Going into the BCS championship game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas Longhorns, if you had told me that with four minutes left in the game, we would be down by three points and have the ball, I would have said I liked our chances. If you had told me that we would get there with our true freshman quarterback, I would have told you that you were nuts.
After a very ugly first half, most of America thought the Longhorns would be blown off the field in the second half. I'll admit that I was worried it was going to get ugly.
Instead, the Longhorns dug deep and were playing for the win late in the game. And while the final score differential as seventeen (thanks for showing your ass, Coach Saban), Texas proved their strength of heart and depth of talent on that field.
I will always take an ugly win over a pretty loss. And Saturday's 16-13 win by the Texas Longhorns over the Oklahoma Sooners certainly qualifies as an ugly win.
Especially the first half, where Texas managed only 59 yards of offense (compared to Oklahoma's 192). Colt McCoy was sacked four times in the first thirty minutes.
As always, the Texas Longhorns coaches and players walked into Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium through the north gate two hours before yesterday's game against the Colorado Buffaloes.
To change things up, the Wife shot video while I took stills (to be posted later today or tomorrow).
The sunburn that remains on my arms this Monday evening reminds me that it was hot Saturday afternoon. Real hot. The weather report said the high was in the mid-90's, but it felt like it was at least ten degrees hotter than that.
And, the official attendance of 101,144 is a bit confusing. There were certainly never that many in the stands at any one time. It's possible that several tens of thousands of people were hiding in the shade under the stands, however.
And a huge percentage of the people who were there left at the half. I can't say I completely blame them. For a while, I wasn't sure I would make it all the way to The Eyes of Texas. Fortunately, the Wife shamed me into manning up.
Heading into the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns, if you had told me that Tech would only score twenty-four points, I would have confidently predicted a win by three or four touchdowns. As it happened, the Texas defense held Tech to three touchdowns and a field goal, but Texas only won by ten points, in a game that was actually much closer than the final score indicated.
I've waited a few days to write about the the game as I wanted to have some time to think about it. It was an ugly win, but I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss on any day of the week.
Saturday evening, September 19, 2009, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium hosted the largest crowd ever to attend a game in the state of Texas (101,297 official attendance). I shot this video of the opening kickoff to capture the environment.
A Saturday of upsets and near upsets.
Fifth ranked Oklahoma State lost to unranked Houston by two scores. Freshman quarterback Tate Forcier lead his rebuilding Michigan team to a four point victory over 18th ranked Notre Dame. Number 21 Georgia slips by South Carolina. Eleventh ranked LSU can't put away Vanderbilt until midway through the fourth quarter. And third ranked USC needs a game saving touchdown late in the fourth quarter to beat Ohio State.
And for thirty minutes in the rarified air of Laramie, Wyoming, much of the Longhorn Nation wondered if Texas was destined to join the mighty fallen in the second week of the season.
Great wisdom about the off season from Trey McLean's "From the Stands" column.
Reports from his father and his former high school coach are that Texas Longhorn linebacker Sergio Kindle is returning for his senior season. It seems he wishes to abuse the Oklahoma Sooners one more time and then make a run for a national title.
In a related story, Sooner quarterback Sam Bradford has added another entry to his "Why I should leave for the NFL" column.
