No. 2 Longhorns Try to Stay Focused

STILLWATER, Okla. -- As much debate swirls around which teams are the best and most deserving for a shot at the BCS national title, the Texas Longhorns appear to have the most unabridged path to Pasadena of any of the serious contenders.

Take your pick of the other potential candidates -- Florida, Alabama, Iowa, TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State, Oregon -- and they all could suffer heartbreaks during this final stretch of regular season. Texas' path has far fewer land mines.

The Longhorns, who leaped back into the No. 2 spot in both polls over Alabama on Sunday and are third in the most recent BCS poll, just completed the most difficult portion of their schedule in impressive fashion, beating Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State in what was supposed to be a challenging four-game stretch.

Now all that stands in the Longhorns' (8-0, 5-0) path to the BCS national title game are four tricky, but hardly daunting, regular-season games. They will need to remain unblemished against the stretch of Central Florida, Baylor, Kansas and Texas A&M followed by a Big 12 championship matchup in which they will be the overwhelming favorite against any team the North division can offer.

But while they weren't exactly convincing, to a man every Longhorn answered with the similar "take one game at time" answer when asked if the road to the BCS national title was becoming any clearer after Saturday night's 41-14 rout of the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium.

"Our focus is one at a time," said senior quarterback Colt McCoy. "It's been like that since the very beginning of the year. I think our team has definitely bought into that."

Next up for Texas is a non-conference matchup against Central Florida (4-3, 2-2 C-USA) at home on Saturday. Late-surging Texas A&M at Kyle Field seems to be the most dangerous opponent left.
With the two teams ahead of Texas in the BCS rankings, Florida and Alabama, headed for a collision course in the SEC championship game, all the Longhorns have to do is keep winning in order to clinch one half of the national championship game.

But all Texas linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy says the team is concerned about is the task at hand. And for him that's the school in Florida -- even if he confused about which program the Longhorns are facing Saturday.

"We will see the big prize next week, Florida Atlantic, that's the next big prize on the menu," said Muckelroy, who misidentified Central Florida. "One game at a time. I'm not trying to look no farther than the one Saturday. That's how we've been doing it all year, that's how we are going to continue doing it."

But after watching how Texas dominated the Cowboys on Saturday and took advantage of every mistake, the Longhorns are looking like a team destined to return to the Rose Bowl, the scene of their last national championship after the 2005 season. Defensively, they are as dominant and opportunistic as any unit in the country.

UT coach Mack Brown, who was more than a little peeved last season when his one-loss team didn't get a Big 12 championship or a national championship bid, admits it's setting up nicely for his Longhorns. But he cautions against taking these final opponents for granted.

"I think the signal is we have a chance to be really good here at the end," Brown said. "Thank goodness we divide our season up in three sections, four [games] each. Two of those sections are gone so we have a four-game season that's left, and we have to restart that next week.

"Now we are continuing to play for the Big 12 South championship. We are continuing to try to get in that Big 12 championship game and at the same time, we still have a lot at stake on the national scene. We want to be the best team in the country and we want to continue to play like that."