Just how bad was Texas in loss to TCU?

The pressure has been ratcheted up yet again for embattled Texas head coach Charlie Strong, following the Longhorns' embarrassing 50-7 defeat at the hands of TCU. It’s one thing to lose when your punter muffs the snap in a tied game with 0:41 left (as the Longhorns did to Oklahoma State last week), but to not even compete with a team against whom your record is 66-22-1? That’s beyond humiliating.

Here’s the outcome of the Longhorns' possessions:

Fumble

Safety (when Kyle Ashby sent a snap over the punter's head)

Punt

Punt

Fumble

Missed FG

Punt

Missed FG

Half

Punt

Punt

Punt

Punt

Downs

And, finally, the touchdown (with 5:14 left in the game)

It’s amazing with so much punting practice they struggle so badly.

So, is any of this recoverable?

Well, with Oklahoma traveling to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas next week, likely not soon.

Quarterback Jerrod Heard has proven to be a good runner (our No. 7 QB in that facet of play leading into Week 5), but was held to 1.9 yards per attempt versus TCU. And when he can't get it going on the ground, his passing isn't likely to get it done. While he’s got a perfectly good deep arm (remarkably, before this game, he’d completed 9 of 10 passes over 20 yards for 367 yards and a touchdown, before going just 1 of 6 versus the Horned Frogs), his touch underneath is Tim Tebow-esque, and he goes to pieces under pressure (over a 50-point QB rating drop when under duress).

That's a big problem, given Texas' pass-protection issues. Among the Power 5, the Longhorns are ranked 62nd out of 65 teams in pass-blocking efficiency. Heard was pressured on 41 percent of dropbacks against the Horned Frogs, and just one of Texas' offensive linemen, Connor Williams, earned a positive grade for the game.

The defense was equally poor. Their pass rush is the 10th-least effective in the entire FBS, and against TCU’s 10th-rated pass protectors, QB Trevone Boykin (who earned a +3.3 grade while completing 20 of 34 aimed passes for 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions) had all day to throw. At times, his pocket looked to extend as far as both hash marks as his receivers got open. On 41 passing plays, the Texas pass rush managed a pathetic three hits and two hurries.

In other words, this Texas loss was about as bad as it gets. That might be the only solace Strong and his coaching staff can take from this one — it’s hard to go down from here. Hard, but not impossible.