Bijan Robinson Tears up Kansas State and Possibly Saves Tom Herman’s Job
The Texas Longhorns went into Manhattan, Kansas on Saturday as the most talked about team in the college football world. There are questions as to whether or not Tom Herman should remain the head coach after last week’s loss to Iowa State knocked them out of Big 12 Championship contention.
Well on Saturday, Tom Herman’s Longhorns did what they’ve rarely done during his tenure: blow out teams that they’re far more talented than. Texas rolled Kansas State 69-31. And that final score could have been worse.
A big reason why was running back Bijan Robinson, who was a former-five star recruit, and was unleashed on Saturday. Robinson had nine carries for 172 yards, good for an average of over 19 yards per carry, plus three touchdowns. These were the first touchdowns of his career.
Here’s a look at his first TD, which is his least impressive of the day, but showed off his shiftiness.
The second TD featured lots of “slicing and dicing” as FOX Sports broadcaster Gus Johnson put it in his touchdown call.
And then there was the icing on the cake for Robinson, showing off his speed on a 75-yard touchdown run.
This impressive performance came hours after Kirk Herbstreit ripped into the Texas Longhorns and the job itself.
The Longhorns have been the talk of college football this week following last week’s loss to Iowa State, which sparked the Urban Meyer rumors. Another talking head, Colin Cowherd, also admitted while he loved the hire of Tom Herman at Texas, he no longer thinks it’s working.
But if there is a way to silence the doubters, it’s hanging nearly 70 points on the road.
But honestly, if Tom Herman beat up the teams he was supposed to beat the last four seasons, he would not be in this position. In my opinion, it’s not just that Herman hasn’t won a Big 12 title in four years or that he’s 1-4 against Oklahoma, it’s that his teams also play down to their weaker competition. This has been a problem for Herman dating back to his time at Houston.
But no matter who is on the sidelines as the head coach of the Longhorns in 2021, they’ve got a stud at running back to build around in Bijan Robinson. And in fact, maybe Robinson’s performance will remind some of the Herman naysayers that this guy has also recruited better than anyone has at Texas in over a decade with three-straight Top 10 classes and two of those in the Top 3.
We’ll find out soon enough if that’s enough to keep him around Austin into next year.
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