MAJOR ADVICE FOR SARK?
By Larry Carlson for https://texaslsn.org
TLSN's Larry Carlson teaches sports and news media classes at Texas State University. He is a member of The Football Writers Association of America.
Major Applewhite stands tall among Longhorn QB legends. He played in two Big XII title games for Texas.
Neither turned out right, but it wasn't on Major. In '99, he was the conference's Offensive Player of the Year, but Nebraska clipped the Horns for the championship. Two years later, Applewhite came on after Chris Simms gave up four turnovers before halftime, then smacked a finger on a pass rusher's helmet. Texas, 10-1, trailed Colorado -- a team it had beaten by 34 in October -- by a
29-10 margin. Applewhite hit a 79-yard TD pass on his second play, re-energizing the Horns.
Still, no thanks to a late penalty (after a UT defender ran into the Buffs' punter, allowing CU to run down the clock and keep the ball away from the hot-handed Applewhite), Texas came up short, 39-37. What if Applewhite would have been called from the bullpen earlier??? A shot at the natty? Ifs and buts.
Applewhite got the only start of his senior season in the consolatory Holiday Bowl. He bombed Washington for 473 yards and led Texas to a thrilling comeback win after the Horns had trailed by 19 in the third quarter.
But why should Major be of interest to Texas and Sarkisian this week?
Because Applewhite, the offensive coordinator and QBs coach at South Alabama, helped key the Jaguars' 31-7 paddling of Oklahoma State back in September. Sure, on offense, OSU was not yet utilizing RB Ollie Gordon II and Alan Bowman was not the starter at QB. But maybe Major could provide Sark with some intell, anyway. His underdog squad kicked tail. I mean, for a Sun Belt Conference team to roll into hostile Stillwater and rough up a Big XII heavyweight, well....somebody had a plan. And
they executed it. Hope you dialed Major's number, Sark.
Earlier this week I picked Texas to top Okie State by a 41-27 count. I'll stick with that, hoping the Texas secondary can weather an assault of slant patterns. I am expecting somebody, maybe Michael Taaffe, to steal a Bowman misfire and take it in for six.
And I'll go with Quinn Ewers hitting at least a couple of TD passes, likely to Adonai Mitchell, to complement the potent Texas run game, undiminished last week by the absence of injured Jonathan Brooks.
The Horns have an early kickoff. Here's to taking care of business, then allowing themselves and Longhorn Nation the opportunity to bite nails watching the other heavyweight fights to see how the murky College Football Playoff crystal ball clears.
Priorities, though. For UT, less than a conference championship will be a Texas-sized disappointment.
Anything more than that? Gravy.