FanHouse TexasLonghorns

AUSTIN, Texas -- For 21 University of Texas seniors, Saturday night was their last time playing at Texas Memorial Stadium. So they made it a night to remember.

The second-ranked Longhorns overpowered Kansas en route to a 51-20 victory that cemented them as the Big 12 South division champions and sealed senior quarterback Colt McCoy's place as college football's all-time winningest quarterback with 43 career wins.

But the Texas Longhorns, who are well positioned for their first BCS national championship game bid since 2005, still have quite a bit of business to finish. They will have to get past rival Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night and then North division champ Nebraska in the Big 12 title game.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Okay, so let the debate began.

Vince Young or Colt McCoy.

Which is the greatest Texas Longhorns quarterback of all time? Young led the Texas Longhorns to a season of perfection and the BCS national title in 2005 as a junior. McCoy, a four-year starter at Texas, has a chance tonight to become college football's all-time winningest quarterback with 43 wins should the second-ranked Longhorns make it past Kansas here at Texas Memorial Stadium.

AUSTIN, Texas -- University of Texas coach Mack Brown usually doesn't like to live in the past, but this week he broke out some old film for his team.

He showed the Longhorns how teams from 2006 and 2007 finished in comparison to 2005, when Texas won the BCS national title, and last season when many agree the 12-1 Longhorns should have been given the opportunity to compete for the national championship.

Brown's point to his second-ranked,10-0 squad is simple: stay focused these last two regular-season games, the Big 12 championship game in two weeks, and then biggest of prizes await the Texas Longhorns in Pasadena. A slip up anywhere between now and the Jan. 7 BCS national championship game will lead to great disappointment for Texas.

STILLWATER, Okla. -- As much debate swirls around which teams are the best and most deserving for a shot at the BCS national title, the Texas Longhorns appear to have the most unabridged path to Pasadena of any of the serious contenders.

Take your pick of the other potential candidates -- Florida, Alabama, Iowa, TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State, Oregon -- and they all could suffer heartbreaks during this final stretch of regular season. Texas' path has far fewer land mines.

The Longhorns, who leaped back into the No. 2 spot in both polls over Alabama on Sunday and are third in the most recent BCS poll, just completed the most difficult portion of their schedule in impressive fashion, beating Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State in what was supposed to be a challenging four-game stretch.

STILLWATER, Okla. -- It almost seems uncanny, the parallels between tonight's Texas-Oklahoma State Halloween showdown and last season's matchup between the Longhorns and Texas Tech.

A hostile road environment that will be filled with rowdy fans. Night game. National TV audience. The fourth game of an unforgiving four-game stretch that includes Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri before this one.

A bid for the Big 12 South title and a shot at the BCS national championship game also hang in the balance.

Baylor had lost 24 straight games to Texas. Not since 1998, had the Bears beaten the Longhorns. They picked a heck of a time to do it. Knocking off Texas in the Big 12 Tournament semifinal.

The team finished with a 5-11 conference record. Baylor staggered into the Big 12 Tournament losing ten of their last 12. So much for momentum burying them. The Bears have now beaten Nebraska, Kansas and now Texas in three straight days. No team has won the Big 12 Tournament without getting a bye. Baylor gets their chance tomorrow.

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With the news/rumor that really should shock no one that Texas' Kevin Durant will enter the NBA Draft, aside from the fun of watching several NBA teams go into full tank mode, the questions start to move to what next at Texas? While Durant only staying one season at Texas was not unexpected when he signed, there is still some fallout from this decision.

Rick Barnes is clearly one of the best recruiters in college basketball. That isn't going to change. His coaching acumen, however, came under a lot closer scrutiny. With so many people watching Texas because of Durant, Barnes tactics and mis-use of Durant became obvious to a lot of people. That second round exit to USC really brought out the second guessers. It won't affect his status with the Texas Athletic Department, or his ability to parlay interest from other schools for more salary. No coach, though, likes to be considered a mediocre game-day coach.

D.J. Augustin has said he's coming back to school, but the freshman point guard averaged 6.7 assists and over 14 points. The point guard class for this NBA draft has been described as exceptionally weak. With Durant making it known that he's leaving, there's a chance he could at least enter his name in the NBA draft to go through the process and see where he would go. Chad Ford at ESPN.com lists Augustin as the 4th best PG prospect this year (behind Conley, Lawson and Acie Law IV). If Mike Conley, Jr. (Ohio State) and Ty Lawson (UNC) both return to school for another year as reported, he would be the top underclassmen point guard in the draft. Both Durant and Augustin happened to be attending a San Antonio Spurs game together this past week. This becomes a more likely possibility if someone whispers in his ear about how Dominic James' draft stock has taken a hit after returning for his sophomore year.

The Texas recruiting class is a top-20 class with top-10 Center and Power Forward recruits in Gary Clint Johnson and Clint Gary Chapman. It's not clear that Barnes will use the scholarship Durant frees up this year. If Augustin even considers going pro, however, Barnes may have to make a move, as there is no one clearly ready to fill in that spot. It might really motivate Barnes to make a late run at Jai Lucas. Probably the best remaining uncommitted point guard.

With or without Durant and possibly Augustin, Texas will still be a pre-season top-25 team with talent like A.J. Abrams and a strong freshman class -- especially in the front court. Texas has talent and their performance in the Big XII the last few years give them the benefit of the doubt in the pre-season polls.

Previously at Fanhouse:
Report: Kevin Durant Will Declare for NBA Draft Next Week

Texas held its annual orange-white spring game on Saturday and it was the play of the quarterbacks that stood out. Starter Colt McCoy, who is hoping to avoid the pounding he took in 2006, led the way. He completed 7 of 11 passes for 136 yards. He also connected scoring strikes of 41-yardw to Nate Jones, 40-yardw to Jordan Shipley and 21-yardw to Billy Pittman.

"Colt looked as good as I've ever seen him," [head coach Mack] Brown said. "He's even more accurate of a passer, if that's possible. I believe he has a chance to be very special."

The competition for the backup quarterback job between redshirt freshman Sherrod Harris and true freshman John Chiles also heated up on Saturday. Both quarterbacks excited Longhorn fans with impressive runs from offensive coordinator Greg Davis' zone-read playbook. Harris broke a 75-yard touchdown run and Chiles later scored on a 28-yard run of his own. Despite the efforts with their legs, both freshman will need to improve their passing. Harris finished the day 2-6 for 17 yards passing, while Chiles completed 1-4 passes for 15 yards.

It will be interesting to see how the Longhorns decide to use McCoy's backups. Their presence certainly gives Greg Davis some versatility. If he can figure out a way to utilize the athleticism of Harris or Chiles by developing a package that caters to their individual strengths (see Tebow, Tim), it could mean nightmares for opposing defensive coordinators. The threat becomes even greater if McCoy is as efficient as he was in 2006, and the extremely talented group of receivers continues to develop.

From Scott Wolf:

What Rules?

Texas just put out a 272-page spring football media guide even though NCAA rules state guides must be limited to 208 pages.

Tsk tsk.

This isn't a big deal obviously, but it just flies in the face of any sanctimony from the Texas camp about being within the rules any time they start slinging mud at Texas A&M or Oklahoma or USC or whoever.