Texas fans dread that day every year.
The day when Texas falters, one step behind their opponent, to its first loss of the season.
Every year, except for 2005, it’s the same story.
“We better not lose to [insert team here].”
But this year, the Longhorns don’t seem like they’re ready to give teams a chance. They not only want to beat their opponent — they want to crush ‘em.
Not since Texas beat Baylor 62-0 and Colorado 70-3 in the 2005 Big 12 championship has the Forty Acres seen a Texas squad that wanted to not only win, but win big.
Last year, you almost knew Texas was bound to lose — during the first game of the season.
The Longhorns won in their opener against Arkansas State 21-13 and almost blew it against Central Florida winning just 35-32.
They followed that up with a 41-21 loss to Kansas State two weeks later and then a loss to Oklahoma the next week.
In a town where football means everything, nobody wants to sit around waiting for the bad day to come.
Sure it’s only two games into the season and Texas shelled out $1.2 million to the teams for those wins, but fans might have something to look forward to.
For one, both the offense and the defense have put up staggering numbers in the first two games. Colt McCoy has thrown for 504 yards and seven touchdowns — completing 75 percent of his passes. That’s a 185.2- passer rating.
Quan Cosby has caught 11 passes for 188 yards and is averaging 17 yards on every catch he makes.
Roddrick Muckelroy has had 20 tackles and Brian Orakpo has logged two sacks already.
A lot of it may have to do with experience. After the Longhorns won the 2006 Rose Bowl, they lost most of their key players and had to deal with changing their offensive system completely to transition from Vince Young to McCoy.
Now, most of the starters have been around long enough to know the system, to know what it takes to have that killer instinct.
With the Arkansas game being postponed, many Longhorn fans are worried about the four-week stretch that includes Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri, in that order. Nine straight weekends with a game.
Just one more thing for fans to fret over.
The idea that Texas has the killer instinct to put away teams might seem premature, but don’t expect to see anything different this weekend.
One thing that has remained consistent over the last two years has been the annual beating the Longhorns put on Rice. Texas has outscored the Owls 110-21 in the last two games and an off-weekend could lead to an even bigger blowout.
As long as the Longhorns don’t let up.
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