Oct. 25, 2000
Editor's Note: Dave Campbell's column appears in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here. For an archive of his other columns, click here.
A most unusual thing happened this fall to the Texas Longhorns on the way to what they fully expected to be a delicious date with destiny. They walked into an ambush that turned into a massacre that left them reciting the most familiar words in football: wait'll next year.
Getting torched by the Oklahoma Sooners will do that to a team, all right.
The wearers of the orange and white who went into September seemingly armed with the most colossal array of big bodies and lethal arms and fast legs seen at UT in many a moon lived up to expectations for only one game, a 52-10 laugher over Louisiana-Lafayette in their season opener.
Then the Longhorns heeded that old Horace Greeley admonition -- you know, "Go west, young man, go west."
The Longhorns, blessed with the most favorable schedule a Texas team has been given in years, went west to meet Stanford on the Cardinal's own grounds. Nobody really expected Texas to duplicate what the Longhorns did to Stanford in Austin last season -- 69-17. But certainly defeat was the last thing on the Longhorns' minds.
But defeat is what they got. And it was directed by a still-grassy green redshirt freshman who was quarterbacking a Stanford team that had just been flogged by San Jose State, 40-27. And that's a Stanford team that has won only one game since upsetting the Longhorns. Figure that one out.
THAT 27-24 SETBACK obviously blighted Texas' lofty hopes but hardly obliterated them. Highly-ranked, well-armed teams have lost early-season games before but have regrouped, found their true stride, avoided additional defeat and gone on to play for the national championship. Not easily done, but possible.
Texas returned home from California and smashed Houston, 48-0. Then the Longhorns smashed Oklahoma State, 42-7. They seemed to be on their way.
Boasting a national ranking that left them just outside Top Ten status, they made their annual trip to Dallas to meet arch rival Oklahoma. And, lo, the bottom fell out.
The Sooners romped, stomped and had a ball, 63-14, although they were going against a Texas defense that returned nine of last season's 11 starters. The president of OU called back to Norman and gave the students a Monday holiday even before he left his seat at the Cotton Bowl. Glassy-eyed UT students dolefully made their way back to Texas' Forty Acres and, to quote a Sports Illustrated report, a "mortified" Texas coach Mack Brown "devoted much of his post-game remarks to apologizing to the Texas fans, alumni, students, players and assistant coaches. (He's believed to have left out two custodians and a secretary in the registrar's office.)"
In short, a lot of people had fun at the blue chip-saturated Longhorns' expense and Texas' hopes of national conquest this season were reduced to ashes. Mack Brown and his aides went back to Austin and started doing the only thing they could do under the circumstances: they started trying to put their team back together again.
THE FIRST RETURNS have to be encouraging for them. They went to Boulder and defeated Colorado, 28-14, and that was a Colorado team that had just returned from A&M's Kyle Field and an upset victory over the Aggies. Then Texas smashed Missouri last week, 46-12.
All of which brings us to what comes next for both Texas and the Baylor Bears. The two teams, whose rivalry dates back to 1901, will clash for the first time this century in a game that will be played in the Longhorns' favorite playpen -- Royal Memorial Stadium -- this Saturday (11:30 a.m. kickoff) before a crowd that is almost sure to surpass 80,000.
"I feel sure we'll have at least 80,000," said UT football spokesman John Bianco last week. "We've had turnouts of 80,000 or more for every home game but one since Mack Brown took over (1998)." The Longhorns averaged 82,673 for their six home games last season.
Having just played before a sellout crowd of 77,959 at Nebraska's Memorial Stadium in Lincoln last Saturday, the Baylor Bears figure to play before more than 158,000 fans (plus a Fox network TV audience this week) over the two-week period. Unless the record book's figures are wrong, that would be the second largest combined crowd ever to see the Bears play over a two-week period. No. 1 on that particular list is the 161,449 that saw Baylor's back-to-back games against Notre Dame and Texas in 1998, and currently No. 2 is the 156,607 who saw the Bears over a two-week span against Oklahoma and Georgia in 1989.
