Historically, I think this is one of the most important games in the modern Texas era. This game was the nail in the coffin for Mack Brown's tenure at UT after four long years from the nearly magical 2009 season. Consider this...
1. Texas was coming off a respectable 2012 season (9-4) culminating in a bowl win against number 13 Oregon State. They had two ugly losses against K State and OU, but barely lost the other two games. We finally had a solid QB in David Ash after some uneven play from Garret Gilbert and Case McCoy. The years after Colt McCoy left were tough at UT and Mack Brown never seemed to find his QB, but Ash gave them hope coming into the 2013 season. For comparison sake, Ash had a RTG of 153.3 and Ewers had a RTG of 158.6 and 149 these last two years at Texas.
2. David Ash looked great to start the 2013 season, but he was injured for most of the year. Whispers started swirling about Mack Brown's future throughout the year and this was the most pressure he ever had at UT.
3. BYU and Taysom Hill ran wild on UT's defense. Mack fired Manny Diaz and brought in Greg Robinson to take over the defense. They struggle against Ole Miss and lose at home, but......
4. Reel off six straight wins against Big 12 foes including an epic win against 12th ranked OU. Included are wins against a K State team that always seemed to have our number and a revenge win against West Virginia. Then....
5. Mack Brown's worst home loss occurred against Oklahoma State with everything on the line. Okie State came into the game with only one Big 12 loss and a number 12 ranking. The winner would be set up to be in contention to win the Big 12 along with Baylor. We inexplicably lost to Clint Chelf who turned into Michael Vick during this game. Taysom Hill put out film of our defense having issues with running quarterbacks. New athletic director Steve Patterson attended the game and rumors of talks between UT regents and Saban's agent intensified. The board was absolutely nuts during this time with calls for firing Mack Brown, Mrs. Terry (Saban's wife) looking at houses in Austin and insider posts about secret meetings with Saban. Finally....
6. Texas travels to Waco with a chance to win the Big 12 title against Baylor. Okie State lost earlier in the day and this game became the defacto Big 12 title game with a chance to save Mack Brown's job. This game had a weird feel as there was almost a two hour weather delay in the final game at Floyd Casey Stadium. This was Baylor's biggest home game since 1950 when they played Texas in Floyd Casey Stadium's inaugural season then known as Baylor Stadium. Texas and Baylor were both 7-1 in conference with the winner going to the Fiesta Bowl. Texas played tough and were tied with Baylor at halftime, but lost the game in the 3rd quarter.
7. Red Banquet happened after the season as Mack lost support from big boosters and Deloss Dodds was no longer the AD. Rumors of Saban to Texas kept hope alive in the Texas program until Saban announced a contract extension with Alabama during the red banquet. Saban goes on to win 3 more national championships at Alabama and Texas enters the wilderness with Charlie Strong and Tom Herman.
8. Now, we are in a great place with Steve Sarkisian who has rebuilt the program and brought Texas back to national relevance. The final step is to win a National Championship and he will have a chance to be considered one of the greatest coaches at Texas along with Darrel Royal and Mack Brown. Looking back, the 2013 Baylor game was huge for the trajectory of the program. Texas was probably a dying program with Mack Brown at the helm, but I think he would have done better than Charlie Strong and Tom Herman. Did he have one more magical season in him at Texas? Personally, I think he needed to go, but he almost saved his job. Also, Saban was on the table due to Texas losing to Baylor and the Red Banquet aftermath affected two programs going in two differect trajectories.
hook'em
1. Texas was coming off a respectable 2012 season (9-4) culminating in a bowl win against number 13 Oregon State. They had two ugly losses against K State and OU, but barely lost the other two games. We finally had a solid QB in David Ash after some uneven play from Garret Gilbert and Case McCoy. The years after Colt McCoy left were tough at UT and Mack Brown never seemed to find his QB, but Ash gave them hope coming into the 2013 season. For comparison sake, Ash had a RTG of 153.3 and Ewers had a RTG of 158.6 and 149 these last two years at Texas.
2. David Ash looked great to start the 2013 season, but he was injured for most of the year. Whispers started swirling about Mack Brown's future throughout the year and this was the most pressure he ever had at UT.
3. BYU and Taysom Hill ran wild on UT's defense. Mack fired Manny Diaz and brought in Greg Robinson to take over the defense. They struggle against Ole Miss and lose at home, but......
4. Reel off six straight wins against Big 12 foes including an epic win against 12th ranked OU. Included are wins against a K State team that always seemed to have our number and a revenge win against West Virginia. Then....
5. Mack Brown's worst home loss occurred against Oklahoma State with everything on the line. Okie State came into the game with only one Big 12 loss and a number 12 ranking. The winner would be set up to be in contention to win the Big 12 along with Baylor. We inexplicably lost to Clint Chelf who turned into Michael Vick during this game. Taysom Hill put out film of our defense having issues with running quarterbacks. New athletic director Steve Patterson attended the game and rumors of talks between UT regents and Saban's agent intensified. The board was absolutely nuts during this time with calls for firing Mack Brown, Mrs. Terry (Saban's wife) looking at houses in Austin and insider posts about secret meetings with Saban. Finally....
6. Texas travels to Waco with a chance to win the Big 12 title against Baylor. Okie State lost earlier in the day and this game became the defacto Big 12 title game with a chance to save Mack Brown's job. This game had a weird feel as there was almost a two hour weather delay in the final game at Floyd Casey Stadium. This was Baylor's biggest home game since 1950 when they played Texas in Floyd Casey Stadium's inaugural season then known as Baylor Stadium. Texas and Baylor were both 7-1 in conference with the winner going to the Fiesta Bowl. Texas played tough and were tied with Baylor at halftime, but lost the game in the 3rd quarter.
7. Red Banquet happened after the season as Mack lost support from big boosters and Deloss Dodds was no longer the AD. Rumors of Saban to Texas kept hope alive in the Texas program until Saban announced a contract extension with Alabama during the red banquet. Saban goes on to win 3 more national championships at Alabama and Texas enters the wilderness with Charlie Strong and Tom Herman.
8. Now, we are in a great place with Steve Sarkisian who has rebuilt the program and brought Texas back to national relevance. The final step is to win a National Championship and he will have a chance to be considered one of the greatest coaches at Texas along with Darrel Royal and Mack Brown. Looking back, the 2013 Baylor game was huge for the trajectory of the program. Texas was probably a dying program with Mack Brown at the helm, but I think he would have done better than Charlie Strong and Tom Herman. Did he have one more magical season in him at Texas? Personally, I think he needed to go, but he almost saved his job. Also, Saban was on the table due to Texas losing to Baylor and the Red Banquet aftermath affected two programs going in two differect trajectories.
hook'em
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