Texas Longhorns (big hat, no cattle; please don’t Horns Down us)

[DaveyBoy]

while I like Mack Brown from what I can see of him and definitely admire the Texas Longhorn program, it was plain to see that Vince Young was the difference in that program. He carried the Longhorns on his shoulders. The rest of the team had some great players, but all the elite teams do.

and from our 3 games we played against them I left them thinking the Texas defense was definitely not anything special. I think they missed Chizek and Robinson more than they realized and Vince Young covered that up.

 

[NFBuck]

while I like Mack Brown from what I can see of him and definitely admire the Texas Longhorn program, it was plain to see that Vince Young was the difference in that program. He carried the Longhorns on his shoulders. The rest of the team had some great players, but all the elite teams do.

and from our 3 games we played against them I left them thinking the Texas defense was definitely not anything special. I think they missed Chizek and Robinson more than they realized and Vince Young covered that up.

Eh, that'd be kinda like saying Maurice Clarett was the difference in JT's tenure. Same with the coordinators, could you argue JT wouldn't have achieved the same level of success minus Dantonio and Heacock? Mack coached two GREAT teams in 2008-09. I'd argue the '08 team should've played UF over Oklahoma. Against 'bama, who knows what might have happened had Colt not gone down with the shoulder injury. He was two bad breaks away from possibly two more MNCs. Last year was a disaster, but I just don't believe the disdain for him from much of their fanbase after one bad year.

 

[DaveyBoy]

Eh, that'd be kinda like saying Maurice Clarett was the difference in JT's tenure. Same with the coordinators, could you argue JT wouldn't have achieved the same level of success minus Dantonio and Heacock? Mack coached two GREAT teams in 2008-09. I'd argue the '08 team should've played UF over Oklahoma. Against 'bama, who knows what might have happened had Colt not gone down with the shoulder injury. He was two bad breaks away from possibly two more MNCs. Last year was a disaster, but I just don't believe the disdain for him from much of their fanbase after one bad year.

the difference was that although Clarett did a great job scoring TDs close to the goal, he didn't have a very good game vs Miami. Meanwhile, Vince YOung had another other-worldly game vs USC in the Rose Bowl.

Also - Clarett missed a lot of plays and even some games in 2002. Vince Young carried Texas nearly every game.

 

[NFBuck]

the difference was that although Clarett did a great job scoring TDs close to the goal, he didn't have a very good game vs Miami. Meanwhile, Vince YOung had another other-worldly game vs USC in the Rose Bowl.

Also - Clarett missed a lot of plays and even some games in 2002. Vince Young carried Texas nearly every game.

Fair enough, but that doesn't account for back-to-back 13-1 seasons in 2008-09 where with a couple of breaks he could have won two more titles.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

Eh, that'd be kinda like saying Maurice Clarett was the difference in JT's tenure. Same with the coordinators, could you argue JT wouldn't have achieved the same level of success minus Dantonio and Heacock? Mack coached two GREAT teams in 2008-09. I'd argue the '08 team should've played UF over Oklahoma. Against 'bama, who knows what might have happened had Colt not gone down with the shoulder injury. He was two bad breaks away from possibly two more MNCs. Last year was a disaster, but I just don't believe the disdain for him from much of their fanbase after one bad year.

I think the disdain came from his over all arrogance. He has that "you don't question me" type attitude. It didn't help that he threw Muschamp under the bus during the season, by all accounts he we beloved by the fan base. Throw in the overall hatred for Greg Davis (Mack's BFF), who did a great job with VY & Colt but not much else before them. It was just a perfect storm, Mack had better win, because his ego is making him risk his legacy here in Austin.

Should be fun times down here in Austin.

 

[Oneshot]

Spit's story actually makes a lot of sense - Chasing away 2 all-world coordinators in a span of 3 years is extremely unusual. I wonder why people haven't really talked about Mack's ability to retain coaches on his staff before. The fish rots from the head. (not that Texas is a rotting fish by any means, but you know what I mean).

 

[JBaney45]

I think the disdain came from his over all arrogance. He has that "you don't question me" type attitude. It didn't help that he threw Muschamp under the bus during the season, by all accounts he we beloved by the fan base. Throw in the overall hatred for Greg Davis (Mack's BFF), who did a great job with VY & Colt but not much else before them. It was just a perfect storm, Mack had better win, because his ego is making him risk his legacy here in Austin.

Should be fun times down here in Austin.

Not to mention his whole charade

"I can't trust the coaches, I can't trust the team" business and then coming out after the season talking about how hard he took the national championship loss etc. Bad seasons happen, but when it's an apparent lack of effort it's understandable where fans would be upset with that. These coaches are making too much money to drop the ball on an entire year without making the fans a little upset. I mean look at how Tressel handled a nearly identical situation after the NC loss to Florida. He wasn't sitting in his office pouting about it, they got right back to work and the team fed off of his attitude.

 

[jlb1705]

To say that "it's clear to see that Vince Young was the difference" completely sells Colt McCoy short. Perhaps the biggest difference between his legacy and Vince Young's is that McCoy got hurt in his NC game.

 

[jwinslow]

To say that "it's clear to see that Vince Young was the difference" completely sells Colt McCoy short. Perhaps the biggest difference between his legacy and Vince Young's is that McCoy got hurt in his NC game.

