It has officially been over two decades since the Texas Longhorns and then-head coach Mack Brown watched Vince Young run into the end zone to win the BCS National Championship over the USC Trojans.
Since then, the Horns have come close, playing in the 2009 title game and making two appearances in the College Football Playoffs. But all of those seasons have come with disappointment at the end, with the Longhorns going title-less since 2005.
Of course, the Longhorns are in hot pursuit of a National Championship, which would be the fifth in program history.
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While it already stings that Texas is in a title drought, the possibility of a rival securing a National Championship puts the Horns even more on edge. However, if these three programs were able to pull off a ring-winning season, Texas may never be able to escape the noise.
While SMU isn't exactly one of Texas's rivals, the Mustangs have garnered a lot of attention and respect over the last few years. With three National Championships to their name and an appearance in the 2024 CFP, SMU has looked like a contender at times since joining the ACC.
It has been over four decades since the Ponies last clinched a title, and with their death penalty era from 1987 until 2007, it has been a long road to recovery for SMU.
However, if the Mustangs were able to pull off a title-winning season before the Longhorns, the noise coming from Dallas would be truly unbearable.
Oh boy. What's a better way to reignite a rivalry that has long been buried underground than one head coach taking another's statement personally and creating a whole saga out of it? That's exactly what happened this offseason with an unspecified comment Steve Sarkisian made and Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire taking it to heart.
Also read: The Texas Longhorns are officially living rent-free in Joey McGuire's mind
Of course, the Red Raiders have never won a National Championship in football and have gone an abysmal 18-54 against the Longhorns throughout the two teams' lengthy history.
While the Horns and the Raiders no longer share a conference, there is undeniably no love lost between Austin and Lubbock, and if Texas Tech secured a title before Texas did... well, it just wouldn't be right. And after this offseason's drama, the Red Raiders would never let the Longhorns hear the end of their bragging.
Last, and most certainly least (yes, you read that correctly), the Texas A&M Aggies winning a National Championship is something straight out of a Longhorn fan's nightmares.
Technically, according to what feels akin to folklore, the Aggies have three National Championships: 1919, 1927, and 1939. For historical reference, yes, they all came before the United States joined World War II.
However, those three national titles came before there was a real National Championship game, with the 1939 title coming after a Sugar Bowl victory over the Tulane Green Wave and the Aggies simply being named as the National Champions.
Of course, Texas A&M made its first CFP appearance last season and scored a whopping three (yes, 3) points in its home game to kick off the playoffs against the Miami Hurricanes.
While it's nice to see an underdog win sometimes, that doesn't apply to the Aggies, and the Texas Longhorns would be in both metaphorical and literal purgatory if their biggest in-state rival won a National Championship before they did.
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