NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Categorize this under “Get a Life, Texas Fans,” presented to you by Longhorns safety Blake Gideon.
You remember him, don’t you? He was the freshman who dropped that sure interception in the final minute of last season’s Texas-Texas Tech game. On the next play, Graham Harrell hit Michael Crabtree on a 28-yard TD reception with a second left to beat the then-top-ranked Longhorns 39-33.
Do you remember your reaction? It probably ranged from “Poor kid” to “How did he drop that?”
Do you know what some Texas fans’ reactions were? How about death threats?
“They were on Facebook, and people got ahold of my e-mail,” Gideon said at the BCS title game media day this week. “They were all pretty much the same idea.”
The blowback reached a point that he left his dorm, skipped class and crashed on the couch of quarterback Colt McCoy. A working theme here this week has been McCoy’s own personal redemption, trying to rebound from a nearly disastrous Big 12 championship game to lead Texas to the BCS championship game tonight against top-ranked Alabama.
But Gideon has had his own redemption. How has it gone? You can tell by the wry smirk on his face when he discusses last season’s Texas Tech fallout.
“I didn’t really pay attention to it,” he said. “There are only certain opinions that matter to me, and that’s all the guys wearing the white jerseys in here.”
Gideon is loyal to them because they were loyal to him. After the game, McCoy reminded him that at least he didn’t throw an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
“You can’t put the loss on one person’s shoulders,” McCoy said. “We know all that. It’s so unfortunate. For me as a leader and as a quarterback, I can understand that. I told him: ‘Hey, don’t worry about it. There’s going to come a time in your career that you’re going to have an opportunity to make the same play and you’ll make it.’ “
Gideon has made plenty. This season he picked off five passes and made honorable mention all-Big 12 while helping Texas rank 10th nationally in pass-efficiency defense. It also helped that coach Mack Brown, among his speakers this season, trotted out a lieutenant colonel who had his legs blown off in Iraq and a USC football aide who recently lost his eyesight.
Gideon got it. Losing an interception isn’t like losing your legs or eyesight. Do you get it, Longhorn Nation?
