Texas coach Tom Herman breaks down the win against West Virginia
MORGANTOWN, W. Va (KXAN) — At first, West Virginia looked poised to pull off the upset at home against the Longhorns.
The first quarter momentum belonged to the Mountaineers, but Sam Ehlinger settled the offense down with four touchdowns for a 42-31 win against WVU.
Spurred by three interceptions in the second half, the offense worked quickly with a short field for a commanding 35-17 lead over West Virginia early in the fourth quarter.
Texas head coach Tom Herman met with the media following the win.
Opening statement:
“Heckuva college football game. We knew this was going to be a really tough environment. Hats off to West Virginia, that’s a helluva atmosphere to play college football in. I thought we held a team under 100 yards rushing, got four turnovers, played great defense in the second half. We had the lead at halftime and never gave it up. I thought the guys handled adversity.”
Injury Report
Chris Brown- thigh contusion
B.J. Foster- stinger
Reese Leitao- stinger
Keaontay Ingram- stinger
Cade Brewer- evaluated for head injury
On running game:
“We didn’t run the ball well in the first half, but we ran a lot of plays in the first half. Felt like we could wear them down. With two weeks to prepare there were a lot of different things. I felt like our training and conditioning took over in the fourth quarter.”
On response of secondary in second half:
“You never want to give up 463 yards and 360 in the air. You kind of…make them one-dimensional and we were doing a great job against the run. Obviously you’ve got to do both. I thought the troops rallied well from my vantage point. The corners played pretty well. We’ve got to sure up some issues in our zone coverage but I thought they provided some sparks for the entire team.”
On touchdown run for Devin Duvernay:
“He’s an all everything guy for us right now. It was blocked really well and he made a couple guys miss. When he gets in the open field and finds a crease,
On touchdown play to lineman Sam Cosmi:
We’ve been practicing that play. We called it Moses in honor of Sam (Cosmi’s) o-line coach in high school who he is really close with. If we got it down there on the left hash, we knew we were going to call it. I thought Parker Braun and Derek Kerstetter did a great job on the play.
On if other linemen might get a touchdown play:
“(laughing) The center and guard might be a little harder than tackle. Who knows they’re all pretty athletic up front.”
On red zone defense:
“Elite. We take a lot of pride in that. I think that’s a testament to our 1-0 culture. You never want them to get down there but you’ve got to bow your backs and hold them down there. Especially after the turnover, that could’ve been a huge momentum swing, but we hold them to a field goal.”
Is West Virginia a rival?
“I define rivals differently to me. They’ve got to have some semblance of history to it. When you play teams…60,70, 100 times…to me that defines a rivalry. We don’t take anyone lightly in the Big 12. We don’t play any less hard against West Virginia.”
On keeping team focused with OU ahead:
“I don’t think it was that hard. It’s not coach speak. I had to be reminded of who we actually played…during the open week…are you worried about looking ahead to OU. I didn’t sense it at all and I think that’s a real testament to our leadership. We had three really intense practices this week and the maturity of this team is growing…our ability to realize that winning a game on the road in this conference…there’s nothing easy about it. I think they responded with a good week of practice.”