Following the Longhorns’ dominant 37-14 win over USC on Saturday, Tom Herman addressed the media in his weekly press conference. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the conference.

Risks and rewards

Going up against the first ranked opponent of the season, it was time for Texas to finally take some chances, eventually paying dividends.

The first risk taken came with seven minutes remaining in the first half. Ball on the Texas 1-yard line, USC was stuffed on third-and-goal, but was called for illegal formation, a penalty that would back the ball up to third-and-six.

Instead of accepting the penalty, Herman chose to play it as fourth-and-goal at the one. The Longhorns stuffed the run once again, turning the ball over on downs.

“That was a defensive coordinator whose job depends on my evaluation of him, walked up and said ‘coach, we got this. We’ll stop them,’” Herman said of the decision. “It was a lot of trust... we went with it, and it did provide us a tremendous amount of energy.”

On offense, Sam Ehlinger finished with only a 45 percent completion percentage. Yet this was all by design, as Ehlinger repeatedly took shots down the field, several of which paid off in chunk yardage plays and touchdowns.

“We didn’t even bat an eye. It was almost exactly, to a T, how we thought the game plan was going to play out,” Herman said. “When we hit it, it was going to be big, and we knew we weren’t going to hit them all.”

Not dwelling on the past

Herman consistently talks of the importance of “going 1-0 each week”. Despite the stark contrast in mood this week compared to the first two, his mantra did not change.

“It was a big point of emphasis throughout the day yesterday, making sure that the opinions of the people in that locker room and in those coaches offices are the only ones we worry about,” Herman said. “Our guys were dialed in and ready to move on.”

Next week’s task is the tallest yet, as the No. 17 TCU Horned Frogs come to Austin. Although they were dropped last week by Ohio State, Herman knows just how dangerous this Horned frogs team can be.

“This is an extremely talented and good team that’s coming in here on saturday. It’s a team that quite frankly has had our program’s number for the last few years,” he said. “Their skill guys on offense are fast. Obviously their defense, even their front is fast and athletic. It’s as fast of a defense as I’ve seen in a long time.”

Star linebacker Roach out

Herman confirmed that junior linebacker Malcolm Roach is out for six to eight weeks with a fractured foot. The loss of a playmaker of Roach’s caliber will take a toll on the run-stopping ability the defense displayed against USC.

The next man up in the rotation, junior Jeff McCullough, has recorded nine tackles on the season.

“Jeff is as smart a guy as we’ve got on the football team,” Herman said. “Really, really sharp guy that is coming into his own from a physical standpoint. Has really embraced the physicality that’s necessary at that position.”