When I was thinking about using the title for this column, I learned that a common assumption about its origin is probably wrong.

From the Grammar Party blog By Erin Servais, the founder of Dot and Dash, LLC, an author-services company focusing on women writers and offering a range of editing, coaching, and social media packages:

The Phrase Finder website says: “‘May you live in interesting times’ is widely reported as being of ancient Chinese origin but is neither Chinese nor ancient, being recent and western.”

According to the site, the phrase was originally said by the American politician, Frederic R. Coudert, in 1939. He referred to a letter Sir Austen Chamberlain wrote to him in which he stated:

. . . by return mail he wrote to me and concluded as follows: “Many years ago, I learned from one of our diplomats in China that one of the principal Chinese curses heaped upon an enemy is ‘May you live in an interesting age.’”

Note that then it appeared as “interesting age.” By the time Robert F. Kennedy included it in his “Day of Affirmation Address” in Capetown, South Africa, in 1966, it had morphed into “interesting times.”

Despite this, it does not appear to actually come from China and is not clear to have existed before Sir Austen Chamberlain allegedly said it.

There is a Chinese curse which says, “May he live in interesting times.” Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind.

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So, what the heck does any of this have to do with the Longhorns? Well, just a week ago today, I went to press with a column that was scathing of the Longhorn coaching staff’s performance against Oklahoma and at the same time buying stock in Texas finishing the regular season 11-1. I wrote, I’m buying 11-1 now. Have you perused the rest of Texas’ schedule? Nary a ranked team in site and it’s debatable if there’s a good team left on the schedule.

After the Houston game, there still isn’t a ranked team left on the schedule but now I don’t see a game that I would risk money on Texas winning. I’m not saying I think they’ll lose any particular game but that—thanks to the coaching staff—all the games Texas has left look interesting. So, aren’t you glad as Texas fans that we live in interesting times?

Still Passive not Aggressive

Evidently Steve Sarkisian and his defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski learned nothing from the Oklahoma defeat as they continued to employ a soft zone coverage against Houston. From my guru Paul Wadlington:

The first four Houston possessions went 15 plays for 28 yards combined, all ending in speedy punts, but once Houston realized that Texas didn’t actually know how to play their shifting coverages (we kept going Cover 2 to 1 or man to zone) and that the looks could be short circuited by the same couple of routes, it was rinse, wash, repeat. At one point, I counted five consecutive money downs (3rd and 7+) converted by the same crosser call. PK continues to love extra man blitzes from the 3rd row of the stands against a spread offense running bunch formations and flexed tight ends that puts the extra edge defender a mile and a half from the QB. OU taught him very little in that regard.

Do you think BYU will try some crossing routes?

If Sarkisian and Kwiatkowski weren’t keeping Longhorn fans’ lives interesting enough, now we have Quinn Ewers sidelined for at least the BYU game giving us our first extended look at Malik Murphy and maybe a glimpse of Arch Manning.

You probably know as much about the 6’5” 238-pound Murphy as I do which is, he was a 4-star recruit from Inglewood California in the 2022 class. He wowed Texas fans with his arm in the 2023 spring game.  I’m wondering if he’s any kind of a runner.  I haven’t read mention of it anywhere but maybe we can draw a clue that Savion Red and not Murphy runs the wild cat offense for Texas.

BYU

Paraphrasing Billy Joel, you ought to know by now that Steve Sarkisian was an all-conference quarterback for BYU in 1996. He led the nation in passing efficiency that year and broke Steve Young’s school record for completion percentage. Interesting.

It’s also interesting to note that Texas is 1-4 all time versus BYU losing in 1987, 1988, 2013, and 2014. The Horns lone win came in 2011 17-16.

Kedon Sloves is the BYU quarterback that will be throwing some crossers—among other things Saturday afternoon against Texas. He’s big and immobile and is completing a mere 56.6 % of his passes in 2023. It will be interesting to see what his completion percentage is against Texas.

BYU vs Texas 2023

The most interesting factoid that learned about this year’s BYU team is that their defense is third in the country in forcing turnovers with 16 in 7 games.  Texas has coughed it up only 7 times.

I have no clear picture of how this game will unfold which makes my pregame speculation interesting. Conjuring up an image, I see the Texas offense getting off to a good start like they did against Houston but this week not stalling out in the second half as they run up 45 points. I see BYU having some early success on offense, but Texas will finally put consistent pressure on an opposing quarterback sacking Kedon Clovis 4 times.

Final score, Texas 45 BYU 13.

Postscript

Over the past five years or so I’ve wondered what it’s like be Alabama and Georgia fans. They just keep winning 11, 12, 13, and sometimes 14 games year and SEC and National Championships. Not interesting at all right?

Hook ‘Em,

W.E. Let’s rock again like we did last summer.