It’s over. It’s a wrap. Finished. 

Whichever way you want to say it, Texas’ season is over. Technically, there is still one more game, but it would be meaningless in terms of conference postseason implications.

Texas had an opportunity to save its season on Saturday — with winning being the first domino to fall in a series of unlikely dominoes that would’ve needed to fall to make it back to the Big 12 Championship game. The Longhorns let that opportunity slip away as they lost 24-10. 

They understood the magnitude of the game. They knew that it winning was the only way to stay above water. That’s why head coach Tom Herman was banging his head against the helmet of senior defensive lineman Malcolm Roach pregame.

“In my old age, I kind of stopped doing it a little bit,” Herman said. “But I just felt it inside of me in this game because I knew that we had to play physical, we had to play with strain and just felt like the young coach Herman.”

For Texas, the loss comes in two parts, much like its season. The first half offense wasn’t as inept as it was in Ames, Iowa the week prior, but it was inept — only scoring three points at the end of the half following a 68-yard run from sophomore running back Keaontay Ingram that began at the two-yard line. Even though points were put on the board, it didn’t serve as any type of spark for Texas as the offense continued on a downward trend in the second half. 

It’s a major reversal of the offense that was on the field in the beginning of the season. That offense was looked at to be the strength of this team, with playmakers and speed complimenting a Heisman hopeful quarterback. Now, it is a team that in a game to save its season, didn’t reach the red zone until the final drive. And didn’t score a touchdown until five seconds were left in the fourth quarter.

But Texas’ defense did it’s job in the first half. It held one of the top offenses in the country to only one touchdown. The problem was that the results weren’t matched on the other side. That is the story of Texas’ season. It has been on rare occasion that the Longhorns have played complimentary football. Early in the season, the defense gave up points as easy as the offense got them. In the last three games, the roles have been reversed.

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“It's very frustrating,” junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger said. “Our defense is doing a great job of playing hard, and we're not handling our side of the bargain and take a lot of ownership and try to fix it.”

Toward the end of the game, when all of McLane Stadium knew the Bears were going to leave victorious, chants of “TU” broke out among the crowd. The backwards initials of Texas being shouted out amongst the crowd was symbolic. It was symbolic of the unravelling and backward nature that was soon to happen by two upperclassmen. 

Senior offensive lineman Zach Shackelford was hit with a personal foul penalty and senior offensive lineman Parker Braun was hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty — signs of allowing the frustration of the game to boil over. Shackelford said postgame that he was “playing through the whistle,” and Braun was unavailable for comment. However, Herman addressed the situation since Braun was thought to be ejected and never played a snap after.

“Obviously, he'll be dealt with from a punitive standpoint,” Herman said. “Nobody talks to the refs except for me. And that's been made very clear throughout our time here.”

Texas’ performance was a point of embarrassment. Both teams struggled in the first half, but Baylor was able to breakthrough in the second half and get the offense flowing. Meanwhile, Texas’ offense had as much flow as a tangled water hose. 

“These guys want to win,” Herman said. “They’re embarrassed. They want to play to their standard.”

This is the first time Texas has lost back-to-back games this season, but it has been against the ropes for much longer. The expectations and aspirations that were held up at the beginning of the season, are being held to the light now. Through injuries, poor defense and subpar offense, everything held up was shown to have cracks in it.