herman will finish out his fourth regular season on the Forty Acres with a total record now of 31-18. If Texas wins their bowl game this year, then Herman will remain perfect in postseason play with this program.