DALLAS -- This one's for Vince, or at least what Vince Young was in Austin. Not NFL enigma Vince. But Texas Vince.
For three years now, the spoiled Texas Orangebloods have wanted a return to the top. They knew in the back of their minds that Vince Young was a once-in-a-lifetime player. There might never be another one like him. Some pundits were sharper, hinting that it was a one-man team back in 2005 when Texas won its first national championship in 35 years.
|
|
| Mack Brown acknowledges junior QB Colt McCoy and the Longhorns have bigger goals ahead. (AP) |
So this team that beat Oklahoma 45-35 on Saturday is a different Texas team. Almost totally different from the one that won it all with Young going out on top, fittingly leading the game-winning drive and scoring against Southern California.
"That's possibly one of the best, if not the best college players to ever play the game," said receiver Quan Cosby, a freshman on that '05 team. "That's extremely hard to replace Vince. Our fans, they're amazing but a little spoiled. Winning that national championship, they were expecting another one and another one. It's really hard to win out there."
Especially in this brutal series. Careers, legends and history continue to be made here in the newly expanded 92,200-seat Cotton Bowl. Mack Brown's personal 10-Year War with Oklahoma's Bob Stoops now stands at 6-4 in favor of the younger, prettier OU coach. But after winning this year's feud, Brown knows there is something special emerging about this season.
More special to the Orangebloods, even, than beating the poo out of the Sooners, then shoving that fact in their faces all the way out of the Texas State Fair.
Texas' 45 points matched its previous high in the series, set back in 2005. The last time Texas defeated a No. 1 team was that season (USC). That's the same year the 'Horns last started 6-0. Get the connection?
"Now," Brown said, sensing the moment, "we've got a bigger goal."
Just please do not make Texas' win over No. 1 Sooners in the Red River Shootout all about McCoy. In the short term Texas has an identity, one that starts with the guts and character Young instilled earlier this decade.
"We're one heartbeat out there," Cosby said. "That's the similarity to it. When something needed to be done, it got done."
McCoy gets his due because the nation's most accurate passer (79 percent going in) led Texas to a regular-season victory over a No. 1 for the first time since 1963 (also Oklahoma). But in many ways he was outplayed by his counterpart. Sam Bradford threw for 387 yards and tied a career high with five touchdown passes.
McCoy was just a part of One Heartbeat. The defense intercepted Bradford twice in the midst of a game where the OU quarterback set the NCAA record for most touchdown passes by a player in his first two seasons. Bradford was also sacked three times. OU's vaunted line had allowed five sacks all season.
