| *Loss at Texas Tech still haunts Texas in '09*
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By JIM VERTUNO
AP Sports Writer
AUSTIN, Texas(AP) -- Eight games into the 2009 season, 1 second
from 2008 still haunts and motivates Texas.
One second, one play and one loss to Texas Tech ruined the
Longhorns' chance to play for a national championship.
Several Longhorns said Monday the memory of that game has been
with them all year and will be over the final month of the
season.
"Let's not let that happen again," quarterback Colt McCoy said.
"We know that feeling and we don't want to feel it again."
It would seem Texas players would have exorcised those demons
when the Longhorns beat Texas Tech 34-24 on Sept. 19, but they
acknowledged the last-second defeat to Michael Crabtree and the
Red Raiders in Lubbock last year has driven them motivated every
day of 2009.
"It was a good lesson," defensive tackle Lamarr Houston said.
"We don't ever want to leave our destiny in someone else's hands
again."
That won't happen if Texas keeps winning.
At 8-0, the Longhorns are No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series
standings and in sole possession of first place in the Big 12
South.
Win the division, and Texas gets to the Big 12 title game. Win
that, and Texas has a clear path to the BCS championship game on
Jan. 7 in Pasadena, Calif., the site of the Longhorns 2005
championship game victory against USC.
On Saturday, the Longhorns play Central Florida (5-3). The
Knights were supposed to be an early season tuneup before the
game got switched with Texas Tech.
Then the Longhorns travel to Baylor (3-5), which has lost four
in a row, before hosting Kansas (5-3), which has lost its last
three. The finale at Texas A&M (5-3) seems to be the biggest
hurdle on the way to an undefeated regular season.
The Longhorns are trying to tune out talk from fans and media
that they might as well start making hotel reservations in
California.
"But we're the ones who have to play," senior center Chris Hall
said. "We know better."
And that's when he brings up Texas Tech, that 1 disastrous
second and how it keeps the Longhorns razor sharp at what could
be a dull point in the season.
"With our experience last year, there are no thoughts like that
with us," Hall said.
For anyone unfamiliar, No. 1 Texas fought back from 19 points
down at Texas Tech to take a 33-32 lead with 89 seconds to play.
Then Crabtree made the play of the year, scoring the winning
touchdown with a tick left.
That play ultimately knocked Texas out of the Big 12 title game
and out of a chance to play for the national title.
Roy Miller, who was a Longhorns defensive tackle last season and
is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, visited his old team last
week. He told them he is haunted by that second in Lubbock.
"Don't leave a play on the field," Miller told them. "It stays
with you the rest of your life."
After Miller's speech, Texas thumped Oklahoma State 41-14 and
got a bump from No. 3 to No. 2 in the rankings and the BCS
standings. It also put the Longhorns in first place in the Big
12 South.
Although Central Florida can't impact the Big 12 race, Brown
said he told his players they can make a statement nationally.
The win over Oklahoma State earned some national respect that
had waned in recent weeks. And after his slow start, McCoy can
still make a run for the Heisman Trophy.
Everything is still within Texas' reach.
If the Longhorns keep winning. If they avoid that one game - or
1 second - letdown.
"These guys don't ever want that feeling again," defensive end
Sergio Kindle said.
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