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Charles Dickens and Beating the Texas Longhorns

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Who Is the Ghost of Christmas Present For Texas?

"You can't describe what it's like to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl. You'd seen it on TV. But to walk out in the Cotton Bowl and to see the half and half of burnt orange and crimson, the energy in the stadium, it was one of the top rivalries in the country and still is today. Probably the hardest hit I ever got was my sophomore year against Texas." – Lee Roy Selmon, Oklahoma defensive lineman.

Beat Texas.

Any Oklahoma fan has sat through those games where the offense has struggled against Kansas or the defense has struggled against Texas Tech. OU fans only need to say the word "Oregon" and a conversation about officiating will ensue.

But for Sooners fans, there’s a word that carries the aroma of happiness: Longhorns.

"That game - the rivalry game for us has always been Oklahoma. The A&M game's been a great game and all of that. And we may play 'em. But it's not something that we have to do. I think the Oklahoma game is something we have to do." -- University of Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds

Since 1999, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops has given OU fans reason to believe that "Beat Texas" has a better than 50/50 proposition. In giving our bitter rivals some of their most humiliating defeats, Stoops has earned himself a position of enmity against Oklahoma’s bitterest rival.

Charlie Strong aims to change that.

"I've been a part of two national championships," Strong said. "We never talked about going and winning a national championship. Because you know what happens. One day you wake up, you're the national champion. It's all about our players going out, competing each and every day."

Strong’s resume is impressive. But what might be most frightening to Oklahoma fans is the approach he is taking to "Putting the T in Texas."

The Ghost of Mack Brown Past

"I know why we had such recruiting success. We outwork ‘em. I’m young. Our hair is still growing." – former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer in 1975, during a five-game winning streak and while his hair was, indeed, still growing.

"Why those sorry bastards. I don’t trust ‘em on anything." – former Oklahoma player and Texas coach Darrell Royal in 1976. No information available on his hair growth at the time.

It has become a talking point amongst fans that Mack Brown was a great recruiter, but didn’t know what to do with talent.

To Oklahoma fans, this talk has been shorthand for two things: either 1) the high school ranking system is complete bunk, or 2) the high school ranking system demonstrates that certain programs actually know how to develop players.

Oklahoma fans will hope that there is a combination of the two. The reality is undoubtedly that the high school ranking system is bunk – Purdue enjoyed having a qb that Texas said was too short named Drew Brees. Adding insult to injury for both programs, Johnny Manziel went to Texas A&M.

Among the few things upon which Oklahoma and Texas fans can agree is the notion that things at UT will be different with Charlie Strong as head coach. How this works out in the recruiting game is anybody’s guess, but it will be hard to top Mack Brown’s recruiting success. More importantly for the fate of both teams, and perhaps the conference itself, is what will happen in the month of October.

The Ghost of a Strong Christmas Future

"I’ll answer that for Chris…." – former Texas coach Mack Brown, after his star quarterback Chris Simms was intercepted four times and sacked three times against OU.

Vince Young and Colt McCoy, even to the most die-hard Oklahoma fan, were superlative college quarterbacks. If anyone will be taking the SAT’s soon: they were to Texas as Jason White and Sam Bradford were to OU. And they beat us.

Charlie Strong aspires to the successes that UT had under those gentlemen, and he’s got the resume to back it up. He, like Stoops, was part of Florida powerhouses as a no-nonsense defensive coordinator with a philosophy of doing things the right way. While Stoops – rightly or wrongly (different article) – is dealing with the PR ramifications of Frank Shannon, Dorial Green-Beckham, and Joe Mixon, Charlie Strong is cleaning house at Texas as if it were the French Revolution.

Clearly the hope is that the talent level at Texas is enough to provide enough wins to continue the Mack Brown level of recruiting to remain. For that to happen, however, he’s going to need to stabilize his program and improve it. (Gary Gibbs, remember, was 44-23-2 and was run out of town. Fanbases can be fickle mistresses to programs like ours.)

The Longhorns Present

"Bob Stoops is an amazing coach." – Charlie Strong in his first press conference as UT head coach.

The 2014 Longhorns won’t be a ghost, but they are also the hardest team in the nation to get a handle on. Even after sacking players with the ruthlessness of a Lee Iacoca (and thank you to anyone old enough to get that reference), Strong certainly has the horses. Despite being a defensive-minded coach, he has proven he knows how to coach an offense that can survive in the Big XII.

I don’t make predictions on sports. Texas certainly possesses the talent to go far this year, but a new system requires readjustment.

As a Sooners fan – and I hate to say this – I wish Charlie Strong the best of luck, and want Texas to succeed. That shindig we share in October is more fun when the other team can’t make excuses why we beat them.

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