Perfection is no longer required in college football, nor should teams pursue it. Just ask Texas’ opponent next weekend, Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes. [Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY and get the BEST Longhorns coverage!] Their fanbase was ready to skewer Day last season after his fourth consecutive loss to Michigan and […]
Perfection is no longer required in college football, nor should teams pursue it.
Just ask Texas’ opponent next weekend, Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
[Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY and get the BEST Longhorns coverage!]
Their fanbase was ready to skewer Day last season after his fourth consecutive loss to Michigan and a 10-2 record. Tennessee fans even invaded The Horseshoe for the first-round playoff game because Buckeye fans were abandoning ship in droves.
Then, Ohio State went on an epic run of four straight victories and claimed a national championship. Despite all of Day’s clothes and belongings being tossed onto the lawn, despite the police being called over raised voices and broken dishes, Ohio State will hang another banner next weekend.
Whichever team wins on Saturday would do well to remember that.
A loss doesn’t end Texas or Ohio State’s season—it doesn’t even cripple it.
What a stark contrast that is to Texas teams of the recent past. In 2001, a penalty in the Alamodome. In 2004, undone by a 12–0 loss to the Sooners. In 2008, a Michael Crabtree catch with one second left. Each ended championship dreams in seasons when Texas had the roster to win it all. On the other hand, Vince Young’s legendary 2005 victory in Columbus practically guaranteed Texas would be there at the end of the year.
Where perfection was once the standard, now it’s fortitude.
Though Texas fans likely won’t be ready to burn Steve Sarkisian at the stake after a loss the way Buckeye fans nearly did with Day, it’s becoming the rule—not the exception—that champions will endure extreme lows on the way to lifting a trophy. There will be moments where it all seems in doubt—the program, the culture, the player development. The coaches and teams who can steady themselves in those moments will be the ones who survive.
Sarkisian has said himself that he’s adjusted his mindset, adopting an “obsession to make it a long season” within the building. A litany of players will see the field this year, a wealth of opportunity for dozens of Longhorns to stamp their names onto what could be a special season.
A loss to Ohio State won’t break Texas’ season, but a victory won’t make it either. Even though a defeat would take the wind out of the loser’s sails, completely. That early-season joy of just having football back? It disappears fast with a 1 in the loss column. At the same time, a win will make fans feel falsely invincible and invite fantasies that say perfection is on its way.
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I believe Sarkisian, Arch Manning, Michael Taaffe, and company know the extreme reactions to both outcomes are wrong.
But I can’t speak for the fans.
Because I’m still trying to convince myself.
Category: General Sports
