2008 Texas Longhorns football team

Before the season

The Longhorns have enjoyed considerable success in recent seasons. Mack Brown's Longhorns won at least 10 games in each of the previous 7 seasons (2001–2007); that is the longest active streak in the nation. The 2004 team had the first Bowl Championship Series win for any Texas team and the 2005 team won the National Championship (the fourth for the Texas football program). The 2006 team finished with 10 wins, 3 losses, including a victory in the 2006 Alamo Bowl. They received a final-ranking of 13th in the nation by both the Associated Press AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches' Poll

Texas entered the 2007 season ranked third in the all-time list of both total wins and winning percentage. The 2007 team was ranked in the Top 10 by numerous pre-season polls. For instance, a pre-season ranking by ESPN writer Mark Schlabach had the Longhorns ranked eighth; Rivals.com had them at ninth. College Football News and Real Football 365 both had Texas ranked third in the pre-season. The Longhorns came into the season ranked fourth in both the Coaches' Poll and AP Poll. Texas started out 4–0, but with sloppy playing, edging out 4 unranked teams. Texas came particularly close to being upset when the beat unranked UCF, 38–35. Texas then suffered losses to Kansas State (41–21) and Oklahoma (28–21). Texas then surged back, winning five games in a row. At 9–2, they were poised to gain a BCS bowl berth. However, a 30–38 loss to Texas A&M dashed these hopes. The Longhorns finished the season 10–3 with a victory in the 2007 Holiday Bowl. The Longhorns were ranked tenth in the final AP poll and in the USA Today Coaches' Poll.

Five Longhorns were selected in the 2008 NFL Draft: Limas Sweed (53rd pick), Jamaal Charles (73rd), Jermichael Finley (91st), Tony Hills (130th), and Frank Okam (151st). In addition, Brandon Foster, Marcus Griffin, Nate Jones and Derek Lokey agreed to sign free-agent contracts with NFL teams.

Both Jamaal Charles and Jermichael Finley skipped their senior year in order to enter the NFL early. The loss of Charles was a particularly hard blow to the Horns. Despite skipping his senior year, Charles ranks fourth on the list of total rushing yards by a UT player, behind Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson, and Earl Campbell, with 3,328 yards. Williams and Campbell each won the Heisman Trophy in their senior seasons. With Charles' departure, quarterback Colt McCoy becomes the leading returning rusher for the Longhorns. Tight end Jermichael Finley also declared he would forgo his senior season to enter the NFL.

Texas entered the 2008 season ranked number 11 in the AP Poll and number 10 in the Coaches' Poll.

Facilities and equipment

Following the final home game of 2006, construction workers demolished the north end of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. This section was rebuilt to make the lowest seats closer to the field while adding luxury boxes and an upper-deck. The lower deck of the expansion was completed for 2007, and the upper deck and remaining renovations were ready for 2008. The modifications put the north end-zone seats thirty yards closer to the field of play. This results in several game day changes, such as Smokey the Cannon moving to the south end-zone near Bevo. Texas worked with Bluetooth SIG to deploy Bluetooth kiosks throughout the stadium. These kiosks will broadcast free game-day information to Bluetooth-enabled cell-phones in the stands.

For the second straight year in 2006–2007, Texas merchandise products were the top-selling products among clients of Collegiate Licensing Company.

Coaches

In 2007 the University of Texas Board of Regents voted unanimously to raise head coach Mack Brown's salary by $300,000. This brings his annual compensation to $2.81 million and keeps him among the five highest paid coaches in the sport. The package also includes up to $3 million in bonuses, including "$100,000 if he wins the Big 12 Championship and $450,000 if he wins this year's national championship, as well as bonuses based on the percent of players who graduate." Brown's contract is good through the 2016 season and includes buy-out clauses should another school attempt to hire Brown.

Greg Davis is the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; As of 2008 Davis is in his eleventh season at Texas. In 2007, Duane Akina was the defensive co-coordinator along with Larry Mac Duff. Mac Duff left Texas at the end of the 2007 season and Akina was demoted to "Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Backs". The Longhorns hired Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator; he will also coach linebackers in 2008. Muschamp was previously defensive coordinator at Auburn and will make a $425,000 salary at Texas. Running backs coach Ken Rucker transferred to a newly created position with the athletic department where he will act as a liaison to high school athletic programs. On January 16, 2008 Texas replaced Rucker by hiring former Texas quarterback Major Applewhite.

