40 Acres Sports

Times are great to be a Longhorn fan! Yeah, tell me something I don’t know, right?

At times in the last few years I have seen evidence that some, if not most, of us Horn fans don’t realize the heady times in which we live.

For a little perspective, let me introduce myself. I was born in May of 1968 and attended my first game at Memorial Stadium in September of 1968. My dad attended UT in the early 50’s around a stint in the Air Force during the Korean War and had been traveling from Houston to Austin to attend games while he was in high school. He became a lifelong season ticket holder and actually named the Longhorn Band the “Showband of the Southwest” while the publicity director for the band as a student. I grew up traveling to all UT football games, home and away. Some people fish or hunt or go camping, my dad and my brother and I went to UT games every weekend. They are the memories of my childhood and youth.

I went to UT and am now 41 and married with 2 young daughters, but still have season tickets. My brother and I have 9 tickets together. My dad passed away last year.

I include all of this to show that I have seen good times, great times, and horrible times to be a UT fan. Let me tell you, right now is as good as it gets!

We have not been ranked outside the top 25 since October of 2000. We have never had a longer tenure in the rankings.

As you can see by winning percentage, Mack Brown’s tenure and our current decade is the best we have ever produced. We have won 21 of our last 22 games, 31 of our last 35 since the 2006 Alamo Bowl.

There are some other parameters where Coach Royal’s run in the 60’s bests our current times. These are of course conference championships, which is well documented and a constant drumbeat of Brown’s critics, but more importantly to me is our record against our main rivals, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

In the 52 seasons since [tag]Darrell Royal[/tag] took over in Austin in 1957, we have only beaten both OU and A&M in the same season 18 times. Of those 18, 11 of those seasons belong to DKR, Royal achieved it 11 out of 20 years, Akers was 3 for 10, McWilliams was 1 for 5, Mackovic was 0 for 6, and Brown is 3 for 11. I am expecting that to go to 4 for 12 this year. But, you can see by the rarity or it occurring that beating both our main rivals in the same year is tough. Royal did it better than any. In fact he did it 11 of his first 14 seasons at the helm. He didn’t beat them both in the same season again after 1970. [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] though, if we win in College Station in a few weeks will have beaten OU and A&M both in the same year 3 of the last 5 years. We haven’t had that kind of dominance since the 60’s. We have only beaten OU and A&M in the same year 3 times since 1957 when both of them had winning records, 1977, 1981, and 1990. Historical comparisons only go so far. I believe it was easier to win the SWC many of the years we won it than it is to win the Big 12 now, but by no means do I mention that to minimize the previous accomplishments. But I would argue that never has UT been more nationally important, competitive and relevant than right now.

We have never had tougher competition. There is now more parity in college football than ever before. To dominate is harder than ever. It is not our birthright to be good. It takes a lot of hard work by a lot of people to make it happen. If it was so easy to win at Texas, why have there been down times? If it was so easy to win at OU, why have they had such lean times in their past? Winning is not an accident, it is a direct result of actions. From 1977 to 1997, the years between Royal and Brown, UT had a mediocre winning percentage of 65%. Those years also included 6 years with a losing record. Brown and Royal have never had a losing record. UT had some GREAT times in those intervening years, winning many big games and I enjoy every minute of it. But obviously never was the level of success sustained.

When I hear people gripe about Mack, or Greg Davis, or not being able to run the ball, etc. etc. etc., I want to shake those people! I was there when we lost to Nebraska 19-3 in the 74 Cotton Bowl. I was there when we lost to Houston 30-0 in Austin. I was there in 1980 when North Carolina beat us 16-7 in the Bluebonnet Bowl. I was there on January 1, 1984 when we really couldn’t score and lost a chance at the National Championship 10-9 to Georgia. I was there when we lost to Air Force 24-16 at the Bluebonnet Bowl. I was there when we beat Pitt in the Bluebonnet Bowl in 1987 and we acted like we had won the National Championship. We were so desperate for a glean of hope. I was at Ownby Stadium when we only lead an SMU team just coming off the death penalty 14-7 at half after being shut out until under 5 minutes left in the 1st half. I was also in Austin when we lost 50-7 to Baylor. I was in Starkville when we lost 13-6 to Sherrill and Mississippi State after such an incredible 1990 season. I was there when we lost to Rice 19-17. I was at 66-3. I have seen BAD offense and MISERABLE defense.

