Columbus, Ohio – The Texas Longhorns are for real, folks, and coach Mack Brown might be, too.
His Longhorns’ 25-22 win over No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday night won’t wipe out five straight losses to Oklahoma, but in arguably Texas’ biggest out-of-state nonconference win in its history, Brown won the coaching battle. You could say he was as big a difference as Vince Young, his quarterback who transformed himself into a serious Heisman contender.
Against a coach in Jim Tressel who had gone 5-1 against top-10 teams, Brown and his staff quieted an Ohio Stadium-record crowd of 105,565 and Brown’s nationwide critics. To befuddle Ohio State’s incredible linebacker trio, Brown used a play-action passing game out of the shotgun that he showed on one other play in the Louisiana-Lafayette opener.
Brown frequently used a no-huddle offense to quiet the thundering crowd and often up to five wideouts. Ohio State’s linebacker triangle of A.J. Hawk, Anthony Schlegel and Bobby Carpenter still combined for 31 tackles, including five for losses, but the second-ranked Longhorns (2-0) gained 382 yards against what’s considered the best back seven in the nation.
Also, Brown had punter Richmond McGee kick closer to the band member who dots Ohio’s “i” than he did Ted Ginn, who managed only one punt return for 8 yards. To avoid Ginn on kickoff returns, Brown chose to go for it on fourth-and-1 at the Buckeyes’ 1, despite leading only 23-22 in the final minute.
“We thought we would score, and we were down there at the 1-yard line and when they lost their last timeout, we felt like it would be very, very difficult for them to go 99 yards in 25 seconds with no timeouts,” Brown said. “I wasn’t really excited about kicking off to them again, if that makes any sense.”
Lost opportunities
The 1-1 Buckeyes not only can blame Brown and Young for the loss, they can blame themselves, too. If they run the table as they should – the Big Ten is almost overshadowed by the MAC after two weeks – they’ll look back at some missed opportunities:
Ahead 19-16 in the third quarter, Ohio State’s Justin Zwick threw an 8-yard touchdown strike to wide-open tight end Ryan Hamby. He bobbled it. By the time it returned to his arms, cornerback Cedric Griffin separated him from the ball and his senses.
The Buckeyes, who employed an inane platoon system at quarterback, made two interceptions and had a fumble recovery in Texas territory. They could only convert them into three field goals. Tim Crowder’s sack of Troy Smith ended one second-quarter drive at the 19, two Smith incompletions from the 8 ended another, and Hamby’s drop ended the last one.
“(The defense) is out there busting their butts for us,” center Nick Mangold said, “and we can’t do a better job?”
Sooners struggles
It’s apparently OK to drink as a minor and play quarterback for Oklahoma as a redshirt freshman. Rhett Bomar made his first start one week after being charged with underaged drinking. Coach Bob Stoops said it would be handled internally, but the only way Bomar may sit is by bad performance. That is certainly possible after 42 passing yards Saturday were Oklahoma’s lowest since 1997 in an uninspiring 31-15 home win over Tulsa. Bomar didn’t attempt a pass in the second half in an attack that has become atrocious.
“We’ve got to really assess, can we do it?” Stoops said. “And can our receivers do what we’ve been doing the last several years? Do we need to adjust and make some modifications?”
Footnote
Silver lining of Michigan’s miserable 17-10 loss to Notre Dame: The Wolverines’ maligned defense gave up only 56 yards in the second half.
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
