We gotta win this game...

We gotta win this game.

Five years. Five times have the Texas Longhorns travelled to face the Oklahoma Sooners in a Cotton Bowl split half-orange/half-crimson, and five times have they lost in excruciating fashion. Five games Mack Brown has been outcoached by Bob Stoops. Five fatal flaws finished us.

We gotta win this game.

For the first time in five years, there is no doubt coming in - Texas is the better team. It starts with the lines on both sides of the ball, both big, physical, and nasty, and both a class above anyone they will face this year. The linebackers, led by senior Aaron Harris, can cover from sideline to sideline, and the defensive backfield is scary fast and experienced. The defense doesn't allow people to score save out of mercy. On the offensive side of the ball, a much-maligned recieving core stepped up their game, and made the plays that keyed the win in the Horseshoe. True freshmen Jamaal Charles (Lightning) and 270-pound Henry Melton (Thunder) possess the quickness of a cat and the rumble of a rhino when running the ball, respectively. Then there's Vince, the dynamo quarterback that makes jaw-dropping play after jaw-dropping play and simply doesn't know how to lose (my brother's words, not mine). At this point, he's a cross between Michael Vick, Marv from Sin City, Aragorn, and Gandhi. If ever there was a man to break the Curse, it's Vince.

Oklahoma is not the same team. After getting blasted/exposed in the national title game against USC, they opened the year losing to TCU at home, then struggled to beat Tulsa and lost again to UCLA. Their freshman QB, Rhett Bomar, runs well but turns the ball over often. Their stud running back, Adrian Peterson, has a bum ankle. The defense can't defend the pass, and the entire team lacks depth after losing numerous players to transfers and injury. The game should not even be close.

We gotta win this game.

As down as Oklahoma is this year, they still scare the crap out of me, for one reason: Bob Stoops. He seems to lose at least one game he shouldn't each year, but he smartly has built his entire team to beat Texas from the time he took over. His strategy is nothing short of brilliant, and he will do anything to beat Texas.

And then there's Mack Brown. He enjoys great success at Texas, and is probably the nicest man in college football, but because he hasn't beaten Oklahoma in five years, he endures endless abuse from media all over the country. This year, he has the edge. He is surrounded by better players and better coaches (especially on defense). If any man deserves to win this game, it's Mack.

We gotta win this game.

So go out there and take that Golden Hat, Horns! Win it for Major Applewhite, who never got his chance to lead the comeback in 2001, and for Chris Simms, who never got enough credit for four years of relentless hard work. Win it for Derrick Johnson and Cedric Benson, two phenomenal players who carried this team on their backs for four years and never beat Oklahoma. Catch a few touchdown passes for Roy, BJ, and Sloan, who never caught one themselves in this game.

Win it for Jeff Turner, who sat with me at the 63-14 game in 2000, and who has waited too many times under the Crying Tree the last few years. Win it for all the Longhorn fans who went toe-to-toe with Sooner fans in the West End District on Friday night and who yearn to simply tell them "Scoreboard." Win it for me, who drove to Pasadena and back in a weekend and who entered the Horseshoe covered in beer and barbeque sauce.

Win it because the Red Sox broke the Curse with a wrecking ball last year, and if they can do it, you can too. Win it because, even if y'all are down 35-7, face a do-or-die 4th and 18, are down 10 in the 4th quarter of the Rose Bowl, or are down 6 in the Horseshoe with five minutes left, you guys just don't lose.

Win it for the poor Dave South, who is still shell-shocked after the Aggies lost 77-0 a couple of years back (though they did beat the hell out of halftime).

Win it convincingly enough to wipe that smirk off the face of Bob Stoops, and make him answer some of the same inane questions that Mack Brown has endured in the last five years. Win it for Mack, and lift him up on your shoulders after you do.

The Eyes of Texas are upon you.