The extra bye week has provided some positives for Texas football. However, along with the positives it can have negative effects as well. Here are three ways the extended break can hurt the Longhorns.
Sloppy play
When you don’t play an actual game for a couple weeks, it can hurt your level of play. Sloppy play comes to mind. When you haven’t played a game against an actual opponent in some time, it sets up potential mistakes.
Texas may make some bonehead penalties or worse, turnover the ball. Tom Herman must make sure his team is focused and ready to play. The players don’t need to work on it necessarily, they just need to make sure they’re fully focused when doing drills in practice. If the Longhorns avoid these mistakes, they should be fine.
Starting slow
When a team comes off a couple of weeks without playing, it can result in starting off slow. It could take some time for the Longhorns offense to get adjusted to playing an actual game. Practice can only do so much in simulating game speed. If Texas is off to a slow start against Iowa State, it must be careful it doesn’t fall behind by too much in the game.
If the Longhorns take too long to adjust and start to play at game speed, they’ll see their Big 12 Championship hopes and dreams disappear. It took some time for the Longhorns to get into the game against Baylor a few weeks ago, and that was after their first bye week. Now they have two weeks off before playing against Iowa State. Hopefully they get off to a quicker start next week.
Fatigue
Like I mentioned before, practice could only do so much to simulate actual game speed. When you’re not ready to play that way for a couple of weeks, it can result in some fatigue, especially toward the end of games.
Fatigue can cause you to have a hard time keeping up with an opposing offensive player or you’ll have difficulty beating a defender, and it effects the way you play. Once everyone is healthy and the Longhorns are done watching film to prepare, Herman must have a couple of intense practices to get his team ready for this important matchup that’s going to be the Longhorns’ toughest game left on their schedule.
Looking forward
It’s more than likely the good will outweigh the bad when it comes to an extra bye week. However, Texas must make sure it doesn’t come out flat and fall behind early. This game against Iowa State is its biggest game of the Texas football season.
If the Longhorns can avoid these things that come into play when you have a long break like this, they should be fine. Iowa State is a tough opponent, and Texas can’t afford to let it stick around in this game. The Longhorns need to start the game fast and leave the Cyclones in the dust. Then they can put all of their focus on Kansas State.
Photo courtesy of Iowa State Athletic Communications
