| Show I Gets It Right With Texas Texas Showdown Set Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times So its it's all set The champion of the Big 12 Conferences Conference's South Division will play for the national championship in one of the most anticipated in years The South champion will be talked about as possibly one of the greatest teams in the his history ory of college football Just like last season Well Texas hopes not Last season Oklahoma won the Big 12 but lost the Big Orange 55 To paraphrase Texan Lloyd Bentsen though Weve seen Texas Texas is a friend of ours Oklahoma you are areno no Texas Proving anything can go right every once in a while even in inthe inthe inthe the befuddling ling bowl championship championship championship champi champi- series the two best teams are meeting for this years year's national title game Its It's No 1 against No 2 Texas and for once there should be no shouting matches or fist fights unless you want to compare this to Ali Frazier I saw they were winning big just like we did USes USe's Rucker said of Texas been outstanding week in and week out Were We're going to give people the game they wanted In terms of defining the national title talking points well Saturday was a demarcation demarcation demarcation demarca demarca- tion zone use knocked UCLA so far out of town the Bruins are now headquartered in Eastwood In a 70 3 victory over Colorado the Texas offense scored on nine of its first fast 1 10 0 pos pos- sessions use had total yards Texas had The Rose Bowl could be 41 40 at the half Isn't it kind of sort of nice There is No Auburn to muddle the picture by going 13 0 after its bowl win and then announcing the head coach was ordering national title tide rings no matter what the says No Rose Bowl bickering involving California and the Associated Press No replay of 2003 when use finished No 1 l in both polls but No 3 in the No repeat of 2001 when Nebraska entered the Rose Bowl fresh off its 62 36 loss to Colorado and Oregon which had been ranked No 2 in both polls finished fourth in the Any season in the that ends without pickets in front of the factory has to be considered 1 a success The most relieved man in Reliant Stadium other than Texas Coach Mack Brown who won his first conference title in 22 years as a head coach may have been spokesman Bob Burda Now he wont won't have to explain how an undefeated team or multiple multiple multiple mul mul- tiple one-loss one teams got jobbed out of a a national title picture When its it's cut clear-cut like this its it's reaffirmation that the system works Burda said Whoa there hoss not so fast There is a your count-your-blessings factor to be considered Had Michigan not defeated Penn State on the games game's last play Penn State would be undefeated undefeated undefeated unde unde- and this this years year's threes three's crowd intruder And let there be no doubt Penn State would have finished undefeated and third behind and Texas in the final standings And the Nittany Lions as they did in 1994 could have finished finished finished fin fin- undefeated with no national nation nation- al title trophy to show for it But it didn't break that way and sports talk radio will be a lot quieter now There could be a tier second-tier skirmish or two I Texas' Texas victory now frees up the Fiesta Bowl to select Notre Dame Sunday with t the e large at-large pick it gets for losing the Longhorns to the Rose Bowl The Orange Bowl will then take Penn State presumably leaving the Fiesta the option of matching Notre Dame with 10 1 Oregon or 9 2 Ohio State Tom Hansen Pacific 10 Conference commissioner will willbe willbe willbe be ready to unload if the Fiesta as it appears will wil go with the Buckeyes over the Ducks In the grand greater scheme though Saturday was a peach We now have a month to anticipate and articulate vs Texas Reggie Bush vs Vince Young Conquest vs The Eyes of Texas This cant can't possibly be a repeat of last years year's Orange Bowl could it Texas is years light-years better than the Oklahoma team that went south in South Beach Texas has the speed to match It has the defense the quarterback and special teams Texas has scored 50 or more points in seven games this year The Longhorns not the Trojans lead the nation in scoring and lopsided wins Let the sparring begin has probably the second second second sec sec- ond best offense compared to our offense in the nation Texas Michael Huff huffed after Saturdays Saturday's win It will be bea a great for us Texas hasn't won a national title in 35 years just won last year How could use want it more This is the game though the theone theone theone one that will launch a thousand quips After eight years of huge success success success suc suc- cess mixed with heartbreak Mack Brown has Texas on the Pasadena precipice He could have gotten to the ther r 2001 1 national title game at the theRose theRose theRose Rose Bowl with a win over Colorado but Texas probably wasn't ready for Miami then Maybe they are ready for use now Texas is a factor Br Brown wn declared Saturday in the bowels of Reliant Stadium When you get to the end and dont don't finish it like you want to its it's really disappointing but you youcan youcan youcan can fe feel l as a coach how close you are and last year we took a abig abig abig big jump This year Texas is looking for forthe forthe forthe the giant leap |
