AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -With its gold band and fake diamonds, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy’s 2005 national championship ring is little more than a gaudy dust collector at his parents’ house.
It’s a nice reminder of a fun season, but McCoy never wears it.
“I didn’t win it,” he said.
The most prolific passer in Longhorns history was a redshirt freshman in the 2005 season, spending practices with the scout team and notably pulling off a spot-on impression of Matt Leinart before the Rose Bowl. He spent games carrying a clipboard and charting plays for Vince Young.
So there lies the goal for McCoy and the seven other senior Longhorns still on the team from that season: win Big 12 and national titles to earn a ring they can call their own.
“That,” McCoy said, “would be a sweet ending.”
And it would make up for a 2008 season that saw the Longhorns left out of the national title hunt by the slimmest of margins.
title game when the league tiebreaker – which used the BCS formula – favored the Sooners by 13 thousandths of a point.
“If we beat Tech, things might have been different,” McCoy said.
Different in oh-so-many ways:
– Beat Tech and the Longhorns would have played for the Big 12 title against a Missouri team they thrashed earlier in the season.
– Beat Tech and maybe it would have been McCoy and not rival Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford accepting the Heisman Trophy. McCoy finished second.
– Beat Tech and Texas could have played Florida for the BCS championship. The Sooners did, and lost.
“What we could have done is play for one more second,” Texas coach Mack Brown said.
Like last season, most of Texas’ hopes of a national championship run hinges on McCoy, who seems to set a Texas record every time he steps on the field.
Once described by offensive coordinator Greg Davis of looking more like a “skinned squirrel” then a big-time quarterback, McCoy now packs 214 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame.
His 32 career wins rank first in program history. So do his career passing yards (9,732) and touchdowns (85). His completion rate of 76.7 percent set an NCAA season record. He also led the Longhorns in rushing last year with 561 yards.
McCoy revealed at Big 12 media days that he had to think long and hard before deciding not to enter the NFL draft after last season.
tely a hard decision,” McCoy said. “It wasn’t made overnight.”
When McCoy chose to return, Brown briefly wondered if McCoy was setting himself up to take a step backward.
“That was a concern I had. You come back now, how do you beat being the best in the history of college football?” Brown said, referring to McCoy’s completion rate record.
McCoy is one of eight returning starters on offense, including wide receiver Jordan Shipley, his childhood buddy, roommate and favorite target. Shipley caught 89 passes with 11 touchdowns and scored twice on kick returns last season and was granted a sixth year of eligibility after losing two earlier seasons to injury.
Defensively, Texas returns seven starters on a unit that led the Big 12 overall and led the nation in sacks with 47. Senior linebacker Sergio Kindle had 10 sacks last season and is expected to be one of the most feared players in the league when coordinator Will Muschamp, now in his second season, moves Kindle around the field, including at defensive end.
Texas has the same expectations it had four years ago when the Young-led Longhorns bumped off USC to win the national title.
“The 2005 team lived up to those expectations,” Brown said. “So we feel like that if this team will play up to their ability, they do have a chance to be really good.”
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