OUch: A History Lesson

As the horror unfolded at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, my brother-in-law stood next to me jumping out of his skin.  He couldn't believe what he was seeing in his second trip to the Red River Rivalry, and I think he was equally perplexed at how stoic I was - the biggest Longhorn fan he knew wasn't going crazy and yelling at the field.  I just stood there with a dazed look on my face because as awful as it was... I had seen it before.

Now that the dust has settled I hear my friends and fellow fans calling for Mack Brown's head and saying things like "I thought there was no way we were capable of being THAT bad."  Those people simply haven't been paying attention.

Since the 2000 season Texas has lost to Oklahoma by 38 or more points FOUR TIMES.  Yes.  In those 13 games the Longhorns are only 3-10 and four of them were as bad or worse as what you saw on Saturday.

Let's put that into a little bit of perspective.  Since the Longhorns first ran out onto a football field in 1893 they have lost games by 38 points or more just 18 times.  Ever.  They've played 1,275 games.  And four of those 18 have happened recently... and to the same team.

I know what you're thinking: it goes both ways.  Actually, in this case it doesn't.

The 2005 Texas team bound for a National Championship beat the Sooners by 33.  That matched the biggest blowout for our side in the series' history.  The Horns also beat OU by 32 in 1970 - another national championship season.  Not bad, but those are the best teams in our history laying down a thumping.

So Texas has never beaten Oklahoma by more than 33 points and they needed to have the best team in the country to do it.  Oklahoma has beaten Texas by more than 33 points nine times.

Texas is still well ahead of OU all-time, being on the better end of a 59-43-5 overall record, and while style points don't count in the win column, they certainly help to shape public opinion.  It can be easy sometimes to brush off a bad day and stare straight ahead like I was doing on Saturday, but a little indignation may be ok this time.  It's important to look at the history... so that you don't unwittingly repeat it.

By the way, the worst loss the Longhorns ever suffered came in 1997 when UCLA came into Austin and laid down a 66-3 thumping on Texas, a game forever known on the 40 acres as "Rout 66."  John Mackovic was fired at the end of that season.