Texas coaches used media's bashing of Notre Dame loss as motivation

Published Sep. 15, 2015 12:20 p.m. ET

foxsports

The typical coach and player response is they don't watch highlight shows on TV or read newspapers or pay attention what the media's saying in general.

It's never really a believable alibi, and Texas coach Charlie Strong just proved it as such by using the media's dissection of the Longhorns' opening-week debacle at Notre Dame as motivation for his players before last week's must-win game against Rice.

Added to the usual fare of game-film instruction, the Texas coaches added film of the media ripping apart the Horns' effort in the 38-3 loss that led to Strong stripping offensive coordinator Shawn Watson of play-calling duties and benching starting quarterback Tyrone Swoopes in favor of Jerrod Heard.

"It makes us all mad," junior safety Dylan Haines told reporters during Monday's weekly press conference. "You look at all those reporters or analysts or whatever, and they're looking at us from the outside: 'This is a horrible team. They're just not that good. They're just not recovering. They're a bottom-25 team.'"

Texas and Heard went on to crush Rice, 42-28, and added a little life to what has been a listing program.

(h/t Dallas Morning News)