WHATEVER THE ATTENDANCE figure in Austin, the Bears have to know they can expect no mercy. After experiencing that slaughter in the Cotton Bowl at the hands of OU on Oct. 7, Texas will be doing all it can to make up for lost time and lost prestige.
But as Baylor coach Kevin Steele would tell you, mercy is a foreign word where the Longhorns are concerned anyway. Steele found out the hard way last year at Floyd Casey Stadium. Final score: Texas 62, Baylor 0. The Longhorns were still throwing long passes into the Baylor end zone in the fourth quarter.
Can the Bears now do to the Longhorns what Stanford did to UT after suffering a similar strapping a year ago? Such a possibility for revenge would have to be at the top of the Bruins' fondest dreams. But reality says such huge turnarounds only occur maybe once a year, and the Longhorns already have been victimized. Also, Stanford had the home advantage, Baylor does not.
Texas will be playing on turf, of course, that over the years became a burial ground for many a fond Baylor dream. Indeed, the Bears were undefeated after six games and ranked No. 3 in the nation when they took on Texas in Austin in 1953. Final score: Texas 21, Baylor 20.
Does any true-blue Baylor fan have to be reminded of the way it was in 1963? Texas was No. 1 in the nation but Baylor was undefeated in conference play, and as the final seconds began ticking off the clock, there was Bruin All-America Don Trull aiming what looked for all the world like a touchdown pass to All-America Lawrence Elkins. A Baylor touchdown and extra point would leave the game tied, a two-point Baylor conversion would give the Bears an 8-7 victory and put them on an inside track to the Cotton Bowl.
Texas quarterback Duke Carlisle, inserted into the game a couple of plays earlier to firm up the UT secondary, made all such speculation moot. He plucked Trull's pass out of the air a split second before it reached Elkins. Final score: Texas 7, Baylor 0.
In 1985 the Bears needed only a victory over Texas to sew up a share of the title and go to the Cotton Bowl. Final score: Texas 17, Baylor 10.
IF ALL THAT leaves you with the impression the Longhorns always beat the Bears in Austin, well, Bruin fans had that impression, too. Texas had won every blessed game played at Memorial Stadium since 1951 with the lone exception of 1957, Darrell Royal's first year at UT, when the two teams tied, 7-7.
But it's a long lane that has no turning, right? In 1989 the lane turned. Boy, did it ever! Grant Teaff took a rather ordinary Baylor team (5-6 for the season, 4-4 in SWC play) to Austin and mangled the 'Horns, 50-7. Then two years later he beat them at Memorial Stadium again, 21-11.
The Bears have had no luck there since, although Chuck Reedy's 1995 team lost a tight one, 21-13, and Dave Roberts' 1998 Bears fought the 'Horns tooth and nail before finally yielding to them in the fourth quarter, 30-20. Texas would not have won that game without the presence of Heisman winner Ricky Williams.
The Longhorns don't have a Heisman candidate this year but if high school reputations mean anything, they have everything else. Mack Brown and his representatives have totally dominated the state in recruiting since he first arrived in Austin, and it shows.
THEY COME ARMED this season with essentially the same cast that wasted the Bears so totally a year ago. They're just a year older, stronger and wiser, and augmented with some hot-shot freshmen who already are making their presence felt.
The offensive line is still huge -- tackles Leonard Davis (6-6, 367) and Mike Williams (6-6, 339), guards Antwan Kirk-Hughes (6-3, 310) and Derrick Dockery (6-6, 335) and center Matt Anderson (6-4, 300). All of them are experienced juniors or seniors other than sophomore Dockery, who was considered exceptional at recruiting time.
"Davis and Kirk-Hughes have been real good but they've all been solid," said Bianco. Davis went into the season hailed as a Lombardi Trophy candidate and a strong All-America type with a bright future in the NFL. But they all have the size that NFL teams crave.
