Normalcy is sparse in 2020, yet college football fans have seen glimpses of it this season. Contested matchups and upsets have dominated the national conversation along with news of program outbreaks and sidelined players who tested positive for COVID-19.
A lot of negative opinions can be said about Texas this season, but its off-field discipline has been consistent. Fans may consider remaining COVID-19 free throughout this year an expectation, though Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor and TCU have had to deal with outbreaks. Clemson junior quarterback Trevor Lawrence missed two games for the Tigers after testing positive in late October.
It’s not to say that other Power Five teams are not taking the virus seriously. But the list of outbreaks has grown throughout the 2020 season — and Texas has not been on it.
Remaining COVID-19 free during an unprecedented season is a feat. Texas’ postponement with Kansas came from the Jayhawks, not the Longhorns. It speaks volumes to how head coach Tom Herman commands the locker room and the players themselves. Texas hasn’t had a player test positive since June. One could chalk it up to luck, but as cases rise in Austin, it sounds more like leadership.
However, Herman continues to feel the mounting pressure of the Longhorns’ unhappy fanbase. After back-to-back losses to TCU and Oklahoma, rumors began circulating that former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer could replace the four-year head coach.
Herman was asked by a reporter Nov. 16 what he thought of his job security and the rumors that he could be replaced by Meyer. It’s nothing new for a head coach to have a potential replacement name-dropped at a press conference. But the mention begs the question: What sort of expectations are reasonable at a marquee football program during a global pandemic? Where do fans and critics draw a logical line during an unexpected and challenging season?
“The players, these guys, they've seen it all, done it all,” Herman said in response to the Meyer question. “… There's a section of people, which is our program, our coaches (and) the people intimately involved in the day-to-day operations of our enterprise, that know the truth, and then there’s rumors. The player part is really easy, almost comical to the point where sometimes a kid will come up to me and say, ‘Coach, you'll never guess what lunacy just came across my feed. This is crazy, right?’”
Replacement rumors will never stop in any program, and especially not in Texas. Football is deeply ingrained in Texas culture; Texas is home to America’s team, and the Longhorns are the highest-grossing college football program in America. Rumors fuel football. Speculation is half of what makes watching the sport fun. Why wouldn’t the chatter exist, especially when Meyer is a free agent?
Texas fans know that competing this season has been anything but easy, and Texas has handled the pandemic smoothly. At the end of the day, fans want to watch football, but some credit must be paid to the leadership in the locker room — and that includes Tom Herman.
