From the been-a-long-time department: Horns headed to Stillwater
Published: 9/25/2012 4:31 PM
Last Modified: 9/25/2012 4:31 PM
The Texas football team will soon make its first Boone Pickens Stadium appearance since Halloween of 2009.
It has been this long. The last time the Longhorns were in Stillwater:
--Wes Lunt was a high school sophomore.
--Brandon Weeden was a third-team quarterback who had thrown 10 collegiate passes.
--Texas quarterback Colt McCoy had no idea -- nor did anyone else -- that he would someday be replaced by Weeden as the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback.
--Mike Gundy was still the guy who couldn’t beat Texas or OU. (A fan at the Cowboy Caravan tour stop in Tulsa broached that subject with Gundy every year until the coach got over the humps.)
--Dana Holgorsen was still a few months away from taking up residence at a Stillwater hotel.
--And Texas was on its way to a BCS championship game matchup with Alabama. (I’m asterisk-ing the SEC’s streak of national titles because the Longhorns absolutely win that game if McCoy doesn’t get hurt in the first five minutes. Playing without him, the Horns trailed by only three points with three minutes remaining.)
Why has it been so long since Burnt Orange invaded Stillwater? Blame a scheduling hiccup related to college football and Big 12 realignment.
Here’s another question: Will the Horns show up (finally) just in time to be the latest victim in a school-record streak?
OSU has won eight consecutive home games since a 2010 Bedlam defeat. That’s one victory shy of the longest home winning streak in program history.
The school record of nine consecutive home wins was established in 1985, the year before Mike Gundy showed up on campus for his freshman season. Pat Jones coached OSU to a 6-0 home record in 1984 and the Cowboys won three home games in ‘85 before dropping a 34-24 decision to ninth-ranked Nebraska.
OSU will try to make it nine in a row, again, when 12th-ranked Texas pays a 6:50 p.m. Saturday visit to Stillwater. Three or four hours later, we’ll know if the Longhorns were the party crasher or the pinata.
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
