Beaten up and outscored 287-12, Texas College learning painful lessons in upward mobility

An 0-4 record that’s even worse than it sounds

It takes a determined man to show up for work Monday morning after his football team got pounded 75-6 over the weekend.

And 92-0 the weekend before that.

And 52-6 the weekend before that.

And 68-0 the weekend before that, in the season opener.

“We’ve got a lot of teaching to do,” first-year Texas College coach Ricky Carson said over the telephone from his office in Tyler, Texas. “We need more discipline. We just can’t stop anybody right now.”

A leaky defense, though, is far from the only reason the Steers have been barbecued the first four weeks of the season.

When Carson swapped his administrative duties at Texas College (enrollment: 964) for the coaching reins in late spring, he inherited a squad coming off a 1-9 season. By the time he took a head count, between defections and ineligible players, he’d lost 20 starters and all but a handful of seniors. The last three weeks, he’s struggled to dress three dozen players. On top of that, Carson has a new staff trying to install a new offense.

But all those things combined still don’t explain the Steers’ fate. For the last piece of the puzzle, check out the schedule.

When Texas College revived its program in 2003 after a 40-year hiatus, the administration signed on to compete in the small-school NAIA, the lowest rung on the college football ladder. But for reasons the new coach and his just-arrived athletic director are still trying to figure out, Carson’s predecessor, Jay Brown, left behind a schedule that included three Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) and one Division II opponent in the Steers’ first five games.

That’s like a middleweight trying to make a living on a steady diet of light heavies and cruiserweights. And just like that boxer, Texas College is on the ropes. The Steers have a weekend off before traveling to Mississippi Valley State, Carson’s alma mater and the last of three FCS opponents, then begin Central States Football League play against other NAIA opponents on Oct. 10.

“The schedule was decided before I got here. We’ve got no choice but to roll with it,” Carson said. “It helps financially, sure, but we knew we’d be out of our league some. Just maybe not this much …

“Anyway, the way I figure it,” he perked up a moment later, “by the time we get to our conference, it’s going to be hard to intimidate us, or show us something we haven’t seen.”

Like the 515 yards and 24 first downs Texas Southern rolled up on them. Or the 34 rush attempts that netted a minus-18 yards against Ouachita Baptist. Or the 50 points Stephen F. Austin hung on them by halftime — even though coach J.C. Harper pulled his starters midway through the second quarter — and 92 by game’s end.

“How did it happen?” Harper said. “I keep asking myself that.

“We did everything right and every weird bounce went our way. And like us, they throw it mostly, which doesn’t eat up a lot of clock. … By the fourth quarter, I checked with the ref to see if we could play a running clock. He said, ‘check with their coach.’ I did and he said, ‘Sure.’”

Asked to assess the difference between the two teams, Harper paused.

“Well, our third-string running back rushed for a ton of yards, over 100, and he hadn’t played before or since. We just don’t run the ball a lot.”

Texas Southern coach Johnnie Cole wasn’t quite as diplomatic.

“Did that look like a team ready to compete?” he said. “No.”

Teams stepping up in class is one of the great charms of college football. The big schools, effectively, are buying wins. So few of the smaller schools even have a puncher’s chance, which is why Appalachian State’s win over Michigan two seasons ago was such a big deal. But the payout is good, it’s great for recruiting, and their kids get to play in big stadiums and see their names in lights.

The downside is getting beat bad. A program has to be cocky, really good or desperate to risk it more than once or twice a season.

“We try to get one FBS school to play us every year. In 2008, it was TCU and we lost 67-7,” Harper recalled.

“They have almost two dozen more scholarships and it shows. They could have scored 100. Heck,” he added, “they could have scored 150 if they really wanted to. …

“So it might help you get better, but only up to a point. Our goal is to make the playoffs and play for a national championship at this level. And it seems the lower you go, the less sense it makes trying to play up, the less fair it becomes for the kids.”

Texas College linebacker George Lee is 5-foot-11, weighs 220 pounds and because of a shortage of bodies, he’s had to put in plenty of time at running back. He knew it was going to be a rough season when Texas College lost its opener 68-0 to Concordia (Ala.) College, a team the Steers beat by a point last season and the only NAIA opponent among their first five games.

“Physically, I’m exhausted, but not mentally. I get excited going against guys who are considered on paper to be better,” Lee said. “I can’t say if I’d do it (scheduling) different, because if you want to make the (NAIA) playoffs, you have to win your conference and be ranked in the Top 20. So you got to play tough teams if you want the ranking.

“But sure, it’s hard to block out the score. We just keep believing we’re a far better team,” he added, “than what we’ve showed so far.”

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org