Saturday, September 25 – a day that will live in Longhorn infamy as “Rout 66: The Sequel”.

If you’re a Horn’s fan, you will probably remember the fateful day in 1997 when the UCLA Bruins came to Austin and pounded the Horns 66 – 3. It’s one of those days you just don’t forget.

Fortunately, I was out of town that weekend, so I missed all the live game angst. But I do remember watching the score scroll across the bottom of the screen on ESPN thinking that surely it must have been a typo. The previous season they had surprised Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship, and 1997 was to build upon that success. But after we were “Bruined” that year, everything fell apart and the Longhorns went 4 – 7. John Mackovic, the Texas coach, was gone by season’s end. Of course, that was also the beginning of the Mack Brown era at Texas. So good things did come of it.

Fast forward 13 years. And with a 34 – 12 beat-down yesterday, we’ve just witnessed another epic Longhorn meltdown for the ages. Sure, there were a lot of plays missed by players. Poor execution. Dropped passes. The receiving corps still has yet to find a “step up and take charge on third and long” receiver – especially since we seem to find ourselves in that situation a lot lately.

But, in the end, the coaching staff has to be accountable. Much like 1997, perhaps this will (or should, at least) lead to more shake-ups within the coaching staff. And I don’t mean Mack Brown.

The defense played pretty well – but with UCLA having 11 extra minutes of time of possession, they simply couldn’t maintain the level we’ve come to expect of them. The offense has continued to depend on the defense to keep them in the game long enough until they could put some points on the board. Lest we forget, at halftime, it was still a 10 point game.

At the end of the first quarter, the Bruins had –6 yards of offense. They only had 27 yards passing for the whole game – so this game plan wasn’t that hard to figure. But when it’s a steamy September afternoon in Austin, it’s pretty tough to play defense for 11 extra minutes. You could see the players running out of horsepower. Solid tackles became arm tackles, and a disheartened defense was finally torched for 264 yards of rushing.

But then let’s look at the offensive side of the ball. The offensive play calling is, quite simply, offensive.

Throwing 3 yard screen plays when you’re down by 3 touchdowns is inexcusable. Having a running back with 48 yards in the first half – well on his way to the coveted 100 yard game – then ending up with only 51 yards because he never got the ball again – is inexcusable. Continuing to utilize the zone-read a full 4 years after Vince Young took his incredible talents to Tennessee (and with a dearth of athletes to really make it work) is inexcusable. Keeping the training wheels on a quarterback that almost won you a National Championship – even if he does make a few mistakes along the way – is not only inexcusable, but is killing his confidence as well. The inability to find a tight end that can block and catch a pass – is inexcusable. And having the best offensive line recruits in the state should give us more than 85 yards of rushing without a question.

Some people may retort that Greg Davis is the same offensive coordinator that was behind the National Championship team, and that that displays what he is capable of in the recent past. Well, I respond with this – having watched Vince Young play, I have no doubt that he made the best of anything Davis put on his play list, and I have no doubt that Vince Young was going to put that team on his shoulders, good play calling or otherwise. So was that a reflection of coaching, or otherworldly leadership from what was one of the greatest collegiate football players of the modern era?

Coaches are ultimately responsible for the players, for creating an environment in which athletes can grow and develop and become the best that they can be. Sure, Texas has produced plenty of great NFL draft choices. But let’s face the reality: Texas has the best recruits from a state that is talent-rich in high school football. Texas gets the best recruits to begin with, and when you have the cream of the crop for starters, it should be expected that somewhere along the line, there will be a few NFL draft choices emerging after their time at Texas. But yesterday was a fine example of an environment in which an athlete can’t succeed. When you are rotating 4 or 5 running backs, or 6 or 7 receivers, getting a new starter every week – no wonder there is no consistency, no wonder there are missed assignments.

This isn’t a call for a review of Mack Brown’s position. Brown has established a national program, and has obviously put Texas back on the map after the demise of John Mackovic and others before him. But I am not sure how many more screen plays we need to see before we realize that the offensive play calling needs to move into the 21st century. We need an offensive coordinator that can make changes to the game plan within the course of the game itself, and doesn’t wear blinders according to what he thinks needs to happen – play calling should be based on what the game (and talent pool) dictate. 

This Longhorns team was over-rated from the outset of the season. And they were outmanned and outmatched and outcoached yesterday. Bravo, Rick Neuheisel. I applaud your success with a one-dimensional game plan that was executed perfectly.

In just a few days, we enter into Red October. By months end, I have no doubt we could be looking at 3 or 4 losses. Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa State, and Baylor. Imagine looking at a 4 – 4 season at the start of November – and I can tell you that Texas A&M will be salivating at the thought of putting the last nails in the Horns’ coffin for the season.

That might be the only thing worse than getting Bruined in “Rout 66: The Sequel”.

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