AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -Texas fans have spent the summer comparing the upcoming season to the halcyon days of perfection in 2005.
So many similarities between then and now: A No. 2 preseason ranking and a Heisman-caliber quarterback leading a veteran team coming off a thrilling bowl win over a Big 10 team.
Even the destination this year is the same as it was then: The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., which will host the Bowl Championship Series title game. The place where Vince Young and Texas won the national championship four years ago.
On Saturday night, Colt McCoy and the Longhorns start their pursuit of another title against Louisiana-Monroe.
Texas coach Mack Brown welcomes the look back into history. He uses it as motivation.
well from start to finish. They played well every game.
“What I’ve told this team is that there’s an expectation that you can be that good, but you haven’t proven it and that’s your pressure if you want to be that good,” Brown said. “That starts Saturday night.”
The Longhorns, who have rarely been tested in season openers the last 10 years, are 41-point favorites and will be expected to look every bit as dominant as the spread suggests. Style points count and just winning might not be good enough when the slimmest of BCS rankings can knock a team out of a league title game three months from now.
Texas stumbled to a 21-13 season-opening win two years ago over Arkansas State. Another game like that could put an early dent in McCoy’s Heisman campaign as well as Texas’ ranking.
The Longhorns say they will take no chances with Arkansas State. Two years ago, the Warhawks rolled into Alabama and whipped the Crimson Tide.
“We know what it’s like to be in trouble against a team like that,” senior defensive tackle Lamarr Houston said. “We won’t let that happen again.”
ld pull off another shocker.
“That tells our team that anybody can beat anybody,” Weatherbie said.
The Longhorns return 15 starters from last season’s 12-1 team that spent a month at No. 1 and beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. McCoy set an NCAA record with a 77 percent completion rate. The Longhorns best defender, linebacker Sergio Kindle, is a pass-rusher the likes of which Louisiana-Monroe quarterback Trey Revell won’t see in the Sun Belt Conference.
Looking back at 2005 again, Texas opened with a 60-3 over Louisiana-Lafayette, another Sun Belt team. They spent all season at No. 2, riding just behind USC all the way to the Rose Bowl. The Longhorns were rarely challenged that year. After a tough game at Ohio State, Texas won its next eight games by at least 19 points.
M. There’s no big interregional matchup like the game against Ohio State in ’05, but run the table in the Big 12 and Texas most likely gets a shot at glory.
In 2005, McCoy was a redshirt freshman watching Young lead the show. At the end of the season, McCoy got a national championship ring that Young had earned. Now he wants to win one he can call his own.
“I know that this team has the chance to be really special,” McCoy said. “I can’t imagine a more fun year than this could be.”
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