Thinking about those memories now make today seem so much sweeter. Those scores are inconceivable today, something out of another place and time.

So if something happens and we don’t play in the BCS National Championship game this year, or we do make it and lose, don’t lose perspective. Times are great!

It will still kill me a little inside when we next lose. I will still lose sleep over it and lament it, and get angry when it comes to mind (like the 2001 Big 12 Championship game), but I will try like hell to keep it in perspective.

I will think of how I felt as the Eyes played in the Rose Bowl and as I called my dad from the stands to hear his tears of joy. I will think of how I hugged my brother and cried a little myself as we left the stadium. The only other time I can remember crying and hugging my brother was in the stands when we beat A&M 28-27 in 1990. I will think of the sheer joy I felt when we beat OU last year after losing my dad a few months before.

In other words, ENJOY IT HORNS! I promise it won’t last forever.

WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Oklahoma State.

Curtis Brown and Earl Thomas both returned interceptions for TDs Saturday night. (Image: Statesman)

Pregame WTH Poke Fans?! Wow, the biggest crowd in [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag] football history. You packed it in on Halloween night. You recorded 58,516 fans?! You did renovate the stadium with Boone Pickens money, didn’t you?

1st Qt. (5:56) WTH Burks?! Referee Greg Burks and his staff got a few calls wrong at the beginning of the game. The calls did benefit the Longhorns, but the personal foul call on OSU Lucien Antoine for hitting UT [tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] going across the middle was a good hard play. I wish the NCAA would get rid of the helmet to helmet hit when it does not involve the quarterback. The officials also missed it (1:19 – 2nd Qt.) when UT [tag]James Kirkendoll[/tag] was stripped of the ball when they assumed his momentum was stopped but never blew the whistle. Glad that the Horns blasted the Pokes on Halloween like a blue armadillo to make sure that these calls were not an issue.

1st Quarter (3:37) WTH PVC Man?! Oklahoma State degrades one of their own by having him hold a large PVC pipe flash card stand. A player, #23, for the Pokes holds an elaborate flip card that shows a heart, a number and an image on it for the OSU offensive package. The Poke player is auditioning for holding the leader board for the next round at the Masters.

1st Quarter (1:44) WTH Hubert?! Come on Hubert Anyiam from Oklahoma State. You had a gift touchdown pass that was perfectly placed to you by Zac Robinson on 4th down. (14:25 – 2nd Qt.) Then you got the ball ripped out by UT [tag]Sam Acho[/tag] which led to the first touchdown for the Horns. Oh yeah, great job ABC for cutting away and missing most of the play.

2nd Qt. & 3rd Qt. WTH Goonies?! The Longhorn defense played an incredible game especially the secondary which returned two interceptions for the touchdowns ([tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] – 2nd Qt. & [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] – 3rd Qt.). But you need to slow down with all the nicknames. [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] comes up with the defensive nickname the Goonies because they like to goon it up with the opposing offense (Like that one). This week [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] comes up with the name “Texas Swagger” to get the team motivated to close the deal against the Cowboys. Coach [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] got into the act early in the year with giving out T-shirts with the logo .0128 which is the margin that they lost to OU for the Big XII championship. I guess I do not care what ploy is implemented as long as the Horns win.

3rd Quarter (10:27) WTH Case?! [tag]Case McCoy[/tag] is standing next to the lovely Rachel Glandorf (Colt’s girlfriend) and proceeds to spit on the floor right next to her. I guess the upcoming UT commit at quarterback is affecting his better judgment.

Next up for the Longhorn’s is a trip home to face Central Florida at DKR Memorial at 11am November 7th.

