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Date published: 10/7/2006
By JAIME ARON AP SPORTS WRITER DALLAS--By beating Oklahoma last year, the Texas Longhorns made life a lot more pleasant for themselves this week. Finally free from the choke-hold of their long losing streak to the Sooners, they avoided the endless questions of whether coach Mack Brown would ever be able to beat his nemesis from across the Red River. Darn the Longhorns' luck, though. As today's latest installment of this rivalry approaches, a new question is looming: Can they do it without Vince Young? Seventh-ranked Texas has won four of the five games in the post-Young era, but that one loss was against No. 1 Ohio State. Until Brown and his new quarterback, redshirt freshman Colt McCoy, beat a ranked team--perhaps especially No. 14 Oklahoma--Young's shadow will continue to linger. "There's no denying, [without] Vince Young back there it's just different," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said earlier this week. McCoy was on the sideline for Texas' 45-12 victory over Oklahoma last year, so he has some experience with the hoopla and excitement surrounding this game. Most importantly, he saw how well Young handled it all. "He was calm, he was collected, he never seemed to let things get to him. He just went out there and played," said McCoy, who has done much of the same since losing to the Buckeyes, completing 83 percent of his passes for 514 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. The Sooners (3-1) come in still fuming over their referee-marred loss at Oregon and none too pleased about having spent the last year watching Texas soak up much of the glory that had been theirs lately. It was a harsh turnaround for Oklahoma fans considering all the different ways OU embarrassed UT the previous five years. Stoops has had a lot more to worry about the last 12 months than losing his grip on Brown and the Longhorns. Beating Texas wouldn't erase everything that's gone wrong--but it sure would help, especially since it would clear the biggest obstacle to winning the Big 12 South. "It's a big boost," Stoops said. "But in the end, you still have a lot of football games to play."
Date published: 10/7/2006
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