Coaches No. 13 2006 record 10–3 (6–2 Big 12) | Division South AP No. 13 | |
The 2006 Texas Longhorn football team represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head football coach was Mack Brown. The Longhorns (also known as Texas or UT or the Horns) played their home games in Darrell K. Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium (DKR), which during 2006 was undergoing some renovations to improve older sections as well as to add extra seating capacity.
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The 2006 team was the defending national champions since the previous year's team won both the Big 12 Conference championship and the National Championship. That was the program's second Big 12 Championship (27 conference championships total, including 25 in the Southwest Conference), and fourth consensus national championship in football. Their championship victory in the 2006 Rose Bowl was also the 800th win for the program and the Longhorns entered the season ranked third in the all-time list of both total wins and winning percentage (.7143).
In 2006, the Longhorn's game against Ohio State University in September was one of the most anticipated college football games of the regular season. Texas lost the game to Ohio State and completed the regular season with an overall record of 9 wins – 3 losses, and a 6–2 record in conference games. They were ranked 19th in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings, issued prior to the bowl season. The Longhorns ended their season with a victory in the 2006 Alamo Bowl against the unranked, 6–6 Iowa Hawkeyes to improve to an over-all record of 10 wins – 3 losses. They were ranked 13th in the final national rankings by both the Associated Press AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll As of May 1, 2007 seven players from this team had been drafted by professional football teams and two more had signed professional contracts as free agents.
Leading into the 2006 season
Texas' biggest loss was the decision by quarterback Vince Young, winner of the 2006 Rose Bowl Most Valuable Player award, to enter the 2006 NFL Draft, where he was the No. 3 over-all pick and first quarterback selected. The Horns' had three options to replace Young: redshirt freshman Colt McCoy, true freshman Jevan Snead, or true freshman Sherrod Harris. Prior to the season, Coach Brown announced that McCoy would be the starter with Snead also getting some game-time.
With the exception of Young, David Thomas, Jonathan Scott, and Will Allen, Texas returned most of their key offensive players from 2005 to 2006, including fifth-year senior running back Selvin Young, true sophomore running back Jamaal Charles, receivers Quan Cosby, Billy Pittman, and Limas Sweed and lineman Lyle Sendlein, Kasey Studdard, and Justin Blalock. The defense lost starters Rodrique Wright, Aaron Harris, Cedric Griffin and Michael Huff.
In most preseason rankings, Texas was listed in the top five. In the initial USA Today Coaches' Poll, which is part of the Bowl Championship Series formula for determining which two teams play for the National Championship, Texas was ranked number two. The same poll had Ohio State number 1, meaning that if both teams held their ranking until their September 9, 2006 match-up, it would be a rarely seen early-season meeting of the two most highly ranked teams in the sport. The teams did keep their respective ranking until game day and played the earliest ever meeting of the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams.
See also 2006 NCAA Division I-A football rankings
Stadium renovations
Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium underwent renovations just prior to the season. US$15 million were allocated by the Board of Regents for stadium renovations. Stage one, which began on November 14, 2005, involved updating Bellmont Hall – which sits in the west end of the stadium – to meet newer safety codes set by the Austin Fire Department. Also included were water sealing the stadium and expansion of both the Centennial Room and eighth-floor press box. $8 million was spent on audiovisual improvements, including a 7,370-square-foot (685 m2) high-definition Daktronics LED scoreboard, nicknamed "Godzillatron." At the time of its creation, Godzillatron was the first high-definition video screen in college sports and the largest high-definition video screen in the world, though it was quickly surpassed by a larger screen in Tokyo. It is still the largest high-definition video screen in collegiate sports.
A new temporary bleacher seating section was added behind the south endzone bringing the stadium's stated capacity to 85,123 for the 2006 season. In mid-July 2006, The University of Texas announced that Memorial Stadium was completely sold out for the upcoming 2006 season. For the first time, tickets would not be sold on an individual game basis.
Stage 2 of the project began just after the final home game, as the north end-zone was expanded to include luxury boxes and an upper-deck. The lower deck was rebuilt in 2007, while the upper deck was ready for the 2008 season.
After the season
The Longhorns received a final-ranking of 13th in the nation by both the Associated Press AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll They were ranked 19th in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings, which were issued prior to the bowl season.
Seven members of this team were selected by professional football teams in the 2007 NFL Draft – Michael Griffin (number 19 overall), Aaron Ross (number 20 overall), Justin Blalock (number 39 overall), Tim Crowder (number 56 overall), Brian Robison (number 102 overall), Tarell Brown (number 147 overall), Kasey Studdard (number 183 overall). Lyle Sendlein and Selvin Young were not drafted but signed with NFL teams as free agents.