The Song Remains the Same

Welcome back to reality, Texas. After winning six-straight games—one in overtime, one in the last minute and another after a weather delay of almost three hours—you’ve managed to return to mediocrity.

Big 12 title chances are over and Mack Brown’s chances at returning are thinner than ever. It was a heart-felt story when you consider the turmoil surrounding the program. Senior Case McCoy comes in and saves the day, injuries ravaging the roster left and right but the Longhorns kept winning. Well, that was until they began the toughest stretch of their conference schedule Saturday with Oklahoma State.

What we have witnessed over the last four years is something so unfathomable, when we tell young Longhorns fans 20 years from now they will look at us like we’re crazy. Now, this isn’t the end of the world. No, that came during the Oklahoma beat downs this team took two years in a row and on the ride home from the embarrassment in Provo. This is just the culmination of something that had run its course and was due to happen in the next year or two.

McCoy looked like someone who had never watched film or read a defense. The Texas defense looked truly horrible for the first time under the Greg Robinson regime and worse than that, DBU looked like a group of six-year olds trying to cover grown men in a seven-on-seven drill.

What this means for the program is anyone’s guess. We can sit and gossip about Nick Saban and the next guy that is sure to take office sooner or later at Texas or we can sit and cry ourselves to sleep at the thought that Mack will remain that guy. All I know is the new AD Steve Patterson was quoted as saying “I don’t make change for the sake of making change.” Steve, we are so far past the stage of making change just to make change.  Please help.

I know what everyone is saying. “Corey, you wouldn’t be so negative and calling for everyone’s head if Texas won.” No, I wouldn’t. But that doesn’t mean that I was or am blind to the reality of the situation. This is sad and disgraceful as much as it is upsetting – all rolled into one giant ball of frustration that you can only shake your head at while trying to find the words to explain your displeasure.

So this is where we stand. If you’re an optimist feel free to take your odds to beat Texas Tech on Thanksgiving at home and face Baylor for a shot at the Big 12—if that possibility even remains. For everyone who is a pessimist, well, this isn’t anything new to you and I’m sure you’ve moved well beyond any hope of saving the season.

For the realist, though. The direction that Texas should go is troubling to ponder. Baylor head coach Art Briles just signed a 10-year extension, Saban still insists he is staying put and from there it’s a handful of coaches in a hat and a lot of debating between the candidates. Texas isn’t a debate-between-a-few-guys type of job. Much like recruits, Texas is a school that doesn’t have to lure coaches to campus for the position. It is one that  finda the guy it wants and it’s a done deal.

I don’t know what coach qualifies for that and I’m even more certain that I don’t think the coaches you would go after would leave their job for Austin whether it’s Saban at a powerhouse like Alabama, or Briles at an up-and-coming-program like Baylor.

The song remains the same in Austin, TX and it’s a song that we are all tired of singing.