AUSTIN, TX — The Texas Longhorns downfall after their loss to Alabama in 2010 has been in discussion for years about when will Texas be back as a national contender. As a longtime fan of Texas, I believe that Texas is back despite Saturday’s close win against a 2-5 Kansas and two losses against LSU and Oklahoma.
I think Texas has been back since winning last year’s Sugar Bowl against the Georgia Bulldogs and QB Sam Ehlinger decreed “We’re Back”.That win was on a national level and Georgia was one of the top teams in the country in the toughest conference, the SEC.
But, many other people do not agree with this, even Longhorn fans.
LSU and Oklahoma are two teams that are some of the top teams in the nation and both loses were within seven points. In years before, we could not even keep up. Losing seven points to the #2 and #5 teams in the nation, is not bad at all. A close-win to Kansas shows that Texas has work to do still. These loses show that we are close to being contenders but are missing pieces.
As INSC Magazine Founder, Publisher and CEO Rob Cobb said in his piece yesterday: “They will get there, they have the tools, talent and coach Tom Herman to lead them, but 2019 may already be lost thanks to losses against LSU and the hated Sooners.”
But, why does it matter if ‘Texas is back”?
The University of Texas Longhorns has a rich history of tradition, pageantry, and football. They have a huge fan base and they are a huge brand. Rece Davis said “Sports are better when Texas is good. They command the attention of the nation”, but Reggie Bush said it best: “Football is better when Texas is playing well”.
The Texas Longhorns embody the Texas motto “Everything is Bigger in Texas”.“The Eyes of Texas” and “Texas Fight” are two of the nations famous fight songs. The Texas mascot, Bevo the Longhorn is one of college’s best mascots of all time. Texas is one of seven FBS schools that has 900 victories in program history. They also have four national championships. Texas has also had some college football legends to play there.
Names like Vince Young, Earl Campbell, Cedric Benson, Colt McCoy, Ricky Williams, and Mack Brown are some of the legends that are household names if you are a Longhorn fan. They also perennially send players to the NFL and have had many NFL legends come from Texas. To this day, The 2006 Rose Ball where Texas beat USC was one of the greatest football games ever played.
Texas is just so ingrained in college football that the nation feeds off of the energy a winning Longhorn team provides. The Oscar winning actor and the Longhorns’ Minister of Culture, Matthew McConaughey, is one of those people who bring the Longhorns to national attention and brings them energy. When he was on College GameDay as a guest picker and rolled up in a Texas-themed car and made fans across the nation pumped for the LSU game. Or videos of him giving speeches or doing the Wolf of Wall Street chant.
I don’t think 2019 is a loss. Texas is still a 5-2 team and they are #15 in the country with a chance to still possibly win the Big-12. I believe that next year will be the year that the Longhorns could go all the way if Ehlinger stays. I believe he will stay and he will lead them to a title, the kid was born to be a Texas legend.
Texas is back and will be for a while.