I’ll never forget when my grandfather gifted my first Dave Campbell’s Texas Football for my birthday in 1985.  He was a diehard TCU fan/graduate.  He instilled in me a set of SWC blowhard principles in determining for whom you should root.  He would also be appalled to know his daughter threw away my Wacker Clacker and Billy Roscoe replica jersey sometime subsequent to his death with which I’m almost certainly positive was a result of the Tony Jeffery scandal. 

Below are the priorities of allegiance that were passed on to me in determining which school to shower with cheer:

1.  Your team.

2.  Any team playing Arkansas.

3.  Always, always root for the Texas team playing an out-of-state foe.

4.  The Texas team whose victory benefits your school the most.

5. The only occasion it was appropriate to root for Arkansas was in a bowl game.

The thought process for Rule #5 was that any team in your conference getting their ass handed to them by an out-of-conference team made your team look worse.  Make sense? 

Prior to kickoff between the Longhorns and Tide, I had a hypothesis or two in the back of my head that I’ve been testing over the last several years:

- Any time a Big 12 team faces an SEC team of similar talent, the SEC unit should be considered the favorite.

That’s just absurd, ded, you say?  I’m not sold on the theory myself, it’s simply a trend that I feel is being proven with each MNC game and Cotton Bowl over the last few years.  By no means am I suggesting the Big 12 team won’t win, I’m simply implying that SEC teams are a tougher matchup.  Reasoning behind this thought is that the spread happy Big 12 of 2-point stance OL play tends to soften the mentality of defensive fronts over the course of a season.  It’s been a while since a conference DL has faced a team that will fire off the ball and smack them in the mouth.  The “shield” blocking techniques utilized in the run game of the Big 12 spread offenses causes some issues in preparation.  Most notably, that it’s hard to teach your scout team OL how to play Alabama football in a month’s time. 

A defense with a lot of talent, like Texas, will eventually adjust over the course of a game, but the first half of play seems to inflict a shock value effect on what you thought was your All Conference DT.  Your backups in practice don’t fire off the ball out of a 3-point stance like a quality SEC team’s starters.  This obviously creates a problem in that the SEC team is significantly more qualified to run the ball on your team and also stop your run game, which takes me to my next educated guess that is a side effect of not being able to run the ball:

- The passing game becomes a liability to the Big 12.

I don’t really to need to expand on this, but after a decade of Techmo Bowl, I’ve learned salty defenses tend to drool in these type of one dimensional scenarios.  A hurt QB, a tipped shuttle pass/pick 6, a sack fumble, higher penalty infractions, etc.  These sequence of events aren’t coincidence.  They’re a function of the system when facing a well-disciplined unit with speed.  So with these pre-game stereotypes in mind, I settled down on the couch to root for what I felt was an underdog Horn team.

The Texas offense actually started off better than anticipated and a nice Tre Newton run had them in scoring position.  Short lived.  The next play Saban sliced the perpetual Achilles’ heel of Colt McCoy’s career.  I can’t say for sure the Longhorns would have won this game with McCoy given the success Alabama was achieving in the run game, but they sure would have had a better chance if Suh had chosen death instead of defying an emperor in the Big 12 title game. 

Texas could have won this game with Garrett Gilbert given a month worth of preparation.  I won’t remember Colt McCoy as a great QB.  I’ll remember him as one of the toughest dudes I’ve ever seen come through the Texas program.  That’s a quality at QB that will win a lot of football games.  Everything else outside of toughness and winning was defined by nauseating Greg Davis playcalling and inept OL recruiting/development by Mac McWhorter.  And, it finally cost Colt McCoy the opportunity he deserved.  I’ve literally witnessed him shed blood to get there. 

A stretch option play with reach blocking? 

Really? 

I can’t recall for sure, and feel free to correct me, but weren’t you always coached on defense to stretch the option out?   I swear I think that’s right.  Think about that for a minute and you’ll find the epitome of why Texas lost this game. 

The issue runs much deeper than bad Greg Davis playcalling. I continue to scratch my head in confusion as to how the University of Texas can’t recruit an OL unit comparable to the Kansas schools.  Texas didn’t whip Tech in 2004 and 2005 because of Vince Young.  They rolled us because they had some asskickers on the OL.  Lyle Sendlein might have got beat by Suh on the first play, but the 2nd one, he would have attempted to rip his jugular out and hand it to him versus curling in the fetal position or playing paddy cake with his shoulder pads.  

Chris Hall and Charlie Tanner are scout team players at Texas for the previous 25 years to their tenure.  David Snow, Michael Huey and Kyle Hix are a mixed bag of nuts throughout any four quarter contest.  Adam Ulatoski is a solid player, but on many Longhorn teams, would be regarded as the weak spot. 

Colt McCoy possesses tools like a quick release, athleticism and toughness, that translate at the NFL level.  Now, Garrett Gilbert looks like a kid that could be the first QB taken by the time he comes out assuming Mac McWhorter doesn’t kill him.  I think this is rock bottom for OL play at the University of Texas.  Things will get better with graduation for Horn fans when Texas coaches are forced to insert Tray Allen in the starting lineup and move David Snow to center.  The Longhorn Nation was arguably a Mason Walters injury away from a national title. 

I’ll always define this great Texas football team as Jordan Shipley, Sergio Kindle, Lamarr Houston, Roddrick Muckelroy, Aaron Williams and Earl Thomas with a sprinkle of elite special teams play and Colt McCoy getting the shit beat out of him.  And, I’m jealous.