Behind The Box Score

Four years away from the magical 2005 season where Mack Brown’s Texas team downed what some called the greatest team in the history of college football, the 2009 Longhorns look strikingly similar. Both teams featured dual threat quarterbacks that both were runner ups in Heisman voting, each team included an athletic defense that gets adequate pressure and both teams are looking to down the defending champ that had a Heisman Trophy quarterback.

 With a team stockpiled with NFL talent, Mack Brown’s team will run through the Big 12, with the only possible losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and try to topple whoever comes their way. Another similarity is the national championship site, in 2005, the Longhorns played in the Rose Bowl against USC and this year is the same as the BCS Championship Game will be located in Pasadena.

 Colt McCoy is the new Vince Young, but with a better arm. Throwing for over 3,500 yards and 30 TD’s, McCoy is a lock for the Heisman Trophy’s top candidates. Lacking a true running game in 2008, Texas will rely on the legs of the 245 pounder Cody Johnson who showed signs of prominence last season. With such a prolific offense, the defense is what most college football gurus, including myself, are talking about.

Returning several starters from a 2008 squad that led the nation in sacks with 47, this defense looks to be even better. The key component to the pass rush last season was first round pick Brian Orakpo who got to the quarterback quite often in ’08 and this year’s Orakpo is senior Sergio Kindle, a hybrid type pass rusher. As the leading returnee with ten sacks, Kindle flirted with the NFL after last season but when a group of scouts projected him going in the second round, Kindle committed himself to winning a national championship for a team that was one magnificent catch away from a berth in the title game a year ago. Already defeating Oklahoma 45-35 in the Red River Shootout last season, the defense is more than ready to styfle a Sooners offensive line that returns only one starter. Along with Kindle, the other rush end is true freshman Alex Okafor, a 6’4″ 240 pounder very similar to his counterpart and the intersting thing about Okafor is that just during spring practice, the January enrollee shot up the depth chart and will be used quite often. Showcasing some of the best linebackers in the country, Texas will be led by Roderick Muckleroy, another athletic Texas product that really can get it done on the field. Muckleroy hits very hard and is used as a QB spy for faster quarterbacks and his presence led to the 24-21 victory over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. Starting a pair of true freshman safties last season, Blake Gideon and company are more poised and readier than ever to topple the high powered offenses of the Big 12.

 In 2005, the Texas defense was also very athletic and led by a safety also in Michael Huff, this season looks very much the same. With a schedule that is very favorable for the Longhorns, the games in October will be the toughest, as Texas faces Oklahoma in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium and travels north to Stillwater to face the Cowboys in a game that may be very similar to the Texas Tech debacle where the Longhorns went on the road to face a great quarterback and receiving combo, let’s just hope the result isn’t the same. Four years away from a national championship the scenario stays the same, Texas is led by an experience quarterback that wants to prove he is the best, and a defense that can fly all over the place looks to take down the defending champ returning everyone. USC in 2005 is better than this year’s Florida, but the thing about the 2009 Longhorns is that I honestly think McCoy and company would take down Vince Young’s team that broke the hearts of Trojan fans everywhere.