Like the Ducks, Mack Brown’s Texas squad suffered an embarrassing loss on the road to a team they should have beaten, losing 40-21 to BYU in game two. The Longhorns gave up 550 yards on the ground to the Cougars, and after the game the ESPN panel of experts savaged them as “soft” and exposed.
Brown responded by firing defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, and after the loss, his team rebounded with six straight wins in Big-12 play before falling to #12 Oklahoma State and #9 Baylor late in the year (Brendan Maloney, USA Today Sports Images photo).
Whichever team fails to respond with a tough defensive effort at the Alamo Bowl will no doubt get savaged again by college football’s relentless opinion makers, who, since their playing days, have developed a knack for piling on.
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