40 Acres Sports

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 Iowa State.

1st Quarter (15:00) WTH Fans?! It was a very special day where the Longhorns honored our armed forces and remembered Darrell Royal. Just wish the 100,018 fans came early to be a part of the festivities.

Texas opened the game in the wishbone as a tribute to the late Darrell Royal. (AP Photo)

1st Quarter (10:51) WTH Wishbone?! Don’t think one fan in the stands thought the tribute formation for DKR would result in this type of trickery. But we should expect the unexpected when it comes to OC Bryan Harsin and this team.

1st Quarter (3:32) WTH Bomb?! This is starting to be a trend with David Ash hooking up with Mike Davis for a long touchdown. A 61 yard pitch and catch by this tandem is starting to be a work of art.

2nd Quarter (2:53) WTH Tony?! Anthony Fera may need to find out who stole his mojo. A 32 yard blocked field goal and a missed extra point will get you pulled from the game. Oh wait, it did since Nick “Error” Jordan took over and made everything he hit. Am I little too hard on kickers?

Halftime WTH Band?! What a great tribute to DKR with the band spelling out Royal on the field. Nice touch with the band forming a war ship, submarine and a plane to honor our military.

4th Quarter (7:46) WTH Brown?! We have a sighting confirmed that Malcolm Brown is on the field at running back. Malcolm was given a heavy dose of the rock to close out the game. The combination of all of the running backs netted the Longhorns over 222 yards for the game.

4th Quarter (5:14) WTH Turner?! Who is Josh Turner? The sophomore is the newest crop of defensive players that are stepping up like LB Steve Edmond. Josh’s interception late in the game put a capper to an excellent defensive performance.

Next up for the Longhorns is a Thanksgiving Day date with the TCU in Austin on November 22nd.

Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at @40AcresSports or follow me at @Horns1991. HOOK EM!!

Watch Longhorn Network highlights of the Longhorns’ 33-7 win over Iowa State on Saturday:

A statement from Mack Brown on the death of Texas head coach and legend Darrell Royal:

Mack Brown and Darrell Royal in the Texas locker room after a game.

“Today is a very sad day. I lost a wonderful friend, a mentor, a confidant and my hero. College football lost maybe its best ever and the world lost a great man. I can hardly put in words how much Coach Royal means to me and all that he has done for me and my family. I wouldn’t even be at Texas without Coach. His council and friendship meant a lot to me before I came to Texas, but it’s been my guiding light for my 15 years here.

“Coach gave so much more to the State of Texas and college football than he took away. He forgot more football than most of us will ever know, including me. His impact on the game, the coaches and players, the community and the millions of lives he touched, is insurmountable. He will be missed in so many ways.

“I lost my Dad when I was 54, and Coach filled a real void in my life and treated me like family. Sally and I gained a lot coming to Texas and being a part of this tremendous program but no more than our relationship with Coach and Edith. They were our closest of friends. Our heart pours out to Edith and the family and our thoughts and prayers are with her and the family. We will always be there to lend any and all support that we can as she and Coach always did for us.”

Via MackBrown-TexasFootball.com

The University of Texas has confirmed that legendary Longhorns head coach Darrell Royal has passed away at the age of 88. Royal is Texas’ all-time winningest coach and led the Horns to three national championships (1963, 1969, and 1970) and won 11 Southwest Conference championships.

I was lucky enough to meet Coach Royal on several occasions while at UT through the Terry Foundation. He was one of three people who interviewed me for the scholarship and being able to talk with him about football and growing up a coach’s son was an incredible moment.

It’s a sad day for Texas fans. RIP Coach.

Now that we are at the quarter point of the football season, coaches are trying to find just the right words to get their team motivated and to explain the season so far to the media and fans. One such coach that has left his legacy on the 40 acres is well known for his quotes and phrases. Darrell K Royal is a living legend around these parts. Some may have negative thoughts about him as depicted by the book “Meat on the Hoof.” Others may remember him as the shy Oklahoma boy that later took young men to the heights of college football while at the University.

Let’s take a look at some of his insights that coaches could still use today.

“All the white meat is gone. There’s nothin’ but necks on the platter.”

“Dance with the one that brung ya”

“Will Rogers never met Barry Switzer”

“Football doesn’t build character. It eliminates the weak ones.”

“Breaks balance out. The sun don’t shine on the same ol’ dog’s rear end every day.”

“You never lose a game if the opponent doesn’t score.”

“If worms carried pistols. Birds wouldn’t eat ’em.”

“Three things can happen when you pass and two of ’em are bad.”

“I don’t know if Earl’s in a class by himself, but it sure don’t take long to call roll.”

“He runs faster than small town gossip.”

“He’s not very fast, but maybe Elizabeth Taylor can’t sing.”

“Don’t matter what they throw at us. Only angry people win football games.”

“Winning coaches must treat mistakes like copperheads in the bedclothes – avoid them with all the energy you can muster.”

“That guy is a big ol’ cuss…look at him rumblin’ down the field… looks like a grizzly bear haulin’ a walnut.”

“A head coach is guided by this main objective: dig, claw, wheedle, and coax that fanatical effort out of the players. You want them to play every Saturday as if they were planting the flag on Iwo Jima.”

“The tail should never wag the dog, but as long as football is in its proper place on the campus, then it’s good. I want to be remembered as a winning coach, but I also want to be remembered as an honest and ethical coach.”

It will be a sad day when we lose Coach Royal, but we know that God will have a great college coach and an even better story teller.

Check out the video about the technology of Texas’ new Nike Pro Combat unis they’ll be wearing tonight against Texas A&M and all next year. Tonight they’ll be throwbacks but next year all the tech will be in the Horns normal uniforms. Watch:

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.

The Sporting News’ 50 greatest coaches of all-time released recently caused a lot of conversation on sports talk radio. They polled 118 ex-players, coaches, and other experts and pegged [tag]UCLA[/tag] great John Wooden as the all-time greatest coach.

Overall it’s a great list, but there’s definitely some names left off and some order problems (Don Shula number 5?) that have people talking. Austin American-Statesman writer Kirk Bohls thinks Texas legend Darrell Royal deserved to be on the list:

But Darrell K. Royal absolutely must be included.

Without question, he has become the most overlooked great coach in the history of the game. He won three national championships, and I don’t want to hear cracks about his UPI title before the Cotton Bowl loss to Notre Dame in January 1971 because he won it under the rules of the day. Think split national titles, LSU and USC.

“No question, Darrell should be on the list,” said former Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum, one of Sporting News’ 118 voters. “It takes away from the credibility of the list. If Darrell Royal is not on there, it’d be a suspect list, and I’m on the panel.”

What do you think? Is Royal one of the greatest coaches of all time?

Thanks to the poster djbfootball over on the Inside Texas message boards we have new photos of the construction at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

It looks like things are almost completed. From the inside it appears all seating is ready (the gap in the northwest corner is intentional) and that they’re working hard to get the exterior finished by the first game at the end of August. It really looks impressive and I’m excited that the Horns could have an improved home field advantage this season. I can’t wait to go to my first home game this year to see it for myself.

Check out the photos.

ESPN names Darrell Royal the Face of the Program. Vote for him, Bevo, Vince, Earl, or Ricky to share your opinion.