Longhorns turn backs on defeat

Texas wide receiver Limas Sweed has gotten pretty used to going to class on Monday following a Texas win on Saturday. Fellow students, and even the professors, ask questions and talk about the game. It had been almost a year-and-a-half since he had to walk into class with a Longhorn loss still in the air.

Sweed said his classmates weren't as inquisitive about the game as usual.

"They kind of beat around the bush a bit," he said.

Students and faculty across the 40 Acres took Saturday's loss hard, but the players are intent on moving on. They'll get their first chance to put it behind them when Texas plays Rice on Saturday, and the Texas loss may mean extra trouble for the Rice Owls.

The Longhorns have not lost back-to-back games since 1999.

"Any time a team loses, it puts an extra fire under them," Sweed said.

Texas head coach Mack Brown will appreciate any and all positive side effects that comes with losing, but he reminded his players that there had to be a downcast winner for every euphoric winner.

"I told them, 'Every team you beat in that 21-game stretch felt like you feel, and you didn't know and you didn't care,'" he said at Monday's press conference.

Sweed said the impact of the loss didn't wait for the morning to hit.

"That night it set in," he said. "That emptiness, that feeling that you just lost, knowing you gave your all. ... You swallow your pride, you take it, and you move forward."

The first steps forward were taken Sunday when the team started reviewing film, looking for corrections that need to be made and performances that needed recognition. Sweed said a few of the seniors, including Brian Robison and Tim Crowder, addressed the team, and he's confident they're still on the right track.

Brown already had the schedule mentally split following the Ohio State game, so the players are looking at it as if they're 0-0. The team goals are all still attainable: win the season opener, win the Big 12 South, win the conference.

"I'm not in shock. It's a football game," running back Selvin Young said. "One loss is not going to change our focus,"

Quarterback Colt McCoy remarked that the team didn't play bad and learned what it takes to win a big game.

"Nobody's hanging their heads," he said. "We're going to be right back in the thick of things."

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