Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll believes there is a chance running backs Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde could play Week 11 against Arizona.
The Seattle Seahawks have sorely missed running backs Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde over the last three weeks as the two have continued to battle foot and hamstring injuries, respectively.
Seattle is now facing a short week and another critical divisional contest and desperately in need of a run game. Coach Pete Carroll is hopeful Carson and Hyde could be available Thursday night when the Seahawks host Arizona.
“It’s going to be close, and there’s a chance,” Carroll said Monday morning on 710 ESPN Seattle. “Whether they make it back or not, we still need to mix our game and make sure that we’re presenting the attack like we know how to do.”
Carroll is expected to address the media later in the afternoon and could provide more details then.
ESPN put together a scenario for UT to make it into the playoff with Bama, Clemson, and Ohio State. A 2% chance, it would be UT’s first CFP.
In ESPN’s 2020 College Football Playoff predictor, something seems to be a constant. The top three seeds will be an order of Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State. Since the creation of the playoff in 2014, these three teams are responsible for five out of the six national championships.
Texas follows those six teams, coming in with an overall 10% chance to make the College Football Playoff. In comparison, the Longhorns had less than a 1% chance to make it last season. Here is what ESPN had to say about the Longhorns’ playoff hopes.
Is Texas back?
Maybe! A year ago — when there was legitimate Longhorns hype — we wrote about how our numbers saw Oklahoma as the only realistic playoff threat out of the Big 12. This year, that’s no longer the case. Texas has a legitimate shot to win the Big 12 at 39% — just a hair behind Oklahoma at 41%.
And playoff hopes are not totally out of the question. There’s about a 10% chance the Longhorns work their way into college football’s final four — well beyond the 0.5% shot we gave the team last season. Back then, Texas was staring at a large infusion of new starters. But now the Longhorns bring back Sam Ehlinger (15th in QBR last year) and FPI is forecasting big improvement from the Texas defense, which ranks in the top 20 in terms of experience.
The Sooners (15%) remain the Big 12’s best playoff hope, but they are not the conference’s only playoff hope.
Based on the percentages of the previous six mentioned teams and Texas, ESPN also put together scenarios in which they made it into the playoff with the three most likely teams, Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State.
Here is how it turned out:
Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Wisconsin – 5%
Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Ohio State – 3%
Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State – 3%
Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oregon – 3%
Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Penn State – 3%
Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma – 3%
Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Texas – 2%
Facing off against any of the Crimson Tide, Tigers, or Buckeyes would bring up interesting storylines.
With Alabama, it would bring up a revenge factor from the 2009 BCS National Championship. To this day, how the Longhorns would have performed with a healthy Colt McCoy is still one of the biggest ‘What ifs’ in program history.
Texas has not played Ohio State since the Fiesta Bowl after the 2008 season. The two also faced off in 2005 and 2006, playing in an all-time classic home and home series.
For Clemson, the two schools have no previous meetings. It would be the first time ever matching up. In the CFP era, the Tigers have been on par with Alabama, winning two national championships.
With the two playoff semi-final sites being the Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl, the Longhorns have fond memories of both venues. Texas beat Georgia in the 2019 Sugar Bowl after finishing second in the Big 12.
As for the Rose Bowl, Vince Young and the historic 2005 team pulled off a win in the greatest college football game of all time.
Currently, Oklahoma still has the best odds in the Big 12. However, Texas’ odds are much greater than they were last season. A fourth season of Sam Ehlinger and 16 starters returning next season has given the Longhorns hope in the computer’s eyes.
The bar rose in 2018 when UT won the Sugar Bowl. Failing to meet the expectations in 2019, will the 2020 season be Tom Herman’s last chance?
When Texas hired Tom Herman after the 2016 season, they were fresh off three consecutive seasons with seven losses. With Charlie Strong going 6-7, 5-7, and 5-7 in his three seasons, at the time, making three bowl games, let alone winning three bowl games sounded like a pipe dream.
Well, that is exactly what Herman has done, guiding the Longhorns to bowl wins in his first three seasons in charge. Much improvement from Strong’s tenure in Austin. The issue though, is that the standard was raised in 2018 when Texas made their way to the Big 12 Championship game and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
From that point on, that type of success was what was expected from Herman going forward, beginning in 2019. However, the Longhorns flopped, going 7-5 on the year, losing some games in ugly fashion along the way. Losing to LSU and Oklahoma may have been expected, but losses like TCU and Iowa State are in-explainable for a team who was supposed to take a jump towards double-digit wins in the regular season.
Going into the 2020 season, things must improve and the bad losses must be a thing of the past for Texas. Much of the excuse throughout last season was the coordinators in place and how a change was needed. Now, the change has been made and Herman has hired Mike Yurcich as the offensive coordinator and Chris Ash as the defensive coordinator. Both with stellar performances in the same positions at previous schools, the two are expected to instantly improve both sides of the ball.
The schedule is fairly similar, playing two easier non-conference opponents, LSU, and the usual Big 12 foes. Facing the Tigers in Death Valley will be a difficult task, but no matter the result, the game will no effect Texas’ standing in the conference. Already giving thoughts on the 2020 schedule, it should work out in favor of the Longhorns, getting most of their hardest conference opponents at home.
Possibly the most important factor to the upcoming season is Sam Ehlinger and his final stand. Going into his third full season as the starting quarterback, he is expected to be one of the best at his positions in the Big 12. Gaining Heisman hype the past two seasons may be unfair, but the signal-caller should be playing at a level that can win Texas ball games. If he can consistently play at a high level, then Texas should hold up to expectations.
With all of this stacking in favor of the Longhorns, if Herman and the staff fail to deliver, will his time be up as head coach? The answer is that it depends on the final results. If that is another 7-5 season with losses to both LSU and Oklahoma while suffering some head-scratching losses throughout the Big 12 schedule, Herman’s seat will be scorching hot and may be coming to an end.
A win against the Tigers or in the Red River Shootout would more than likely buy him some more time, especially if he can beat Oklahoma again. Even going 1-1 in these games, 9-3 is the least of the expectations for Texas in the upcoming season. There is no reason to be losing games in a similar fashion to TCU and Iowa State from last season. Returning most of their starters on both sides of the ball, experience alone should carry the Longhorns towards nine wins.
Anything less than that (and maybe a Big 12 championship appearance) and it may be time to move on from Herman. Four years as a head coach is usually enough time and being barely bowl eligible is not the level the University of Texas expects to be at. Even after three consecutive seven loss seasons, Herman raised the expectations after the Sugar Bowl in 2018. It is time to fulfill those and consistently be at the top of the Big 12.
