These past three weeks have been hard for Longhorn Football as the school had to cope with a back-to-back losses to UCLA and OU. This past weekend though, they came back with something to prove because this has been the worst showing they have had in years. As a Longhorn, it sucks watching a game without having a little number next to our name.
So this past weekend Longhorn fans were on pins and needles as we watched them take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers. This game had two things working against us. The first is the fact they were then ranked number 5 against an unranked Longhorn team. The second is the fact that Nebraska had something to prove after narrowly losing the Big 12 Championship Game to the Longhorns last season. I am not going to lie, I seriously thought Nebraska was going to take it home but being the good Longhorn I am, I didn’t let that be known until after the game.
Throughout the first couple of games, Longhorn offense found it hard to get the ball into the end zone without making a field goal. We also saw how Offensive Coordinator Greg Davis did not give QB Garret Gilbert the opportunity to run the ball. This was something we saw Texas Longhorns alumni Colt McCoy and Vince Young excel in through out their seasons. Going into this game, I can say most of us were expecting a harsh outcome, but to all of the fans surprise we saw something we haven’t seen in a while.
On the field, we saw a confident offense. The Longhorns took a chance and Gilbert ran the ball 71 yards on 11 carries and was responsible for two run-in touchdowns for Texas. He didn’t have much style while running and actually looked a little unsure before he took off, but it was one hell of a start.
Another thing that helped Texas was the fact that Nebraska receivers couldn’t catch or hold onto the ball. In three potential touchdowns for Nebraska the ball was dropped with in 20 yards of the end zone each time. Nebraska also had trouble holding onto the ball, when they already had it. They fumbled the ball a total of five times throughout the game.
The Longhorns finished the game with a 20-13 victory. This was exactly what the Longhorns needed especially this being the first week official BCS standings were released. All fans from across the country were highly anticipating the standings to see where their teams ranked and it was no different for the Texas Longhorns. After being unranked on the AP Poll, we were all hoping to knock off the number five team and become ranked under the BCS. Texas debuted at number 19, and I can say it will feel good to see a little number next to Texas while watching the Longhorns play Iowa State at home next week.
