Texas Football Rewind: Where it all went wrong for a historic 2002 team

In our next edition of Texas football rewind, we look back at a talented 2002 team that was not able to reach their ultimate goal thanks to one late upset.

At one point, it looked as if the first BCS National Championship that the Texas football program would ever win under the direction of former head coach Mack Brown would come during the 2002 season. That ultra-talented 2002 Texas team led by Brown had multiple historic points it established that fall, but ultimately fell short of their top prize.

That illustrious 2002 team for the Texas Longhorns football program would be the first to really come out of the gates strong and become a nationally prominent threat under Brown’s direction. The 2001 Longhorns football squad did finished with the same record overall as the 2002 team (11-2), but there were more “what could’ve been moments” that came about in the latter of the two seasons.

Texas finished up their 2002 season with a record of 11-2 (6-2 Big 12). Not only did Texas finish one step shy of the Big 12 Championship Game, but they also missed out on a legitimate shot at playing in the BCS National Championship Game.

What would really wind up costing the Longhorns a shot at winning a Big 12 Championship in 2002 was a devastating Week 11 loss on the road at the hands of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. That 2002 Texas Tech (led by then third-year head coach Mike Leach) was a thorn in the side of the two biggest football programs in this state. Texas Tech did knock off the Texas A&M Aggies by the final score of 48-47 earlier in the 2002 season.

But the biggest upset by far that the Red Raiders were able to pull that season came over the No. 4 ranked Longhorns at the time, by the final score of 42-38. That started a string of devastating upsets that the Red Raiders would pull over the Longhorns under Leach’s direction.

Thanks to that loss to Texas Tech two weeks shy of the end of the 2002 regular season, Texas would see their rival Oklahoma Sooners play in the conference title game. That leads me into what was the overall most costly loss of the 2002 season for the Longhorns.

Yes, Texas would’ve been playing in the Big 12 Championship Game if they had not lost to Texas Tech in Week 11. But that loss to Oklahoma in Week 6 in the Red River Rivalry game saw Texas pitted against the No. 2 ranked team in the nation. Oklahoma got the best of Texas by the final score of 35-24 in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Win that Red River Rivalry game in 2002, and Texas is still playing in the Big 12 Championship Game and possibly the BCS National Championship Game even with a loss to Texas Tech.

Oklahoma would wind up facing the nine-win Colorado Buffaloes in the Big 12 Championship Game. They dominated Colorado in the Big 12 Championship Game, by the final score of 29-7.

Texas would get to finish off their 2002 season by beating the LSU Tigers in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day 2003 by the final score of 35-20. That was a nice end to Texas’ season, but left a lot to be desired given how it began.

The 2002 season began with Texas convincingly beating four teams during their non-conference slate. That 2002 non-conference schedule did begin with decently difficult opposition too. And Texas took care of business no problem. They even beat the North Carolina Tar Heels, Houston Cougars, and Tulane Green Wave each by a margin of at least 30 points.

This is one of just three seasons since the turn of the century that Texas won three straight games by a margin of at least 30 points in each outing. The other two times Texas did that since 2000 saw them appear in the national title game both seasons (2005 and 2009).

Even in the complete 118 year history of this football program, Texas has only accomplished this feat of winning three or more games in a row in a single season 14 times. There were three seasons in which Texas accomplished this feat in five games in a row (1914, 1941, and 1969). Each of those three seasons also saw the Longhorns come away with at least one claimed national title from a bona fide source.

This 2002 Texas team was still one of the better that was able to win at least 11 games under Brown’s direction. Starting quarterback Chris Simms and star running back Cedric Benson powered the Texas offense to be one of the 20 best in the nation, and the defense was in the top 10 spearheaded by linebacker Derrick Johnson and defensive back Michael Huff.