Longhorns eager to fix mistakes after tough loss to LSU

Herman says defensive lapses are "fixable"

AUSTIN – The Texas Longhorns know that they had more than one opportunity to put points on the board against the LSU Tigers in the first quarter. Instead, they walked away empty-handed, twice, with possessions inside the five yard line. 

But after the team’s 45-38 defeat in Austin, Herman said that the offense wasn’t a problem, “We scored 38 points and had 538 yards of offense, so I don’t think there was any emotional letdown from our offense.”

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Starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger was more critical of the two failures. 

“We had the ball inside the five yard line twice and came away with no points. That’s unacceptable.”

One of those attempts ended with starting running back Keaontay Ingram dropping a wide open pass in the endzone. That costly error was magnified by the fact the Horns only lost by 7. The biggest questions surround the defense, which gave up 45 points to the Tigers. Herman was quick to quell any fears regarding his unit’s viability during his Monday morning press conference.

”It’s very fixable,” Herman said. “We’ve got talented players that care. When you complete passes, it’s not always on the secondary. We had some linebackers that were out of position in underneath coverage as well.”

That task became tougher when Herman revealed that safety B.J. Foster will be out at least a couple of weeks with a “pretty significant” hamstring issue.

Meanwhile, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron roused up some drama of his own during his Monday meeting with reporters, claiming the visitors’ locker room at DKR Memorial Stadium had no air conditioning. He was warned about the issue by Louisiana Tech coaches who had played Texas the week before, and took measures to counteract the situation. Several of the Tigers defensive players went down late in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be leg cramps. Longhorns fans booed the Tigers, believing players were faking the injuries to get the Horns out of their offensive rhythm. 

On Monday UT Athletic Director Chris Del Conte released this statement:

“The comment today about lack of air conditioning in our visiting locker room is the first we’ve heard of any issues in that area. We provide one of the best visitor setups available and are proud of the efforts we put forth in hosting our guests.  Our facilities staff did not receive any complaints from either Louisiana Tech or LSU, and we have confirmed that our air conditioning in the visiting locker room is in good working order.”​​​​​​​

Sounds like the start of a beautiful rivalry, again.