FINAL CHAPTER OF TEXAS IN BIG XII TITLE GAMES:

HORNS AIM TO GORE OKIE STATE

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.)

The Longhorn Nation was feeling pretty chesty in 1996. This new Big XII stuff was a piece of cake. With burnt orange frosting. The Horns' first regular season in the new league was decent enough but a 7-4 record was cause for guffaws when Las Vegas oddsmakers looked adoringly at UT's title game opponent. Two-time defending champion Nebraska again was taking care of business, ranked number one and set to register a three-peat of national titles.

Then the Horns, led by its confident junior QB, James Brown, stunned college football and shucked the Huskers, 37-27.

A year earlier, Texas whipped the Aggies in College Station to claim the final Southwest Conference trophy. Now the Steers had out-gunned number one and made off with the Big XII conference's first championship hardware.

Coach John Mackovic was the toast of college ball for a gamble call -- "Roll left," from Brown to TE Derek Lews -- deep

in Longhorn territory and UT, with a less than stellar 8-4 record, was crashing the Fiesta Bowl party. Tostitos for everybody!

Never mind that the Horns would fall to Penn State and finish with at least five losses for the eighth time in eleven years.

And that the starchy Mackovic would be out of Bellmont Hall, adorned with an expensive pink slip, in less than a year.

It took three more years for Texas -- then in its second season under Mack Brown -- to win the South division and ride into another Big XII title game. Nebraska, beaten in all three of its previous Big XII duels with the Longhorns, stifled UT's attack led by the league's Offensive Player of the Year, sophomore QB Major Applewhite, 22-6, in San Antonio.

The Horns returned to the big game two years later. Three championship opportunities in the conference's first six years.

Not bad, not bad at all. But the Longhorns, hampered by turnover prone QB Chris Simms (three picks and a fumble) fell behind Colorado -- a team UT had creamed by five TDs just five weeks earlier -- 29-10 in the second period.

Simms then mashed a finger on the helmet of a Buffalo and Applewhite was called in. On his second play, the senior hit wide-open BJ Johnson for a 79-yard touchdown pass. Major zipped past the Colorado sidelines, yelling and pumping the hook 'em sign.

Longhorn fans and players came alive as the first half curtain fell.

Applewhite's heroics continued in the second and UT outscored the Buffs by ten but a late penalty-inducing mistake cut off the comeback and Texas fell, 39-37, in a monster upset.

In the ensuing 21 seasons, Texas qualified for the conference title bout just three times. They smoked Colorado, 70-3, en route to the 2005 national championship. Four seasons later they survived a late, lofty Colt McCoy throwaway with a final-second Hunter Lawrence field goal to beat Nebraska and enter the ill-fated national title contest at 13-0. Then it took nine excruciating years for the Longhorns to again earn the right to fight for the Big XII marbles, and OU erased UT's 2018 regular season victory over the Sooners by winning the rematch.

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AND NOW COMES THE LAST BIG XII SHOWDOWN FOR BEVO

At last, the Longhorns, long accused of underachieving -- winning in recruiting, losing far too often in Big XII play -- are

living up to the name on the front of their jerseys. In spite of a major last-minute meltdown against OU eight weeks ago, this Texas team displayed mastery in winning the close ones and then exploded for a 50-point bashing of Texas Tech. It was a triumphant farewell to regular season play in the conference they have been part of for 28 years.

The championship game opponent, Oklahoma State, was not on the UT schedule this fall for the first time in the Big XII years. During the Mack Brown era, UT owned the Cowboys, once winning eleven in a row. But the Pokes have ruled the series of late, beating the Horns in nine of the last 13 battles. Most of the players starting for Texas have never beaten Mike Gundy and his orange-and-black troops.

Texas opened as a 12.5 point favorite but UT fans, especially, know that this herd of Longhorns seldom covers spreads.

They just win. It won't be easy to beat the Sooner State's "other" team. Ask all the squads who have tried and failed to stop Ollie Gordon II, arguably America's best running back. The dude from Euless Trinity has produced 20 TDs and leads the nation in rushing. Fortunately for Texas, OSU's strength can be neutralized by UT's biggest, meanest, baddest asset, the D-line. Gordon will get his yards some of the time but if UT can keep him from breaking big gains, the Cowboys will be forced to pass. Then it will be up to the Longhorns to pressure and sack Alan Bowman before he has time to pick at the Horns' secondary. Not to short-change Bowman, but Texas and Longhorn Nation should be grateful that

Spencer Sanders departed Stillwater for Ole Miss this year where he languished on the bench behind Jaxson Dart rather than again wreaking havoc with Big XII competition.

Last year, Oklahoma State hurried Quinn Ewers all day and intercepted him three times. This is UT's and Quinn's shot at high stakes redemption for last fall's 41-34 loss. The Longhorns' O-line must extend its streak of protecting the quarterback, and

they'll have to step up and create a substantial push on short yardage must-haves and red zone opportunities. If they do, Ewers and UT's balanced offensive attack should be able to outscore OSU. The Cowboys have been gashed for 30 or more points in seven games this season. Pass another jigger of burnt orange Kool-Aid. The holiday season is no time for a dietary change.

Call it Texas 41, OSU 27.