Let’s look at the glass half full. Well, whatever is left in that glass, at least?
Tonight the eyes of Texas are upon Mack Brown and the bodies of the fans that those eyes belong to are growing very impatient and restless. We are on the verge of an unprecedented, inexcusable beginning to a year that was supposed to be the season things felt normal around the 40 Acres.
Arguably the biggest thorn in the side of the Longhorns football program over the past seven seasons has been the Kansas State Wildcats. No, wait, I take that back. The biggest thorn in the side of the Longhorns has been the Longhorns; the Wildcats have just added salt to the wound.
Make no mistake, though. That wound isn’t just a tiny cat scratch anymore, it’s a gash and the bleeding hasn’t stopped. And in the name of fun puns, if Texas finds a way to lose tonight, the cat will not only have Mack Brown’s tongue, the irritated Texas fans will want his job replaced once and for all.
Before we light torches and assemble six-man battering ram teams to storm the coaching offices let’s scale it back and calm down for a second. As sickening as the first three weeks have made you there is still a ton of upside to this dismal 2013 season.
As out of reach as it may seem it truly isn’t; the Texas Longhorns can still win the Big 12 Conference. I know, I know, it almost makes you even angrier if they do win out and take the Big 12, doesn’t it? Of course, unless you’re playing for the national title you’re always going to look at what the season could have been.
Folks, I know we all expect a lot out of this program, but I missed the part where this was a national championship caliber team. Even with an undefeated season this team wasn’t going to Pasadena, CA this January unless the teams at the top of the polls self-destructed.
Given, they shouldn’t have gone to Provo, Utah and wet the bed but I’m honestly not sure if that Ole Miss game would have had a different outcome. Perhaps, but at the same time I don’t think it means any less about Texas as much as it means that much more about the program Hugh Freeze is building over in Mississippi.
So, here is what I propose to all of the Orange-bloods in attendance and watching from home; forget the first three weeks.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
The Big 12 schedule is the only thing that is going to reconcile the differences we all have with coach Brown and at that let us all take it one game at a time. What matters is what is ahead of the Longhorns whether it be a new coaching regime, tonight’s kickoff or better still, a nine-game run that could boost the confidence of the players, fans and most of all coach Brown that they truly are on the cusp of what Texas football is all about.
If Texas wins the Big 12 they get the automatic bid to the Fiesta Bowl and considering how the last two seasons ended in low-level bowl games how could a trip to the Fiesta Bowl not save this program and coach Brown?
Stop. Don’t even begin to tell me why you wouldn’t want Coach Brown to stay if they win the Big 12 and go to a BCS Bowl. I said in last week’s piece that maybe Brown should just step down regardless, and in some ways I feel like that may still be the best scenario. But not if this program picks itself up off of the floor and makes one of the best turn around runs college football has ever seen. What would Texas gain by dismissing Brown or Brown stepping down after a BCS bowl appearance? Who are they going to go hire that has turned the program around in his 15-year tenure?
Mack Brown created what Texas fans are craving; consistent success and the expectations that Texas will be a national title contender.
If you’re going to bring someone else in, then yes, it had better be somebody like Nick Saban—because it sure as hell won’t be Saban himself. And quite honestly, if you’re not bringing in Saban or Urban Meyer than you might as well stick with what you have.
Tonight a new season begins. Is that an excuse to mask the troubles this program has had? Maybe, but it’s not irrational or cowardly to forget about the struggles. All that matters now are the next nine games. Tonight is game one, as of right now there is no last week, next week or what could have been. The Big 12 conference title campaign starts tonight and we aren’t doing ourselves any good by worrying about anything other than that.
It aggravates me on the Monday morning press conference when all coach Brown is focused on is beating whatever team awaits them the following Saturday. But if we put aside the frustration and admit it; it’s true. All that matters is Kansas State.
And, by-the-way, Texas fans, this is where you earn your stripes as a true fans so that the next time a January night rolls around and the confetti is raining down on your Longhorns as they hoist that crystal ball there is no question as to whether or not you’re true to Texas.
