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Texas Terror: After 5-7 Season, Austin Reaching For Panic Button

Article By on 13th December, 2010

How does it feel Texas? It is getting a little rough there in Austin, isn’t it?

For all the smack you laid over the summer prior to the 2010, forcing a plethora of conference shifts before proclaiming to “save the day” in the Big 12 with 10 teams in the worst financial deal for a conference in college athletics history. Then, you drop a 5-7 season?

Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor and probably Oklahoma State are getting the biggest screw job in the history of college football as members of the Texas 10.  

The Texas 10 caters to Oklahoma and rival Texas A&M, which Texas realized was two minutes from bolting for the Southeastern Conference. Texas A&M would have been on an equal playing field in recruiting overnight.

Texas has a roster full of Rivals babies, the players in high school football who look the part if you go by measurements. As it turns out, getting all the 4- and 5-star athletes in the Lone Star State doesn’t necessarily equate to conference championships.

Sophomore gunslinger and one-time local hero Garrett Gilbert has been the fall guy for an offense that was allegedly going to shove it down the throats of the Big 12 back in August. Instead, Texas is currently searching for an offensive coordinator. Gilbert, at times, looked like he had forgotten how to play football.

When Texas looked very average against Rice in the season-opener, this writer knew exactly what was coming. In fact, Texas fans and this writer have already covered this topic in August when he said, “Texas will be lucky to play in the Alamo Bowl in 2010.”

Texas fans alienated Gilbert at halftime of the home UCLA loss. After losing to Oklahoma, Texas restored some temporary hope after escaping Lincoln’s glorified “red out” which turned into “red eye” after Nebraska blamed the officials for not being able to hold onto the football.

After winning at Nebraska, Texas looked like Baylor pre-Robert Griffin to finish out the season.

Then the coach-in-waiting, the future messiah, the be all, end all of defensive coordinators, Sir William Muschamp bolts for Florida. Mack Brown’s million-dollar baby couldn’t say yes to the Florida job fast enough.

Muschamp is rumored to be very keen on acquiring the young mind of former Texas quarterback and current Longhorns assistant Major Applewhite. Applewhite was plucked by Brown after spending one season as an offensive coordinator at Alabama.

According to intense local media speculation, Applewhite would jump at the chance to follow Muschamp to Gainesville for an offensive coordinator position. The same rumor mill believes Brown will not offer Applewhite the chance to fill the offensive coordinator void at Texas outright, opting instead for a co-offensive coordinator job along with somebody from outside the program.

Co-coaching is the dumbest idea in the history of sports. Seriously. Applewhite could have head coaching blood in his veins at Texas, yet for some reason the CEO doesn’t see it that way.

The Texas fanbase is desperate to keep Applewhite at home. If you look at it from Applewhite’s point of view, Coach Brown wasn’t always the most loyal to Applewhite during his days playing for the Longhorns. So why should Applewhite be loyal to Brown?

Valid question.

Does the Chris Simms situation ring a bell?

It is comical to just about every other football program in the Football Bowl Subdivision that Texas is in complete panic mode after one horrible season. See if you can get some sympathy from Nebraska after the Bill Callahan era or Oklahoma after the John Blake era.

You could say Texas destroyed the Southwest Conference before now destroying the Texas 10. If you believe this current situation in the Texas 10 is going to last long before the North Division schools get tired of your crap like Nebraska did, you have another thing coming.

Everything’s bigger in Texas. We get it.

Hype included. Texas is the hype machine.

Look at all of those Big 12 Conference Championship banners in Norman.

Count them. Seven in just 15 seasons of Big 12 football.

National championships. Texas is tied with one during the Big 12 era right along with Oklahoma.

And who else? Nebraska.

As insane as this sounds, this situation is eerily similar to what happened at Nebraska under Frank Solich.

Brown heading into the 2010 season was thought of in Austin more like Tom Osborne is in Lincoln, which is the only thing different. After losing in the BCS National Championship Game to Miami, Nebraska dropped a 7-7 season in 2002.

Coordinators were fired, chaos ensued. After a respectable 9-3 season in 2003 following the coaching moves, Solich himself was fired.

Some of the most loyal Brown followers are starting to turn against him. Six months ago, this wasn’t even worth discussing because it was never, ever going to happen.

Five wins and a bunch of average football with players who are supposed to be almighty, according to Rivals, the aforementioned Rivals babies, Texas fans are rounding up the militia.

One of the most constant themes in some of the greatest programs in the country has been coaching staff continuity. It cannot be understated. It cannot be denied.

If former Miami (FL) head coach Randy Shannon gets the defensive coordinator job that is an amazing start. If there is a defensive coordinator that can match résumés with the departing Muschamp, Shannon fits the bill.

On Monday, Florida defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is rumored to be interested in coming to Austin. Austin’s services probably will no longer be needed now that Sir William Muschamp is at Florida.

What makes the situation in Gainesville sort of interesting is how Muschamp seems to be assembling his own crew to take over once Urban Meyer coaches the Outback Bowl. One has to wonder how Meyer feels about Muschamp disassembling a coaching staff that won two BCS National Championships under Meyer, produced a Heisman Trophy and a boat load of NFL draft choices.

The situation in Austin is salvageable if the fans are patient. Obviously, that is never going to happen.

Heading into this past season, Texas should have never had preseason expectations like it had.

That’s just the way it is, especially in a place where football is just as important as a member of your family.

Why is orange juice so expensive?

Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com



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