On November 18, 2008, The University of Texas announced that Will Muschamp would eventually succeed Mack Brown as head football coach. They agreed in principle to increase Muschamp's salary to $900,000. There was no timetable set for Brown's departure, and both Brown and UT said they expected Brown to stay a long time. Austin American-Statesman commentator Kirk Bohls stated, "Muschamp's ascension conveys to fans and recruits that Texas values what it has now as one of the elite programs in the country and wants to maintain. This smart, bold move should bring coaching stability, sustained recruiting and possibly expanded recruiting into the Southeast and a continued framework for success."

Schedule

The primary source of schedule, attendance and box score information is the MackBrown-TexasFootball website.

Radio broadcast of Texas Longhorns football games is available on XM Satellite Radio channel 241.

Players

The Longhorns are led by junior Quarterback Colt McCoy, who was the starting quarterback for the Longhorns in 2006 and 2007. Rivals.com named McCoy one of the top-10 quarterbacks going into the 2007 season and he also made the Athlon Sports first-team All Big 12 McCoy has been the subject of much discussion regarding his chances of winning the 2008 Heisman trophy. With the departure of running back Jamaal Charles for the 2008 NFL Draft, McCoy became the leading returning rusher for the Longhorns.

McCoy has continued to be leading rusher in 2008; through the first 11 games of the season he rushed for a net 527 yards. The leading running backs were Vondrell McGee (347 yards), Chris Ogbonnaya (333) and Cody Johnson (234), all of whom have played in all 11 games. Despite injuries limiting him to only five games, freshman Foswhitt Whittaker rushed for 226 yards. McCoy had 3134 passing yards for a total of 3661 total yards of offense, which also led the team. The leading receivers through 11 games were Jordan Shipley (897 yards), Quan Cosby (872), Chris Ogbonnaya (458) and Lucas Hampton (428). The leading scorer was Hunter Lawrence, the place-kicker. He had made 9 of 11 field goal attempts and 52 of 52 extra points, for a total of 79 points contributed.

On defense, Roddrick Muckelroy led the team in tackles with 63 solo tackles and 39 assists. Brian Orakpo led the team in sacks, with 9 sacks for 79 yards. Ryan Palmer led the team in interceptions with 3, one of which he returned for a touchdown.

Besides Whittaker, several other Longhorns missed playing time due to sickness or injury. Cosby and Orakpo were both injured in the game vs. Texas Tech. Safety Blake Gideon suffered a head injury in the Kansas game but was expected to be healthy for the A&M game. Cornerbacks Aaron Williams missed the Kansas game with the flu and cornerback Chykie Brown missed three games due to injury. Tight end Luke Tiemann missed the season due to an ACL injury. Starting center Chris Hall missed time due to a knee sprain.

One player was suspended, and another dismissed, for off-the-field infractions. Defensive tackle Lamarr Houston was suspended for one game (vs. UTEP) for driving under the influence. Back-up center Buck Burnette was dismissed from the team for posting a racially charged message on his Facebook page after the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Afterwards he issued an apology saying "That lack of judgment on my part has had devastating consequences. Those that know me understand that this is not a true reflection of my character. I sincerely apologize to everyone that I have offended. I have had the opportunity to apologize to my teammates and coaches and have received support from many of them in return." Burnette's dismissal coincided with the injury to Hall, so true freshman David Snow was called upon to start at center vs. Kansas.

Jordan Shipley was a senior in 2008 but has requested an extra year of eligibility due to playing time missed due to injuries. On December 22, 2008, the NCAA granted Shipley's hardship request for a sixth season of eligibility.

Roster

Terms:

An * indicates that the player is a "walk-on" (a non-scholarship player)

Source: "2008 Roster". University of Texas at Austin Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved November 15, 2008. 

