Forbes writer Tom Layberger has identified the Texas Longhorns as one of college football’s most disappointing teams of 2019 after a 7-5 season.
On Texas, Layberger wrote:
Texas had designs on winning a Big 12 title and at least being a part of the national title conversation in coach Tom Herman’s third year in Austin. The Longhorns not only are absent from the conference championship game, but they needed to defeat Texas Tech on Black Friday to clinch a winning season.
A few other notable teams included were TCU, Missouri, Washington and Michigan State.
Texas opened the year with high expectations and sat at No. 10 in the preseason polls. Much of the hype surrounding Texas had a lot to do with its blowout victory over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and the return of Sam Ehilnger and other key upperclassmen.
Texas opened the season with a win but then fell to LSU 45-38 in week 2. Despite the loss, the media still had high hopes for the Longhorns seeing as how it was a close game against an eventual No. 1 overall LSU.
Texas reeled off three wins in a row before then losing a close game to a highly ranked Oklahoma team.
That loss for Texas, which now had two strikes in the L column, kicked off a 3-4 ending to the regular season.
Injuries were a factor in the Longhorns disappointing season, however, there were plenty of issues that stemmed from poor play calling from Tom Herman’s coordinators.
Texas closed out the season with a 7-5 record and I would not expect to hear many inquiries as to whether or not “Texas is back” this offseason.