Scoop27
09-17-2013, 10:52 PM
By Cedric Golden - American-Statesman StaffMack Brown says he likes a good fight.
Well, if things continue to spiral downhill in his program, he’s in for the fight of his life.
Yet the Longhorns coach insists that brighter days still lie ahead.
“Our goals are still in place,” Brown has said more than once. “We can still win the Big 12 championship.”
A Big 12 championship? In tackle football?
Before we call in a specialist to examine the Big 12’s highest-paid coach, let’s reflect upon two of the most humbling defeats this program has endured since the last Oklahoma game.
BYU was a real embarrassment, Ole Miss a second-half clunker.
Now Mack is talking conference title. He and players have said it so many times over the past couple of weeks that it’s almost tempting to believe them, except that recent events foreshadow a season ending far different from Texas preparing for a BCS bowl game this winter.
If Brown were to pull this off, it would go down as his greatest coaching job, but these LASIK-enhanced eyes just don’t see it going down that way.
Here are three reasons the Horns are bound to fall short in the Big 12 and Brown could be giving his last postgame speech some time after the regular-season finale at Baylor on Dec. 7:
1. He just doesn’t have the answers.
There aren’t many coaches who can say they’ve led nine teams to 10-win seasons, with seven of those finishing in the top 10 nationally. Brown can.
But he has peaked.
The Horns were a real national player from 2000 to 2009, even if Brown spent those first five years as Bob Stoops’ whipping boy. Brown hasn’t fielded a title contender since Colt McCoy left, and now he’s grasping for the same answers to questions that have been continually asked for going on four years now.
From 2000 to 2009, Texas was 110-19. The Longhorns are 23-18 since.
Either we’re in for the biggest comeback since Texas-Oklahoma State in 2004 or Brown has simply run out of excuses for why this program is no longer relevant on a national level.
I choose B.
2. The senior class hasn’t won.
They’re a nice group of young men who just haven’t gotten things done here. They arrived full of hope and enthusiasm after the Horns went 13-1 in 2009, the lone loss coming against Alabama in the BCS national title game.
Then came their freshman year, which happened to be the forgettable 5-7 that was Texas’ 2010 season.
This class, 23-18 overall, is only five games over .500. And it’s 11-15 in conference play and an unconscionable 4-12 against ranked teams.
Nothing has happened to lead anyone to believe there is enough senior leadership in place to put the brakes on a train that’s been speeding downhill for some time now. Sure, it’s a “player-led” team, as some have insisted. but the leaders haven’t experienced the consistent success needed to assure younger players during tough times.
Seniors such as Carrington Byndom, Trey Hopkins and Mike Davis are good players who will have an opportunity to extend their careers at the pro level, but they are destined to finish college without having played in a BCS bowl game.
3. History is against them.
Since the Big 12 began play in 1996, no team has won the league after starting a season 1-2. Want to take it a step farther? Only one team — the 1996 Longhorns — won the title without securing double-digit wins for the season. That team finished 8-5 and fell to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl.
Just like the current team, those ’96 Horns, coached by another “Mack,” lost two nonconference games (Notre Dame and Virginia). Texas started Big 12 play at 2-2 before reeling off four straight wins to set up a title game clash with Nebraska.
So, at one point, that team was actually 3-4 overall before finding its footing.
In case you’re wondering, five other teams in league history — Texas A&M (1998), Nebraska (1999), Colorado (2001) and Oklahoma (2006 and 2012) — have encountered a loss in their first three games before rallying to win the conference.
Each team finished with double-digit wins, something that just doesn’t seem possible right now for this year’s Longhorns, who have yet to play the meat of their schedule.
Heading into Saturday’s conference opener against Kansas State, Brown is right about one thing. The Big 12 is there for the taking. As was expected, the conference is down compared with recent seasons.
But does that mean Texas can turn it around and take the league by the horns?
History — distant past and recent — says no, though the Longhorns still have a slugger’s chance. Sadly, Texas has taken far more punches than it has delivered this season.
