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Fact or Fiction: Texas football will miss a bowl in 2017

By Andrew Miller

AUSTIN, TX - SEPTEMBER 02: Shane Buechele #7 of the Texas Longhorns throws a pass in the fourth quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 2, 2017 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TX - SEPTEMBER 02: Shane Buechele #7 of the Texas Longhorns throws a pass in the fourth quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 2, 2017 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /
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Texas football will be lucky to make a bowl game after an embarrassing 10-point defeat at the hands of Maryland. Rebuilding the Longhorns won’t be easy.

FACT. The Texas Longhorns are in some real trouble after losing their season opener to the Maryland Terrapins. Not only was Texas expected to do big things this year, first-year head coach Tom Herman was supposed to immediately turn around this program.

Former head coach Charlie Strong does not look so bad right now. Although he finished with a losing record each year he was with the Texas football program, he still recruited well. There’s enough talent from what Strong recruited for Herman to be successful at Texas.

This loss to the Terps should immediately take the Horns out of the AP Top 25 rankings. They have another extremely tough non-conference matchup in two weeks when they travel to Los Angeles to take on the No. 4 ranked USC Trojans at The Coliseum.

The Big 12 schedule could present an interesting challenge also. Getting past teams like the Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Kansas State Wildcats, West Virginia Mountaineers and even the TCU Horned Frogs will be tough for the Horns.

Texas’ run game was the biggest disappointment. Injuries have hampered projected starting running back Chris Warren III’s career so far. That trend continued today. Warren III only got six carries for 31 yards. Sophomore Kyle Porter rushed for 21 yards on eight attempts.

Sophomore quarterback Shane Buechele performed well in the second half. However, his 375 passing yards and two touchdowns were not enough. Maryland had an answer for everything Texas threw their way.

Buechele played well enough for Texas to win, at least in the last two quarters. However, he needs to find more consistency in his decision making for Herman to be comfortable putting the game in his hands. It was hard to tell how Buechele would respond after a rough finish to the 2016 season.

Next: 5 takeaways from Michigan's huge win over Florida

It’s hard to see Texas winning more than five games this year. This is a team that lost to the Kansas Jayhawks last year. Even Iowa State and Texas Tech had positive results in their matchups against FCS opponents. The Horns do get a break next week against the San Jose State Spartans.

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