Michael Peters: Texas’ rebuilding job still under way
BY MICHAEL PETERS World Sports Editor
Sunday, October 14, 2012
For more OU stories.
Read Michael Peters’ blog.Original Print Headline: Texas’ rebuilding job still under way
DALLAS — University of Texas football is back all right.
Back to 2011.
Back to the middle of the
pack in the Big 12.
And certainly back to
the drawing board after a
dismal, demoralizing 63-21
loss to Oklahoma on Saturday
afternoon at the Cotton
Bowl.
The forecast for both the
weather and the Longhorns
was supposed to be a
sunny one.
Texas, we’ve been told, is
on its way back to national
prominence, only a narrow
loss to No. 5 West Virginia
away from being 5-0.
Oklahoma, it’s been written,
was on the ropes after
losing at home to Kansas
State.
But weather forecasts
and football forecasts have
a way of changing rather
quickly. A gray sky hung
over the State Fair most of
the day Saturday — even if
you wouldn’t blame Texas
fans for thinking the rain
clouds were following
them around exclusively.
“It’s just unacceptable
for Texas to lose like that
to Oklahoma, much less
to anybody, especially
two years in a row,” Texas
coach Mack Brown said.
“I’m disappointed for our
coaches, fans and players."
So a couple of weeks
after OU fans were ready to
launch the “Bob is a bum”
campaign, Texas fans are
back on the “Mack must
go” bandwagon.
And that’s an all-toofamiliar
sentiment for
Longhorn fans — especially
on these post-Red River
Saturday evenings in October
in Dallas.
There was the 55-17
blowout last year and a
losing streak to Oklahoma
that has climbed to three
games. And Saturday’s
brutal beatdown must have
brought back unpleasant
memories of 63-14 in 2000
and 65-13 in 2003.
“Well, it certainly ranks
up there with 63-14 and
65-13,” said OU coach Bob
Stoops of his estimation of
Saturday’s win. “It’s in the
same ballpark."
Oklahoma’s superiority
up front on offense and
defense blew Texas out of
the ballpark early — and
sent many Longhorn fans
to the fair midway before
the bands took the field for
halftime.
How bad was it?
Texas had two first
downs in the first half.
Texas’ running game,
averaging 209.4 yards per
game, generated 2 yards in
the first half on 10 carries.
Freshman star Johnathan
Gray finished with 16 yards
on eight carries.
Longhorn quarterback
David Ash, who had shown
signs of growth through
the first five games,
misfired 16 times in 29
attempts, including two
interceptions. He also lost
a fumble.
The Texas defense allowed
677 yards to the
Sooners, including 334 on
the ground.
OU had a 95-yard touchdown
run and passing plays
of 73, 32 and 28 yards.
But this summation may
be even more jarring.
“We were inept offensively,”
Brown said. “But
we did make some better
plays on defense than we
have in the past."
So, according to Brown,
Texas’ defense showed
improvement against
Oklahoma. That tells you
all you need to know about
the state of the Longhorn
defense.
As for the state of the
program, Texas is one gift
in Stillwater away from
three straight losses to
start the Big 12 season. And
Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU
and Kansas State still loom
on the schedule.
Stoops was quick to warn
reporters Saturday not to
read too much into any one
game. And Brown is 7-1 after
losing to OU — his only
loss last year against Oklahoma
State. But this one
game was a pretty damning
indictment of Brown’s
rebuilding job at Texas.
OU quarterback Landry
Jones, one of only four
quarterbacks in team history
to be 3-0 as a starter
against Texas, said the difference
between the teams
is simple.
“I think our team executes
better,” Jones said.
On Saturday, it was a
summary execution of the
Texas season — at least as it
applies to the Big 12 Championship.
As for Oklahoma, well,
maybe the Sooners aren’t in
a rebuilding mode after all.
“Everybody wants to
summarize what you are
after two games, and that
doesn’t make any sense
to me in the third game,”
Stoops said. “We’ve got a
long season to go, and who
knows what we’ll do."
So maybe it’s still too
early to say for sure the
Sooners are back — if they
ever really went anywhere
to begin with.
It seems pretty clear after
Saturday, however, that
the only place Texas is back
to is square one.
Associated Images:
Texas fans watch the last minutes of the Longhorns’ loss to the Sooners on Saturday. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
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