Recruiting

Texas signed 20 overall recruits for the 2008 recruiting class. Twelve 4-stars (DeSean Hales, Jarvis Humphrey, D.J. Monroe, Aaron Williams, Mark Buchanan, Dan Buckner, Nolan Brewster, Derrick "D.J." Grant, Jeremy Hills, Dravannti Johnson, Kheeston Randall and David Snow), seven 3-stars (Emmanuel Acho, Antoine Hicks, Tre' Newton, Luke Poehlmann, Ryan Roberson, Brock Fitzhenry and Justin Tucker) and one 2-star (Blake Gideon) according to Rivals' recruiting service, and two 5-stars (Aaron Williams and Dan Buckner), eleven 4-stars (David Snow, Dravannti Johnson, Nolan Brewster, Jarvis Humphrey, DeSean Hales, Ryan Roberson, Derrick "D.J." Grant, Luke Poehlmann, D.J. Monroe, Jeremy Hills and Mark Buchanan), six 3-stars (Emmanuel Acho, Brock Fitzhenry, Kheeston Randall, Blake Gideon, Antoine Hicks and Tre' Newton) and one 2-star recruit (Justin Tucker), according to Scout's recruiting service. The class was ranked #14 on Rivals and #16 on Scout.

Texas originally also received a commitment from Southlake Carroll quarterback Riley Dodge, son of former Longhorns quarterback Todd Dodge, but Riley Dodge later chose to decommit and headed to North Texas to play under his father. Texas was also in the run for the nation's top running back prospect, five-star Darrell Scott of Ventura, California. Scott, however, picked the Colorado Buffaloes over the Longhorns on National Signing Day.

The BCS does not have an end-of-season ranking. It exists only to match up the top-two teams in a Bowl Game, and declares the winner of that team the BCS National Championship.

In order to have played in the 2009 BCS National Championship Game at the end of the 2008 season, Texas would have needed to have been ranked #1 or #2 in the final BCS rankings of the season. Texas rose to first place in the BCS rankings following their win over Missouri. They held that position for two weeks before losing to Texas Tech and dropping to fourth. The loss to Texas Tech on November 1 left the Longhorns dependent on the play of other teams to determine UT's fate for the season. Texas won the rest of their games, but so did Oklahoma. Texas Tech's only regular season loss was to Oklahoma. Because the three teams finished in a three-way tie, the final BCS poll of the season served as the tie-breaker.

In the November 9 BCS rankings the Longhorns rose to third place due to a loss by Penn State, who had been in third place. Alabama was in the top position, Texas Tech was second, Florida fourth, and Oklahoma fifth. The following weekend, Alabama, Texas, and Florida won while Texas Tech and Oklahoma did not play. The top five rankings remained unchanged except that Texas switched places with Oklahoma in the Coaches' Poll, moving up to fourth place.

When Texas only had its final game of the regular season, against Texas A&M, Texas Tech had two games remaining: against Oklahoma and Baylor. Besides Tech, Oklahoma still had a game pending against Oklahoma State. Alabama still faced Auburn and then the 2008 SEC Championship Game against Florida. Florida faced The Citadel prior to meeting Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. That left a variety of scenarios possible for Texas' championship hopes, provided they won against A&M.

However, Texas could have played for the national championship without winning the Big 12 Conference or even the Big 12 South Division. This was possible because the BCS rules do not require a team to win their conference to play for the championship; the rules only require the team to be in one of the top two spots in the final rankings. A similar occurrence happened in the 2001 season and the 2003 season. In 2001, Nebraska did not play in the Big 12 Championship but went on to play for the national title. In 2003, the Sooners entered Big 12 Conference Championship ranked number one in the BCS rankings, but lost to Kansas State. They only fell to second place and went on to the BCS championship.

45–35 campaign and BCS controversy

On November 22 Oklahoma beat Texas Tech 65–21 in Norman, Oklahoma. The win dropped Texas Tech to #7 in the BCS and moved Texas and Oklahoma to #2 and #3, respectively. It also forced a three-way tie in the Big 12 South division between Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma. Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech each had one remaining regular season game. Texas played Texas A&M on Thanksgiving (November 27) and won 49–9. Texas Tech played Baylor on November 29 and won 35–28. Oklahoma played Oklahoma State on the same day and won 61–41. According to Big 12 Conference tie-breaker rules, when three teams finish tied, the highest in the BCS on December 1 goes to the Big 12 Championship Game. If Texas had finished #1 or #2 in the BCS, they would have gone to the National Championship Game even without going to the Big 12 Championship Game. BCS rules exist primarily to match up #1 vs. #2, and the rules prohibit three teams from the same conference making BCS berths.

