I know how frustrating the past two weeks have been.
Two overtimes against two of the worst teams in the Southeastern Conference seems absolutely abysmal. We did not travel either of these past weekends.
Instead, I was able to go home to good old Henderson, Texas to watch the Mississippi State game with my family, free to shout and scream at my parents’ TV in peace.
Complaints and objections have to be kept to yourself sitting in a press box, but when I’m home, my mom and I both express our frustration by jumping up and down on our couch with each dropped ball and failed block.
It’s especially frustrating to hear those god-awful five words when people are desperately trying to self-soothe their disappointments: “A win is a win.”
Boo! Shame! Tomatoes! Tomatoes! Get off the stage!
This week, though, I get it. Texas football’s easy stretch, if that’s what it can be called, is over. Now, the Longhorns march onward to face No. 9 Vanderbilt and a win in overtime isn’t frustrating at this point — it’s a fighting chance.
Texas had the chance to truly test its culture. Through 42 days on the road, living in enemy territory week-by-week, the Longhorns scraped by and pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to finally come back home 3-1 in conference play.
Some of those games were disastrous. Some of those games were glorious (what time is it?). The last two were largely undefinable — culture wins to some, bad omens to others. But at any rate, Texas is back in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and the season isn’t over.
There’s a lot of joy to be experienced in this stretch of the season. The air has chilled and with an 11 a.m. kickoff this weekend, us poor suckers in Austin get to finally experience the joy of fall football. But there’s also a lot of potential heartache as the crusade for a playoff seed marches on.
There are four games left as we head into November — four chances left for the Longhorns to prove that they are worthy of more than the Duke’s Mayo Bowl at the end of the year. And three out of four of those games are against AP top 10 teams.
“A win is a win” may have been a sickeningly complacent phrase last week, but this week it still rings true. This team and its fans can’t be so overconfident to expect anything dominant within the next month, but have to find hope in the fact that a chance still remains. Ugly victories are still victories. Scrappy, ill-favored fights still win ball games.
Desperate teams are still contenders — there’s a stark difference between the preseason No. 1 Longhorns and the same team midseason, now 6-2. There’s no room for error and now they have everything to prove.