Colt was also a standout in his first three years before that NC run. Vince was pretty brutal until late in year 3.

 

[NFBuck]

To say that "it's clear to see that Vince Young was the difference" completely sells Colt McCoy short. Perhaps the biggest difference between his legacy and Vince Young's is that McCoy got hurt in his NC game.

Exactly. There are very real parallels between Mack and JT. Both have had tremendous success after taking over for a maligned HC, both have/had an "unpopular" OC (Davis/Bollman), both have had some really good defensive coordintors. I guess the main difference is that JT has dominated his chief rival and conference, while Mack has, to be kind, spotty results in that category. Given some of the reactions I've seen/read from some of our fanbase after just one loss, I shudder to think what would happen if he had a bad year...and don't think tOSU/JT is immune to that...

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

Colt was also a standout in his first three years before that NC run. Vince was pretty brutal until late in year 3.

To say that "it's clear to see that Vince Young was the difference" completely sells Colt McCoy short. Perhaps the biggest difference between his legacy and Vince Young's is that McCoy got hurt in his NC game.

I will say this, I moved down here March of 06, I would say that Colt is more beloved by longhorn nation at least publicly. I know VY did the sausage thing (Earl Campbell too), the restaurant thing, but you never saw the guy on TV or doing radio spots for place. I just never got the feeling that they loved VY, they loved the fact he got them a national title but that was it. Colt is still all over the place down here... hell during the season one place was giving away a trip to a BROWNS HOME GAME, I laughed my ass off but damn I never thought I'd see that in Austin.

Just my opinion as a Buckeye in a foreign land

 

[DaveyBoy]

I will say this, I moved down here March of 06, I would say that Colt is more beloved by longhorn nation at least publicly. I know VY did the sausage thing (Earl Campbell too), the restaurant thing, but you never saw the guy on TV or doing radio spots for place. I just never got the feeling that they loved VY, they loved the fact he got them a national title but that was it. Colt is still all over the place down here... hell during the season one place was giving away a trip to a BROWNS HOME GAME, I laughed my ass off but damn I never thought I'd see that in Austin.

Just my opinion as a Buckeye in a foreign land

Colt McCoy was a fantastic QB over his career.....but for one season Vince Young was the best player I had ever seen in my 35 years of watching CFB. That USC team VY beat nearly singlehandedly was pretty special too. VY was the QB of Texas when they finally cracked the BCS bowl ceiling as he nearly singlehandedly beat Michigan at the Rose Bowl. He put Texas Football into the elite category. They weren't elite in recent memory until he got into his 4th year. There is no question about that. He is the reason Mack Brown can retire with a NC. That's OK...it still counts and it was still Mack Brown who finally put all the pieces together.

Alabama 2009 was not that special and would have been a serious underdog to the USC team that VY faced. I do think with a healthy Colt McCoy that UT would have won a close one vs UA. But again, neither of those teams were in the same class as the UT vs USC teams in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

I'm surprised at how quickly forget what Vince Young did and how he did it.

 

[Taosman]

That USC team that VY beat had "issues" on defense and VY/Tejas just exposed them.
"Well, we couldn't stop them when we had to," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "The quarterback ran all over the place. (USC has a string of injuries on defense that weakened them)

But McCoy was better earlier. 'Bama knocked him out of the Championship game. Another great player who could have won a Heisman.

 

[BB73]

Colt McCoy was a fantastic QB over his career.....but for one season Vince Young was the best player I had ever seen in my 35 years of watching CFB. That USC team VY beat nearly singlehandedly was pretty special too. VY was the QB of Texas when they finally cracked the BCS bowl ceiling as he nearly singlehandedly beat Michigan at the Rose Bowl. He put Texas Football into the elite category. They weren't elite in recent memory until he got into his 4th year. There is no question about that. He is the reason Mack Brown can retire with a NC. That's OK...it still counts and it was still Mack Brown who finally put all the pieces together.

Alabama 2009 was not that special and would have been a serious underdog to the USC team that VY faced. I do think with a healthy Colt McCoy that UT would have won a close one vs UA. But again, neither of those teams were in the same class as the UT vs USC teams in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

I'm surprised at how quickly forget what Vince Young did and how he did it.

VY fumbled in the 4th quarter of the game against USC, and Texas was fortunate to get the ball back. He also threw a terrible ball across the field in the 4th quarter that should have been picked but it was dropped by one of USC's Ting brothers. If USC gets either one of those turnovers, they win that game, so while VY had 200 yards rushing and 267 yards passing, he was also lucky to get the win.

Colt also had Texas on a possible road to the NC game very early in his career. After losing at home to tOSU in 2006, Texas went on a winning streak and might have made it to a rematch except for Colt getting a concussion on a goal-line QB sneak late in the Kansas State game. Without that happening, Texas could have won that game, the following aTm game, and the CCG and might have been considered a more worthy #2 team than Florida - Texas was ahead of Florida in the AP poll but behind them in the BCS when Colt got the concussion.

I believe VY was the better player, but durability and luck are key factors in the comparison.

 

[spit and tears]

That QB sneak against KSU in 2006, and the QB keeper against 'Bama, are two of the main reasons we hate Greg Davis. If we had a real running game we probably don't make either of those calls.