The way things have gone lately, Mack will need a knockout to keep his job.
Well, if things continue to spiral downhill in his program, he’s in for the fight of his life.
Yet the Longhorns coach insists that brighter days still lie ahead.
“Our goals are still in place,” Brown has said more than once. “We can still win the Big 12 championship.”
A Big 12 championship? In tackle football?
Before we call in a specialist to examine the Big 12’s highest-paid coach, let’s reflect upon two of the most humbling defeats this program has endured since the last Oklahoma game.
BYU was a real embarrassment, Ole Miss a second-half clunker.
Now Mack is talking conference title. He and players have said it so many times over the past couple of weeks that it’s almost tempting to believe them, except that recent events foreshadow a season ending far different from Texas preparing for a BCS bowl game this winter.
If Brown were to pull this off, it would go down as his greatest coaching job, but these LASIK-enhanced eyes just don’t see it going down that way.
Here are three reasons the Horns are bound to fall short in the Big 12 and Brown could be giving his last postgame speech some time after the regular-season finale at Baylor on Dec. 7:
1. He just doesn’t have the answers.
There aren’t many coaches who can say they’ve led nine teams to 10-win seasons, with seven of those finishing in the top 10 nationally. Brown can.
But he has peaked.
The Horns were a real national player from 2000 to 2009, even if Brown spent those first five years as Bob Stoops’ whipping boy. Brown hasn’t fielded a title contender since Colt McCoy left, and now he’s grasping for the same answers to questions that have been continually asked for going on four years now.
From 2000 to 2009, Texas was 110-19. The Longhorns are 23-18 since.
Either we’re in for the biggest comeback since Texas-Oklahoma State in 2004 or Brown has simply run out of excuses for why this program is no longer relevant on a national level.
I choose B.
2. The senior class hasn’t won.
They’re a nice group of young men who just haven’t gotten things done here. They arrived full of hope and enthusiasm after the Horns went 13-1 in 2009, the lone loss coming against Alabama in the BCS national title game.
Then came their freshman year, which happened to be the forgettable 5-7 that was Texas’ 2010 season.
This class, 23-18 overall, is only five games over .500. And it’s 11-15 in conference play and an unconscionable 4-12 against ranked teams.
Nothing has happened to lead anyone to believe there is enough senior leadership in place to put the brakes on a train that’s been speeding downhill for some time now. Sure, it’s a “player-led” team, as some have insisted. but the leaders haven’t experienced the consistent success needed to assure younger players during tough times.
Seniors such as Carrington Byndom, Trey Hopkins and Mike Davis are good players who will have an opportunity to extend their careers at the pro level, but they are destined to finish college without having played in a BCS bowl game.
3. History is against them.
Since the Big 12 began play in 1996, no team has won the league after starting a season 1-2. Want to take it a step farther? Only one team — the 1996 Longhorns — won the title without securing double-digit wins for the season. That team finished 8-5 and fell to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl.
Just like the current team, those ’96 Horns, coached by another “Mack,” lost two nonconference games (Notre Dame and Virginia). Texas started Big 12 play at 2-2 before reeling off four straight wins to set up a title game clash with Nebraska.
So, at one point, that team was actually 3-4 overall before finding its footing.
In case you’re wondering, five other teams in league history — Texas A&M (1998), Nebraska (1999), Colorado (2001) and Oklahoma (2006 and 2012) — have encountered a loss in their first three games before rallying to win the conference.
Each team finished with double-digit wins, something that just doesn’t seem possible right now for this year’s Longhorns, who have yet to play the meat of their schedule.
Heading into Saturday’s conference opener against Kansas State, Brown is right about one thing. The Big 12 is there for the taking. As was expected, the conference is down compared with recent seasons.
But does that mean Texas can turn it around and take the league by the horns?
History — distant past and recent — says no, though the Longhorns still have a slugger’s chance. Sadly, Texas has taken far more punches than it has delivered this season.
The way things have gone lately, Mack will need a knockout to keep his job.