Watch highlights of Texas taking care of business against #14 [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag] below:

Follow along live with 40 Acres Sports on Twitter and below for our thoughts and analysis during tonight’s Texas game versus [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag] on ABC. We’ll be live right around kickoff so join us to discuss the game right around 7:00pm tonight.

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Can Colt McCoy play mistake-free football for the first time this season? (Image: Austin Chronicle)

Texas and [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]. On Halloween. Night.

Expect craziness.

The Horns and Cowboys always play exciting, heart attack inducing games but there should be no excuse for overlooking a very good Oklahoma State team this year. If the Longhorns show up and play well, the path to a possible national title shot only gets clearer from here.

Spooky things happen on All Hallows’ Eve, read on to discover to find out if the editors of 40 Acres Sports think the Horns will receive King Size Butterfingers or if Greg Davis will end up with his house covered in toilet paper…

Brian – Finally Texas comes out strong against Oklahoma State, but the Cowboys are too good for the Horns to run away with this thing and keep things relatively close. [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] and the offense will click again but things won’t be as easy as they were against [tag]Missouri[/tag]. The Texas defense will come up with 3 turnovers but give up offensive turnovers and a couple big plays will allow OSU to stay within striking defense until the 4th quarter. Texas 31, Oklahoma State 16

Ross – Well, some one in orange will be happy tonight. Wow, I was not expecting the offense output last week. Colt McCoy and the offense line was solid versus the tigers last week. I expect the same offense tenacity against the cowboys no matter what type of defense that the pokes throw at us. Remember that good guys wear white. Texas 38, Oklahoma State 17

Roddrick Muckelroy and the Texas D will try to shut down Zac Robinson's arm and legs. (Image: InsideTexas)

This week Texas faces possibly their toughest remaining test against [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag] on the road. The Cowboys have rebounded from an early season loss and are sitting at 6-1 and ranked number 14. In years past the Longhorns have let the Cowboys get out to leads and had to stage remarkable comebacks, what must the Horns do tonight to keep that from happening again?

1. Try not to fall behind by 28 points.

This is a simple one. Cut it out. I know it’s Oklahoma State, but that doesn’t mean you have to fall behind big early and then stage a giant comeback. Seriously. It’s bad for my health.

2. Don’t be surprised by Zac Robinson’s mobility.

Zac Robinson is easily the best quarterback the Longhorns have faced this season (eight plays from an 80% strength Sam Bradford doesn’t count) and he’s also the most mobile. In a lot of ways the Cowboys’ QB is similar to Texas’ [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag], efficient throwing the football and the ability to beat you with his feet. He might not have the top end speed McCoy does, but he certainly can scramble to make plays throwing and beat you with repeated 5-10 yard runs after avoiding a sack. [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] loves to bring the blitz, especially early in the game, but can’t sell out or Robinson could run wild in the open secondary.

3. Throw it deep to Malcolm Williams.

The move to insert receivers [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag] and [tag]Marquise Goodwin[/tag] into the starting lineup last week against [tag]Missouri[/tag] worked perfectly. They combined for 9 catches and the moves allowed [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] to have a huge day back in his old spot inside. This week against the Cowboys the Horns should open things up even more and take at least three deep shots to Williams. Making opposing defenses respect a deep threat will make it easy for McCoy to find open guys underneath and for the run game to find big running lanes.

Demarco Cobbs, Oklahoma's best player, is coming to Texas to play football. (Image: TigerRag)

Yesterday the Texas Longhorns received a surprise commitment from Oklahoma athlete [tag]Demarco Cobbs[/tag], the top player in the state and one of the best athletes in the 2010 class. Cobbs was on Texas’ radar earlier in the year but this commit comes completely out of left field. He’s been committed to [tag]Tennessee[/tag] since September and his name had not been mentioned at all recently on Texas recruiting sites in some time.

