Longhorns coach Tom Herman on the Big 12 opener against Texas Tech – KXAN.com

AUSTIN (KXAN) The Longhorns truly start the 2020 season with the Big 12 opener at Texas Tech after the dismantling of UTEP in the season opener.

Normally, a trip to Lubbock would prove to be very difficult due to an intimidating environment of Red Raiders fans. However, this year, fan capacity will be limited due to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Texas Tech struggled in its opener against Houston Baptist, fighting off a potential two-point conversion to hold off the Huskies for the 35-33 win in Lubbock on Sept. 12. The Red Raiders have also been battling COVID-19 outbreaks throughout its locker room. Last week, Texas Tech head coach Matt Wells said the Red Raiders had six active cases.

Its a 2:30 p.m. kickoff in Lubbock between the Longhorns and Red Raiders on Saturday.

Texas head coach Tom Herman met with the media on Monday to breakdown the match-up with Texas Tech.

I hate to even talk about it because I dont want to jinx it. We could certainly be next. I dont think anyone has a secret formula. I think our guys are really bought in. I dont know that were doing anything magical. I think part of it is that we got our rash of them out of the way early, but other than that I think our guys have bought in which is not easy thing to do in Austin at the Univeristy of Texas having to to live the life in order to stay safe and COVID free. For the most part, our guys have continued to be diligent because they believe and understand for us to have a successful season, theyre going to have to go above and beyond and its up to us to make sure that we continue that level of diligence.

I think even distribution is what were after and in 2020 youre going to make sure that these guys stay safe and healthy. I dont know how more emphatic I can be thatI know you guys want to judge whos on the first line in the two-deep and who jogs out on the first time. To us and those guys, its irrelevant.

I think supposed to is very subjective. You guys get to decide what supposed to looks like. As long as we play to the best of our abilities, we feel very confident. We have watched the HBU game numerous times. Its difficult to get a beat on Texas Techs defensive philosophy simply because we know how potent HBUs passing attack is. Any time a team is heavy on one side, run or pass, thats going to affect your defensive game plan. This will be a good test of in game adjustments for us, I think. Id imagine theyre going to play us different. Theres a quiet confidence. I think our guys know what they are capable of. With the veterans being around here and the make up of this team, I do believe theres a lot of confidence in that locker room.

I like the fact that we threw the ball in the upper 40s and had zero sacks. I didnt like that our quarterback got hit a couple of times. When we decided to run, we didnt exert our will necessarily maybe in the way we did in the throw game, but Im not too concerned when you only attempted 10 or 12 runs. Its going to be tough to get in a rhythm. I think some of that is to be understood.

I think one of the reasons we do what we do at home isso its not different on the road. Youre going to sleep in a hotel bed. Youre not going to have a roommate80 something beds to check last week. That took a while. I think what Ive learned with the contact tracing on an airplane. If a kid tests positive within 48 hours of being on that airplane, the two rows behind him and in front of him are going to be wiped out and thats regardless of wearing a mask. Thats going to be difficult in how we seat the team on the airplane. We had to make a lot of changes. We didnt have a team meal on the night before the UTEP game. Felt a lot different and it stinks.

I think its important to praise small victories. I think any time you see anything that is a shining example of what youre expectations are, you need to celebrate them in a new program. Theres probably 100 stories but off the top of my head. Stay consistent, never relent and celebrate small victories.

He kept his head down and mouth shut and came to work everyday. He was the best player on the scout team last year and he did it with a smile on his face. The biggest thing with him and his return was his attitude. Did he make everything in terms of where he was supposed to be? Sure he did that. The hard part is doing it with a smile on your facegetting pushed around a little by the defense. Not just what he did but the way he did it.

Youve got to start fast when youre on the road on both sides of the ball. If you give them momentum on either side of the ball, I think thats something that you can feed off of at home. The formula is not too different. Normally, youve got to weather the crowd noise but crowd noise shouldnt be an issue this year. When you take the crowd out of the equation, there is no difference to playing on the road or at home. Weve been afforded a slight advantage that we dont have to contend with the home teams crowd.

Any time you throw for 430 and lead your team to 600 yards of offense, youre doing a good job. Weve felt when hes healthy, hes one of the better quarterbacks in the conference. He is more than capable, hes one of the better ones in our league.

I dont know that his success at Utah State has anything to do with his success at Texas State. I think hes the right guy for the job. I worked with his brother Luke for three years at Iowa State. The cool thing about Matt istheyre going to be innovative offensively but theyll never stray from the physicality and toughness I think that he wants from his program and Ive always admired that. You can see the beginnings of that start to take shape in Lubbock, as well.

Our training camp was so unique and so different we felt like we needed the extra work. Introduced a little scout team on Wednesday and Thursday/Friday were more Texas Tech centric, if you will. We went from a two and a half work week to a four day work week. You dont want to give 120 18 to 22 year olds, you know, 72 hours off, but we needed the work too. We missed so much regularity of training camp that it was important for us to continue to work.

I think theyre always going to be involved in the pass defense. Im happy that weve got some pretty athletic guys there. Guys that can run and change direction and cover a lot of ground. We feel good about those guys in covering a pass offense.

I thought they graded out really well. I thought three or four graded out as champion. I feel good about the four guys there. Brayden Liebrock rolled his ankle in practice, but hell be back today. I think youll see more 12 personnel and our guys are versatile enough to do it, but they can also stick their face in there and block.

A lot. We havent done anything yet. We beat UTEP. Thats good, it beats the alternative. We won the game and we did it the way we set out to do it, but at the end of that day that was our scrimmage. I think our starters played 30 plays. We understand this is a huge test on the road. The level of competition ratchets up significantly and I think were all crazy if, in 2020, we want to judge a team in 2020 off a game one performance. I think were going to be in for some really poor predictions moving forward if we judge a team off of one game. Were not doing it. I know that. Were going to see a much-improved Texas Tech team. I would like to think well be improved, as well. It will be a team that will provide a much stiffer competition and we know that. We know that every week is different. Just because a team won by two points in week one doesnt mean theyre not capable of beating you by 21. I would caution everyonelets not jump to too many conclusions after one game in the craziest offseason in the history of college football ever.

That decision is out of my control and Im not going to waste a brain cell even forming an opinon about it. Im happy for those players that will get an opportunity to play especially for those juniors or seniors that this might or will be their last time playing college football. I think they got that right. I dont even know the format. So chalk it up to something out of my control and were pretty focused on controlling the things we can control and worrying about the things we can control.

That was how many the team decided. We took a vote where everybody was eligible and these seven guys were head and shoulders above the rest of the team. Within these seven guys, to cut it to four wouldve been a vote or two. We had six last year so it felt like the right thing to do that the team was pretty adamant that these were the seven guys and I think its the compliment to all of them that their team isI guess, divided on who should represent them. A cool thing to see that many guys receive that many votes.

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Longhorns coach Tom Herman on the Big 12 opener against Texas Tech - KXAN.com