It was sad to watch the Longhorns break their six game winning streak Saturday night with a 38-13 drubbing, especially fueled as it was by three Case McCoy interceptions, two of which Oklahoma State turned into touchdowns.
And you had to wonder why the Texas defense didn’t play near as well as they had in the previous six games, particularly when they had dominated Oklahoma back in October. But then there was the fact that OK State was just about the best team the Horns have played this season. Much better than Oklahoma. Undoubtedly why the Cowboys were ranked 12th, a long twelve spots above Texas at No. 24.
All the recriminations of September, when Texas got whooped by BYU and Ole Miss, are likely to return now. Sure I liked it much better when the Horns were winning consistently, as they did from about 1999 right up through 2009, but other teams that were good then ain’t so much now either.
It is ironic that the Aggies, who once were an easy enough Texas win most Thanksgivings now figure they’re too good to play Texas again. “Not relevant,” as their president put it back in the spring. I suppose not, not with QB Johnny Football running their new SEC show. He wanted to play for Texas, but Texas wasn’t interested. More irony.
Maybe it is time for coach Mack Brown to go. But I still can’t see him being fired. They’ll have to convince him to retire. Might should also find Major Applewhite a job other than offensive coordinator. But he was a star Texas QB for years. He’s not any more likely to be fired than Brown, who brought UT one national championship and at least getting to play for a second one, though they lost it. The Ags are still trying to get “relevant” enough to play for one. Heh.
It’s a hard game, tackle football, fun to watch when your team is wining. Hard to take when they aren’t. But it’s like anything else. Like they say: you ought to dance with who brung ya’. The Horns of old, back in the days of QB Peter Gardere, brung me, so to speak, when I started paying attention to Texas football. And he could be as erratic as Case McCoy. When his teams weren’t.
Can they beat Texas Tech, which got its own whipping from Baylor? Maybe. Can they beat Baylor, their last game of the regular season? Probably not. It’s hard to see anyone beating Baylor this season. And Baylor used to be the Big 12 doormat where every team wiped their feet. Irony makes the world go round.
UPDATE: Then OK State validated its crushing of Texas by throttling Baylor 49-17, whose last seven points came in garbage time. Might even make Baylor a trifle more vulnerable to Texas on Dec. 7. But only a trifle.
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