Having lost projected tight end starter Bo Scaife (torn ACL on the first day of fall practice), the Longhorns have turned to junior Mike Jones (6-4, 260) with increasingly positive results. "Mike has really come on our last two games," said Bianco of the San Antonio product who caught 6 passes for 102 yards against Colorado.
Jones is one Longhorn the Bears will have to watch. But even more lethal are young wideouts (true freshmen) B.J. Johnson and Roy Williams and junior quarterback Major Applewhite. Applewhite, the Big 12's co-offensive player of the year in 1999, appears to have settled the UT quarterback controversy by eclipsing his young rival, heralded sophomore Chris Simms.
BOTH OF THEM passed Baylor dizzy a year ago, and Applewhite did likewise to most other opponents, but he got off to an uneven start this year while sharing time with Simms. After the hiding the 'Horns absorbed against Oklahoma, Mack Brown decided Applewhite was his guy, pure and simple. Handed the reins, Applewhite responded big time against Colorado -- 23 completions in 40 attempts for 308 yards and three TDs while playing the entire game. The mercurial Johnson caught four of those passes for 61 yards. The tall (6-5, 210) Williams caught three for 55 steps and two TDs.
Both young receivers were saluted as special talents when recruited. But few expected them to take over this quickly. "They've been all they were billed to be," said Bianco. "They're on a pace to break all of our freshman receiving records (which now belong to Lovell Pinkney)."
Somewhat lost in the mix is swift Montrell Flowers, a junior and former high school teammate of Baylor's Randy Davis. Flowers appeared to be Baylor bound himself until Brown scooped him up at the last minute, just as he won the battle for Kirk-Hughes.
Texas' foremost running back is Hodges Mitchell, who rushed for 1,343 yards last season and 125 yards (his season high) against Colorado after the 'Horns got their passing game going. Soph Kenny Hayter (most highly sought running back two seasons ago) and soph Victor Ike give Texas plenty of depth.
DEFENSIVELY, TEXAS majors in experience. Gobs of defensive starters return, including a tackle combination -- seniors Casey Hampton (6-1, 310) and Shaun Rogers (6-4, 320) -- that the Longhorns consider the best in the country. Rogers had to miss the Oklahoma and Colorado games because of an ankle injury but he was back in his accustomed starting position last Saturday against Missouri.
"Hampton has been the best. Even in the games we've lost he's been dominant," said Bianco.
The 'Horns have former Texas High School Defensive Player of the Year (and National Defensive Player of the Year) Cory Redding, who is 6-5 and 260, at left end and the only freshman in the crowd, Kalen Thornton (6-3, 270) at the other. Thornton is a private school product (Dallas St. Marks). "Thornton made the transition from high school to college very quickly. And Redding is getting better and better every week," the UT spokesman said.
Elsewhere, the UT defense looks bullet proof (although Oklahoma proved that looks can be deceiving). The returning linebackers are juniors Tyrone Jones and Everick Rawls and middleman De'Andre Lewis. Lewis and Rawls have been particularly effective (except against Oklahoma and Stanford).
The defense is led by cornerback Quentin Jammer ("he's been awesome," said Bianco) who is back after missing all of last season because of injury. Senior Greg Brown is at free safety, junior Lee Jackson or senior Greg Brown at strong safety, and soph Roderick Babers has moved ahead of junior Ervin Hill at the other cornerback spot.
The kicking game is mainly in senior Kris Stockton's hands. He does the punting (39.1 average) and the placekicking (8 of 11 on field goals with a long of 44 yards, but he has a career long of 53). He had field goals of 42 and 50 yards against the Bears last year when the Longhorns rampaged to a 42-0 halftime lead. "It was," said one old Baylor fan with a long memory, "a day that will live in infamy."
Editor's Note: Dave Campbell's column appears in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here. For an archive of his other columns, click here.
