 "Photo: Bryant Haertlein")
ORLANDO - Mack Brown warned his team hours before they took the field.
Texas' coach was sure his players didn't quite understand what they were getting into.
And sure enough, the No. 6 Longhorns barely escaped Central Florida, 35-32, in the grand opening of the Knights' new Bright House Networks Stadium in front of 45,622 fans.
"It was a trap game for us and a buzz saw," Brown said.
Texas (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) has made a habit out of playing close games this season, but none gave Brown as many new grey hairs as Saturday's.
Though the Longhorns were all expecting a tough game from the Knights (1-1, 0-0 C-USA) as they broke in their first-ever football facility, few things could've prepared Texas for the up-and-down fourth quarter.
Emotions were at their highest and lowest among the Texas players as they grabbed the momentum in what was already a close game, only to have it snatched back by the home team.
Prior to the final 15 minutes of the game, the Longhorns talked about what they needed to do during the fourth quarter.
"We just wanted to make sure we finished the job," offensive lineman Tony Hills said. "That's basically what we wanted to do."
Easy to talk about. Hard to get done on the road.
Texas went into the fourth on defense with a 23-17 lead. Less than two minutes later, the Longhorns were trailing for the second time Saturday.
After several incompletions and 14 rushing yards, Texas settled for field goals in their next two possessions while the defense showed up and forced Central Florida into a three-and-out followed by a fumble.
Texas finally got a boost from running back Jamaal Charles, who finally broke through in the fourth with a 46-yard scamper down the home sideline to give Texas a seemingly solid 35-24 lead.
As the Texas players celebrated the touchdown, the fourth-largest crowd in school history began heading toward the exits with Texas players waving them goodbye from the sideline.
Then the worst possible scenario unfolded.
Charles, who'd just given the Longhorns reason to shout, silenced the Longhorns with his second fumble of the game on the Texas 46-yard line.
"You can't fumble the ball at the end of a game," Brown said. "Game's over. That first down makes it to where we can take a knee, and then we gave them a shot to get back in it."
The players' silence was punctuated by the crowd, who'd refilled the stadium, chanting "o-ver-rat-ed" just behind them.
The Knights went on to score in six plays and was down a field goal with just 49 seconds left as the crowd began screaming like they'd won.
And even after senior Brandon Foster recovered Central Florida's onside kick, finally giving Texas the ability to kneel on the ball and head for the locker room with a win, the Central Florida fans kept celebrating, with a few more "o-ver-rat-ed" chants mixed in.
Meanwhile, in front of the sizable Texas crowd that made the trip, few players seemed to be smiling during "The Eyes of Texas."
"We're getting shocked every week now," Brown said. "Anybody can beat anybody on a Saturday if you turn the ball over [three] times on the road like we did tonight."
"We've just got to be more consistent. And that's my job."
The end of Texas' game seemed only to be a continuation of the bad karma Texas experienced during the whole trip.
"I've never seen that many things go wrong since we got to the airport yesterday," Brown said. "It's good that everything that could possibly happen bad happened on an away trip."
Texas' plane was delayed by more than 2 1/2 hours as they tried to leave Austin on Friday. The bad luck continued when the Longhorns got to Florida. A team bus broke down, nearly causing the Longhorns to completely miss their ritual walkthrough of an opponent's stadium and field.
"It was a long day yesterday," said Texas receiver Quan Cosby, who had a career-high 10 receptions for 67 yards. "We came here, walked on the field then walked right off."
But perhaps the Longhorns should've been expecting Murphy's Law. A clear-cut sign had been hanging right in front of them all week.
Associate Athletic director George Wynn decided to put up a sign for all the players and coaches to see. It was an advertisement for Space Mountain, and Wynn told them Saturday's game would likely be a roller-coaster ride.
"I didn't know it was going to be so true," Brown said. "It's definitely a team win. It would have been a team loss."
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