Cobbs could play receiver, safety, or linebacker for the Horns. Some are wondering with the odd circumstances if Cobbs is a solid commit, but he sounds solid when talking to ESPN’s Gerry Hamiliton below:

“In the beginning, Texas was always my dream school,” said Cobbs, who is the No. 17 player in the ESPNU 150. “I was being recruited by Texas in the beginning and wanted to commit, but it was before they started taking commitments. Then things just didn’t happen then. We started talking about a month ago. I had been talking to Coach (Bruce) Chambers the most. I exchanged e-mails with coach (Mack) Brown and had been talking with a few of the Texas coaches. It’s nothing against Tennessee. Even when I committed, I really wasn’t for sure. I always had Texas in the back of my mind.”

The switch came as a surprise, but Cobbs simply followed his heart in switching to his childhood favorite Texas.

“I grew up watching Texas and wanting to play there,” Cobbs said. “It’s not too far away from home, and I can’t go wrong going to a place that is great every year that also provides a great education too. It’s where I want to be.”

Link: Demarco Cobbs follows heart to Austin

WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Missouri Tigers.

WRs Jordan Shipley and Marquise Goodwin were part of resurgent offense. (Statesman.com)

Pregame WTH McCoy?! Great game by [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] who finished with 26 of 31 for 269 yards 3 TD’s and 1 interception. He nailed it during the pregame stretching when he was yelling at the team “this is our house, from the very beginning… lets go.” Colt knew exactly what he was talking about by leading the team to three straight scoring drives to put the Tigers away.

1st Quarter (8:08) WTH Mack?! Gutsy call by Mack Brown to order up a fake punt on 4th down on their own 47 yard line. Texas was only up one score and the message that was sent to the Tigers was it was going to be the Horns day.

Start of the 2nd Quarter WTH Mizzou fans?! It was Mizzou’s homecoming that they claim to have started back in 1911. Never new a simple call from the office of the president at Missouri to come back and watch a football game was such a momentous occasion. Wow, way to fire up the football fans with bringing out former MU basketball player Steve Stipanovich (1,836 points & 984 rebounds from 80-83). Let’s bring out our stud UT LaSalle Thompson (1,463 points & 1,027 rebounds from 79-82) next time the Tigers come to Austin.

2nd Quarter (:51) WTH Herbstreit?! You may not be good at predicting winners on the Gameday set early that morning in Provo (3-6), but you sure good at predicting UT scores. Kirk Herbstreit was wondering what the score was last year between the two teams at half. As soon as Kirk remembered the score (35-3), UT [tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] broke through to block the Mizzou punt in the end zone which was recovered by [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag] to make the score 35-7 (eerily similar).

Start of the 3rd Qt. WTH ABC?! Great call by the television truck to cue up the Dave Matthews song “Too Much” with highlights from the first half which was all Longhorns.

3rd Quarter (5:45) WTH Smith?! Mizzou’s outstanding defensive player Aldon Smith had a tremendous night (11 tackles and 2 sacks). Too bad he added a bone headed play by hitting Colt out bounds (personal foul – 15 yard penalty) which caused Mack Brown to hyperventilate with the franchise lying on the sidelines.

Whole Game WTH Offensive Line?! [tag]Kyle Hix[/tag], [tag]Michael Huey[/tag], [tag]Chris Hall[/tag], [tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag] and [tag]Adam Ulatoski[/tag] who started the game and the rest of the big uglies should be lauded for a physical and dominant performance with the Horns gaining 400 total yards and scoring 41 points.

Next up for the Longhorn’s is a visit to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State at 7pm on Halloween night.

The BCS standings for the week have been released and the Texas Longhorns are still sitting at number 3. The team’s impressive win over Missouri did earn the Horns a few first place votes and overall points in the human polls, and that gain allowed the Horns to gain ground on both [tag]Florida[/tag] and [tag]Alabama[/tag] in the BCS standings.

Iowa and TCU made big jumps in the rankings but Texas should still control their own destiny. As we see every Saturday, anything can happen so just worry about what you can control between the lines. Keep winning and the rest should take care of itself.

Watch highlights of Texas’ dominating victory over [tag]Missouri[/tag] below: