How season was supposed to go: If offense developed possible push for national championship How season will be remembered: OU...for some reason this is the worst tasting loss in my UT life, yes worse than route 66. I know he has built up some good will with Horn fans with this nice winning streak, but I really hope UT wins out and it is enough for Mack to call it quits.
What a refreshing take and input. A unique opinion. Ty for sharing to encite witty, thoughtful debate.
I don't recall anyone suggesting this year's team was a national championship contender. Most were expecting that the defense would keep us in games and hoping that the offense would be able to score a few points. I think most fans were expecting about a 9-3 season. The season has definitely not gone the way most expected with the defense suffering as it has, but the offense has out performed many expectations. Before the OU game, a few fans started thinking that maybe we had more going than originally thought. The OU loss was definitely hard to take, but as we approach the end of the season, I think we are about where most expected us to be.
The OU loss has permanently soured me on Mack Brown. The enormous good he has done for the program is not lost on me, but he has brought a completely unprepared or unmotivated team into Dallas one too many times for my taste. Once or twice I could accept, it happens—but an absolute and thorough thrashing by a team that we should easily be competitive with, four times now—this is pathetic. I’m just a nobody alum and fan though, so I hold out hope that our program finds leadership worthy of its heritage.
Dionysus, you said it better than I. I no longer think to myself wait till next year. I think wait till next coach. TCU, KSU, and bowl opponent all scare the crap out of me. Should UT be afraid of those 3 schools (even if it is a BCS game). OU is just slightly worse than losing to an average WVU (big east school one year removed) at home.
They've won since the two-game bump in the road (well, one bump and one car-jacking) ... and they have an excellent chance to win out. I'll take that as a positive. Hook'em.
Yeah, that OU debacle is still stuck in my craw and nothing short of three, or four consecutive undefeated seasons ending in SEC teams getting pummeled by the Horns in the MNC games will help to ease that pain.
Whether or not this season goes/went as expected, Mack isn't leaving now. Most of us expected next year (2013) to be our best chance since '08 to get to the top. All the offensive line returns, and only about three starters are leaving. Mack wants to give it another chance and will hang around again.
Yeah... playing for a nine-win season on Thursday with a chance for 10 wins and a BCS bid. This season has been a complete and utter failure by any objective standpoint. Just an utter train wreck... We really need a hyperbole filter for the internet.
It would be very interesting to see where Longhorn Nation stands on the Mack Brown question. Like Beijinghorn1, Dionysus and Geezerhorn, given a choice I would opt to go in a different direction for 2013. There is no reason to believe that we will not again have our butts handed to us next October -- or the following October for that matter, and from this perspective enough is enough. Would Bama fans tolerate such a repeated embarrassment at the hands of Auburn? Would Ohio State fans tolerate such repeated debacles in the Michigan game? No, they would not. We're Texas. We expect the best. With the most lucrative program in the country and top five talent every year, why should we tolerate anything other than a contending team every year?
I predicted 9-3 because I thought a sound defense would provide support to a young unproven QB. turns out our defense was HORRIBLE for the first half of this season. ou hanging 60+ on us, bu 49, and wvu 48 are embarassing. Diaz needs to go, and Mack is a big questionmark for many of us. As much as I love him, he just seems intimidated by ou, which is unacceptable. To get beat is one thing, to be repeatedly embarrassed by your arch rival, and having it cost you conference championship after championship is unacceptable to many folks.
While I was among the majority that didn't expect Texas to contend for a MNC this year, I think that's part of the problem, and I think that not expecting to contend next year is further part of the problem. In a sport where every cycle of players is only 4 years, three straight years of not contending is exasperating. It's not wait til next year, it's wait four years. Colt McCoy and Vince Young set NCAA records to take us to titles. It shouldn't take lightning in a bottle to get in the conversation.
If we are setting up for a great 2013 season Mack deserves to stick around for that and then the next season is anybody's guess.
I am very proud of this Texas team! This young texas team could have hung it up after the OU disaster. I hope we finish 10-2 and get into a really nice bowl game.
Horn69 - thanks for posting that link. It's pretty interesting to see what our predictions were at the beginning of the season compared to where we stand now. Hats off to Orangecat1 as being the only on on that thread to think our D was overrated. Here's to winning out and finishing 11-2 on the season.
Horns2005 has a good point. Contrary to a few emotional projections, most of us only expected baby steps this year. We expect slow and steady wins the race. Well that is just not necessarily true in college football anymore. You can look around and see teams with equal or less talent, having undergone recent overhauls as we have, doing more with less. Look no further than our own team for evidence. The offense made great gains. More than any of us expected. Had the defense not shat the bed, or had the coaching staff not prepped the team for another OU FACE-RAPING again in Dallas, we'd be in the MNC equation already and all the sudden those "emotional projections" a few had early on are not so stupid. So why as Texas fans, are we surprised when our offense does what they did this year, and why are we not surprised when we fall flat on our face in the Cotton Bowl again, only to wake up and play football afterwards? I understand its a game. **** happens. This is a pattern though, and we all know it, expect it. Its not our time yet. I guess we all waiting for some Golden child or 3 more top 5 recruiting classes before we expect greatness. Slow and steady...
I agree it is a season gone horribly wrong and if we wind up playing aggy in a bowl, it will be even worse. blowu debacle ruined season and it cannot be reclaimed with wins over lesser teams. Meanwhile, aggy is ascendant in SEC. It's kind of like seeing your ex-wife win the lottery or marry a doctor. They have a better recruiting class than us for next year and in the future we're going to have to compete with blowu and aggy for top Texas recruits. We had the world by the tail just 7 years ago and it has slipped away from us. I blame Mack.
I will concede that through the Iowa State game and after OU, this team has been a pleasant surprise. Kudus to Mack. However, the fundamental question remains: Who among those that read this board will ever enter the OU game again with absolute confidence? I'm not talking about confidence that we will every year, but confidence that we will be competitive and put up a good fight? I am not in that camp. I love Mack Brown and what he has done for the program, but after this year I am ready to move in a different direction.
