Tom Herman has to go after series of bone-head decisions in loss to Iowa State

Texas needs to move on from head coach Tom Herman after his latest loss to Iowa State.

The Tom Herman era at Texas has not gone as planned. He showed up in 2017 and his best season came in 2018 when the Longhorns went 10-4 and won the Sugar Bowl.

But Herman still hasn’t won a Big 12 championship and had a chance to do so in 2020. Texas entered Friday’s game against Iowa State with a 5-2 record and a shot to take down the  No. 13 Cyclones. Instead, Herman made a few bone-headed decisions and Texas lost after a missed 57-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation. The game never should have come down to that in the first place.

The Tom Herman era is all but over

There is no reason to keep Herman beyond the 2020 season despite a hefty buyout. This is a program that has championship aspirations and yet can’t even get into the Big 12 Championship Game.

Friday’s loss saw Herman make two decisions that stood out and were going to be talked about if the Longhorns lost, which they did. The first was a fake punt Herman called with a 20-13 lead in the third quarter.

The Longhorns faced a fourth down and the head coach called a fake that ended up with a completed pass short of the sticks. Iowa State got the ball at their own 43-yard line and was in the red zone a play later. That drive ended in a field goal to make it 20-16.

But Herman wasn’t done going for it on fourth down. His offense got the ball back after the made field goal and embarked on a 13-play, 68-yard drive deep into Iowa State territory. Texas faced a 4th and 1 at the Iowa State 13-yard line and could have opted for the easy field goal to make it 23-16.

But no, Sam Ehlinger was stuffed on a run and Texas kept that slim four-point lead. The two teams then traded punts and the Cyclones ended up scoring a touchdown to take the commanding 23-20 lead with 1:25 remaining on the clock.

There is a difference between being aggressive and totally ignoring the situation at hand. A fake punt on a day when Iowa State wasn’t moving the ball all that well was just foolish. If you want to go for it then just leave the offense out there. Don’t put the fate of the play in the hands of your special teams unit.

Then there is not kicking the field goal with eight minutes remaining. Herman may say he wanted to end the game right there and then. But a seven-point lead would have eased pressure on his defense and taken away the scene of a frantic final drive.

This is Herman’s fourth season at Texas and he continues to make decisions that actively hurt his team. One 10-win season doesn’t change this fact and Texas needs a coach that is going to take the program back to the levels of success seen under Mack Brown. Using simple logic during games will go a long way toward achieving that goal.

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