I am glad that is over

If you are a University of Texas football fan, this has been a long and painful year. The misery ended with a well fought, but mistake prone loss to in-state rival Texas A+M. This game was a microcosm of the entire season. The Longhorns gave-away four turnovers, they had stupid penalties at the worst times, and the ball never seemed to bounce their way. The coup de grace came on the final play of the game. UT got the score to within seven and forced the Aggies to punt with a few seconds left. Instead of fielding the punt, they let it drop and the referees run the clock out as the players stood around wondering what was going on.

There seemed to be a lot of people standing around wondering what was going on this year. Coach Mac Brown did not have an explanation for the Longhorns reversal of fortune, going from the national championship game to 5-7 in one year. All the players on the team were highly recruited and all the coaches who put together a 13-1 season last year were still there.

So, what happened? There is no doubt the coaches attempt to become a running team was a bust. We didn't have the offensive line for it and the receivers not only didn't do a great job of blocking, they didn't master the fundamentals of catching either. There are a lot of opinions and I don't think anyone really wants to hear mine, but I have one theory that I have not heard elsewhere. The team and coaches never seemed to be focused on the opponent of the day. After the first two losses there was talk of still winning 10 games or still winning the Big 12 South. After a few more losses all the talk was of getting bowl eligible and getting the 13 extra practices. Don't get me wrong, we needed those 13 extra practices, but I don't think a bunch of teenage kids are motivated to win by the thought of more practice. I never heard the coaches talk about what they were going to do to beat OU or A+M. The years UT has done well, there was no looking ahead. The coaches only talked about the next game, they didn't talk about 10 wins, or national championships; they talked about what they had to do to beat Iowa State, even if they were a terrible team.

To get on back on track, the coaches need to spend the next nine months thinking about how they are going to beat Rice on Sept. 3rd, 2011, not how to get back to winning 10 games a year.