College football

Texas ready to dance with its lofty history

Not since 1970 have Longhorns even shared national title. But this year they've played like champs.

By BOB HARIG
Published December 29, 2005

The state is huge, with a seemingly endless supply of talent stretching from border to border. The flagship university is located in Austin, the fourth-largest city in Texas, sitting in the triangle formed by Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, from where fans flock to watch the Longhorns play.

It is easy to see why college football is so big deep in the heart of Texas.

More difficult to explain is why the Longhorns, for the most part, have been an underachieving bunch by their standards for the better part of the past three decades.

When second-ranked Texas takes on No. 1 USC on Wednesday in the Rose Bowl, it will be the first time the Longhorns will play a game with national title implications since the 1983 season, when they lost to Georgia in the Cotton Bowl.

Since then, the state of Florida has seen three teams - Miami, Florida State and Florida - combine to win or share in eight national titles.

Texas has not come home with any hardware since 1970. And even that title was tainted. The Longhorns were awarded a share of the national championship by UPI before losing to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. Nebraska was named the Associated Press champion.

"It has been a long time coming," said Spike Dykes, a former Texas player and assistant coach who also was the head coach at Texas Tech. "But a lot of schools can say that, a lot of great football schools. Not many get a chance to do this. You can have a great team and be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Look at Auburn last year."

The Tigers went undefeated but were shut out of the BCS championship game. USC defeated Oklahoma for the title and also won AP honors.

This year, the Longhorns controlled their destiny. Coming off a stirring Rose Bowl victory Jan. 1 over Michigan, they were ranked high in most preseason polls and stayed there after an early season win at Ohio State. They went on to defeat Oklahoma for the first time in six years, won the Big 12 South and then the Big 12 title game to earn this chance.

But why has it not happened more often?

Legendary coach Darrell Royal set a standard that has been difficult to touch, let alone match.

At one point, Royal won 30 consecutive games. His teams won national titles in 1963 and '69 in addition to the 1970 UPI crown. The Longhorns ruled the old Southwest Conference. Royal, a former Oklahoma player, was just 32 when he took over in 1957. His 167 victories remain the most in school history. His teams finished ranked among the top five on nine occasions.

Fred Akers followed Royal and went 11-0 in 1977, but lost to Notre Dame in the Cotton. The Longhorns again went 11-0 in 1983 and were ranked No. 2 in the country before losing 10-9 to Georgia in the Cotton Bowl.

That game was particularly agonizing. Texas led 9-3 with five minutes remaining when Craig Curry fumbled a punt that led to the Bulldogs' winning touchdown.

Later that day, Miami upset No. 1 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, leapfrogging from fifth to its first national championship. Naturally, Longhorns everywhere believe that national title would have been theirs had Curry not muffed the punt. In fact, Curry, now 43, believes so himself.

He has lived with the infamy ever since. "I am hoping and praying that they win the national championship this year," he told the Dallas Morning News. "Please, because I am just dying."

Curry told the newspaper he has not attended a game in Austin since. "If that national championship happens, I'm pretty positive that I'll just be a distant memory. God knows I pray for it all the time," he said.

That was the last undefeated regular season for the Longhorns until this year.

Perhaps it is just coincidence, but not much good happened to the Longhorns after that defeat. Akers lasted just three more seasons. The state began to decline as a football power as Southwest Conference teams ran afoul of NCAA rules. The league was eventually disbanded.

And it was the beginning of a power shift to Florida. Miami won the first of its five national titles, four coming in nine years. Before that season, no Florida school had finished the season ranked higher than No. 5. And it didn't help that Texas prospects began looking beyond their own vast borders.

"When there were unlimited scholarships, we were able to pick and choose and take more of the elite guys," former UT player and coach David McWilliams said. "Now it's not the numbers, it's who. Not all of those top guys were going to come to Texas."

McWilliams, who played under Royal, knew all about the expectations. He took over from Akers in 1987 and had reasonable success. His team was 10-1 and ranked third in the country in 1990 heading into a matchup with No. 4 Miami in the Cotton Bowl. The Hurricanes won 46-3. After another season, McWilliams resigned.

"I didn't think I was meeting the expectations of what my university should be," said McWilliams, who now works in the school's alumni office. "I thought it was time."

Mack Brown took over from John Mackovic in 1998 and has never won fewer than nine games. He has 82 wins at Texas.

But in many ways, Brown's career mirrors that of Texas' troubles. Expectations always exceeded results. Before heading to Texas, Brown turned around the North Carolina program. But he was never able to defeat Florida State, never able to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title.

In fact, this year's Big 12 title is Brown's first conference championship as a head coach.

"This year, everything fell into place," said Ernie Koy Jr., who played on Royal's '63 title team. "If Ohio State holds Vince Young down there on the goal line (in September), it would have been an entirely different season. It'd be, "Dadgum, Mack Brown can't win the big one.' Sure, it's been a long time. This year, everything all year went right. It's been that type of year. And they only come around so often."

[Last modified December 29, 2005, 00:52:13]