Polls prior to final regular season games

According to the average rankings by Jeff Sagarin, Texas was the top team in the country followed by Oklahoma. Sagarin's ELO_CHESS ranking is a portion of the BCS computer rankings and it does not consider margin of victory. UT scored 93.56% vs 92.32% for Oklahoma. Sagarin's PREDICTOR score does include margin of victory in its calculation, but it is not part of the BCS formula. In this score, Texas still ranked higher than OU (95.28% vs 94.79%) and Texas Tech (89.35%) but the top three teams were USC (99.94%), Florida (99.58%), and Penn State (95.34%).

Texas combined BCS point average was 92.09% and Oklahoma's was 91.25%, for a separation of .84%. The human voters in the Coaches' Poll and Harris Interactive Poll, which each comprise 1/3 of the BCS formula, had moved Oklahoma ahead of Texas despite the fact that Texas defeated Oklahoma 45–35 on a neutral field. Texas had a substantial lead over OU in the computer rankings (96% to 90%). However, the computer rankings factor in the ranking of opponents being played. OU faced OSU who was ranked 12th in the BCS, while Texas played an unranked Texas A&M. With both teams winning, the Sooners edged past the Longhorns.

45–35 campaign

Longhorn fans created a 45–35 campaign to remind voters in the AP and Coaches' polls that Texas beat OU 45-35 on a neutral field. Sophomore Austin Talbert created a Facebook group titled Texas did beat OU 45–35, lest we forget. and senior Matt Parks created a website titled Better Consider the Scoreboard. The campaign raised over $7,500 to have 20,000 45-35 signs printed for the Texas A&M at Texas game and to have a plane bearing the message Texas 45 OU 35 — settled on a neutral field fly over ESPN GameDay prior to the Oklahoma at Oklahoma State game. Excess proceeds were donated to the UT Orange Santa program and the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer research. The Daily Texan printed an additional 5,000 to 30,000 signs.

John Bianco, UT's assistant athletic director for media relations, said that the campaign was done "independently" of the university.

The campaign was covered by the Austin American-Statesman, CBS, the Dallas Morning News, the Denver Post, ESPN, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star, KEYE-TV, The New York Times, The Oklahoman, and the San Antonio Express-News.

Texas Tech and Oklahoma fan response

In response to the 45–35 campaign, Texas Tech and Oklahoma fans created a 39–33 campaign to remind voters that Texas Tech beat Texas 39–33 in Lubbock. An anonymous individual also created a website titled The game that Texas Longhorn fans seem to have forgotten. Tech Alumnus Shane Walker and other Red Raider fans also raised money to have their own plane fly over ESPN GameDay at the OU at Oklahoma State game, with a banner carrying the website "www.39-33.com".

That campaign was covered by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Oklahoman.

Results

In the Coaches' Poll, Oklahoma lost 15 votes, but remained at #2 with 1,397 votes while Texas gained 26 votes to move up to #3 with 1,396 votes. In the Harris poll, Texas gained two votes to pass OU and move up to #3 while OU lost 29 votes to fall to #4. In the AP poll, Texas gained six votes to pass OU and move up to #3 while OU lost six votes to fall to the #4 position. In the Sagarin ratings, one of the six computer polls that makes up one third of the BCS rankings, one loss Oklahoma moved into the #1 spot, jumping undefeated Alabama. Texas moved up to the #2 spot.

Oklahoma and Missouri both went to the Big 12 Championship Game, so the game featured two teams that Texas beat by double digits. Oklahoma beat Missouri 62–21 and finished ranked #1 in the final BCS standings. Oklahoma would then go on to lose the BCS Championship to Florida, 24-14. Texas Tech also lost their bowl game to Mississippi in the Cotton Bowl. Texas would win the BCS Fiesta Bowl over Ohio State, 24-21.