AUSTIN, Texas -- University of Texas coach Mack Brown usually doesn't like to live in the past, but this week he broke out some old film for his team.He showed the Longhorns how teams from 2006 and 2007 finished in comparison to 2005, when Texas won the BCS national title, and last season when many agree the 12-1 Longhorns should have been given the opportunity to compete for the national championship.
Brown's point to his second-ranked,10-0 squad is simple: stay focused these last two regular-season games, the Big 12 championship game in two weeks, and then biggest of prizes await the Texas Longhorns in Pasadena. A slip up anywhere between now and the Jan. 7 BCS national championship game will lead to great disappointment for Texas.
"We basically said you can choose," said Brown, whose team moved to 6-0 in Big 12 play with last Saturday's 47-14 win at Baylor. "You've been a great team and you've had a great run, so if you want to be flat and stand around here and get beat at the end, that's up to you. I can't do anything about it. If you sincerely want to be 40-years-old and look back at what you've accomplished, you've got two weeks to put yourself in a different place than a lot of teams have in this football program. When you bring your children and your grandchildren back through, if you want to be proud of 10 wins, that's fine. If you want to try to get to 14, that's on you.''
The march toward what seems to be the inevitable continues Saturday night when the Longhorns take on a struggling Kansas squad -- which is in the midst of a five-game losing streak and its coach, Mark Mangino, is embroiled in a controversy that could see him fired soon -- in their final home game, on senior night and on a night when four-year starter Colt McCoy can become college football's all-time winningest quarterback.
"I think it's going to be a lot of fun," said McCoy, who at 42-7 is tied with Georgia's David Greene for the most victories by a college quarterback and remains a viable candidate for the Heisman Trophy. "For me, and I think all of our seniors, we're just not going to let our emotions get the best of us. We've had so many memories in that stadium, but we just have to go out and play. There are still so many goals intact for us, so it's just another game. That's how we have to treat it."
Should the Longhorns win Saturday night, they will lock up the Big 12 South division title to guarantee a spot in the Dec. 5th conference championship game. They also have a showdown on Thanksgiving night against longtime in-state rival Texas A&M in front of a national television audience.
So Brown says there is zero chance Texas will be overlooking the Kansas Jayhawks (5-5, 1-5 Big 12) Saturday night or anytime soon.
"They're excited about senior night, they're excited about Kansas coming in here, national TV, there is a lot at stake," he said. "We can tie up the South Division championship this weekend, Colt could move forward and be the winningest quarterback in college football history. So there are a lot of things on the line for us.
"But you never know, though. I think they are really excited about the challenge of Kansas coming in here and our seniors playing their last game at home."
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Texas needs to stop whining about last year----they need to learn to play by the rules!! and stop being babies
This isn't whinning, it is reminding ourselves that we dare not wait on the BS rules to get us to the national championship game. Rules sometimes screw people - - just look at some past examples NOT involving Texas. We have to do better than last year and do it all on the field this year.
Fire Mark Reich as well as the Defensive Coordinator.