Sun Tzu
The Baylor game was lost eleven months ago when Mack Brown decided to stand pat with Case McCoy as his backup quarterback. How Brown found himself stuck with McCoy involves a dizzying series of half-baked decisions. The early season blow-out losses were preordained when—for all the wrong reasons—Brown decided to stick with Manny Diaz as his defensive coordinator. If Mack Brown is a CEO Coach, his CEOing wasn’t very good this year.
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It’s interesting to compare Auburn’s last four years with Texas’. In 2010, Auburn won the national championship with a transcendent quarterback and an average head coach. In 2010, having lost a transcendent quarterback to graduation, Texas went 5-7.
In 2011, after losing their transcendent quarterback, Auburn went 8-5. One year after winning a national championship, fickle Auburn fans already were calling for a coaching change. Mack Brown was granted a mulligan on the 2010 season because he led Texas to a 71-9 record over the previous six seasons, with a national championship, a national championship runner-up, and two other BCS Bowl wins. In 2011, his first year of rebuilding, Texas went 8-5.
In 2012, Auburn went 3-9 overall and O-fer in the SEC. Two seasons after leading Auburn to a national championship, Gene Chizik was fired. In 2012, after losing to Oklahoma 63-21, Mack Brown began an on-going ‘fixing’ of his rebuild. His fixing was good for a 9-4 record.
In 2013, with a new coach, and a new quarterback by way of junior college, Auburn won the SEC and has a berth in the national championship game. If we classify college football programs as boats, I’d say Auburn was a very fancy, speedy ski boat that can turn quickly. In 2013 the cruise ship lollipop of a Texas program, with the same coach, the same well healed passengers, and same players as in 2012, steamed along on the same heading as the past two years to an 8-4 regular season record.
Do we all agree that Texas football needs a new captain who will at least attempt to turn this cruise ship of a program in a new direction?
The last laugh department or seeing red
How ‘bout that Bob Stoops and Oklahoma? Despite losing to arch rival Texas and eventual Big 12 Champion Baylor, Stoops got Oklahoma another 10-win season and berth in a BCS Bowl. In their dramatic win over Oklahoma State yesterday Stoops played three—count ‘em—three quarterbacks. That’s an interesting contrast to what Mack Brown did yesterday.
Tell your statistics to shut up
That’s how I sum up what the likes of Red McCombs, Joe Jamail, and Bill Powers have been telling Texas football fans the last couple of years. The most concise statistic that I’ve read about Texas over the last four years is an analysis of their Big 12 record. It’s 18-17. Six of those wins came at the expense Kansas and Iowa State. I’ll let you do the arithmetic. 
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I can’t envision Mack Brown continuing as head coach in 2014. I like a phrase that was coined by a writer for another UT Football blog: Mack can have a parade or a pine box. It’s his choice. It will be very interesting to see what choice Brown and the UT powers that be make over the next week or so.
HooK eM,
W.E.
Over/Under Results
At least the Baylor Over/Under Contest was closely contested and exciting. It came down to the tiebreaker and it was a photo finish with Helen Frink nosing out David Frink for her second win of the season. David and Helen answered eight questions correctly. After Helen’s first win of the season she informed me that indeed she had not learned everything she knew about football from me. Oops. Tom Yoxall, Wade Wallace and Jerry Smith tied for third with 7 correct.
P.S.
How ‘bout those Longhorn Basketeers who beat Temple in overtime on Saturday to move their record to 8-1?
