Berry Tramel, Sports columnist
Cowboys have messed with Texas — for one half
By Berry Tramel
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9
Published: October 27, 2009
AUSTIN, Texas — Mack Brown’s veterans have told young teammates the tales of playing Oklahoma State.
Bad news for the Cowboys, who host
Texas in a gargantuan game Saturday night: The Longhorns don’t focus on the historic comebacks in this Groundhog Day series that keeps repeating Texas glory and OSU anguish.
The ’Horns don’t talk so much about winning despite deficits of 28 (2004), 19 (2005) and 21 (2007) points. Instead, the ’Horns talk about how to avoid such a mess in the first place.
"They told me it was going to be a dogfight,” said sophomore safety
Earl Thomas. "O.K. State has a tendency to jump out on us, and we have to fight to get back in the game.”
That’s the forgotten piece of this puzzle. Yes, you keep wondering how OSU blows such big leads. But isn’t it about time to talk about how Texas gets in such holes?
"We’d like to get started earlier this time,” said senior flanker
Jordan Shipley.
Three of the best stretches of OSU football ever came in games against Texas:
→Almost a half in 2004, when OSU led 35-7 against a team that would finish 11-1 and win the
Rose Bowl.
→Almost a half in 2005, when OSU led 28-9 against
Vince Young’s national champions.
→Three quarters in 2007, when OSU led 35-14 against a team that finished the season ranked No. 10 in the polls.
The first two times, Texas sprinted past the Cowboys, 56-35 and 47-28. The latter, the ’Horns clawed their way back and won 38-35 on a last-play field goal.
You don’t see three comebacks like that from
Peyton Manning in a decade. But the Longhorns have done it
to the same opponent three times in five years.
No team embodies 60 minutes like Texas. In addition to OSU’s horror show, the Longhorns have staged a variety of other memorable comebacks.
They trailed
Oklahoma 21-10 in 2008 but won 45-35. Trailed
Nebraska 17-3 in 2007 but won 28-25. Trailed
Texas Tech 21-0 in 2006 but won 35-31. Trailed Southern
Cal 38-26 in the 2005 title game before winning 41-38.
"One thing about this team, anytime we’ve been down, the guys on the team believe 100 percent we’re gonna win the game,” Shipley said.
Everyone says such things. Few offer physical evidence. Texas offers evidence.
"That’s most of the battle, believing you can win,” Shipley said. "Our team is really good about not hanging our head.”
Consider the sidelines in 2007 at
Stillwater. The Cowboys were dominating. The OSU fans, who virtually are on top of the benches anyway, were going crazy. Dozens of teams in that situation wilt every Saturday.
Not Texas. Remember when the Longhorns were supposedly soft? Whatever happened to those guys?
"I just remember guys on the sidelines stayed in the game the whole time,” Shipley said of 2007. "Everybody felt if we could make a couple of plays, we’d get the momentum back and have a chance.”
That’s the double-edged sword OSU faces Saturday. History not only has built mountains of OSU doubt in this Orange bowl series, but oceans of Longhorn confidence.
"Understand it’s a 60-minute game,” said
UT quarterback
Colt McCoy. "That’s one of the good things about our team. We’re never going to give up.”
Brown said he warned his team about complacency, that the ’Horns can’t afford to sit back and figure they’ll win no matter what, even though series history suggests Texas will do exactly that.
UT defensive tackle
Lamarr Houston, who nailed
Dez Bryant on a fourth-down screen pass late October to seal the Longhorns’ 11th straight victory over OSU, was asked if this is a scary game.
"It’s not a scary game,” Houston said. "It’s just a competitive game. Back and forth, up and down, always very exciting.
"And we always find a way to win.”
You don’t have to tell the Cowboys.
Berry Tramel: 405-760-8080; Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1.
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In any event, I hope you Pokes put a thumpin' on the Shorthorns this Saturday. I think you can do it, too, though it doesn't look like you'll have Dez back in time for the game. (How suspicious is it gonna look if the NCAA suddenly decides next week to let Dez play again AFTER the Texass game?)
Does it ever get to you, that the only attention you seem to reap is negative? That you spend all of your nights alone on your computer, refreshing message boards and online newspaper articles until you eventually pass out on the couch with 'girls gone wild' advertisements blaring on your television?
You don't have to continue to be a loser buddy. Just because you are one right now doesn't mean you can't get it turned around. Call your ISP and ask them to cancel your service...just for a month. Then get yourself a dog...maybe join a softball league.