Sweet Victory

Texas 28, Georgia 21

Jan. 1, 2019 • All-State Sugar Bowl • Superdome, New Orleans

How sweet it is! I’ve always heard that you can’t spell “SUGAR” without UGA, but our Horns showed that they belong among the nation’s elite.

From ESPN: “Sam Ehlinger ran for three touchdowns, the Texas defense largely held Georgia’s offense in check, and the Longhorns earned their first 10-win season since 2009 by beating the Bulldogs 28-21 in the Sugar Bowl.”

The win put a gorgeous burnt-orange bow on what was already a fantastic mother-daughter road trip. And then the post-game festivities on Bourbon Street made this gameday one of the best ever.

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ou 39, Texas 27

Dec. 1, 2018 • Big 12 Championship • AT&T Stadium, Arlington

Great tailgate. Amazing seats. Fun atmosphere. Lousy outcome.

Defensive star Breckyn Hager said he wouldn’t cut his hair until the Horns won the Big 12, and we were hopeful that boy could get a trim. Alas, the cut had to wait. 

But hey, we got to meet Mr. Peanut.

 

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Planting Seeds of Hope

Texas 24, Kansas 17

Nov. 23, 2018 • Lawrence, Kansas

All we needed was one more win to make it to the Big 12 Championship in Arlington, and Kansas was next up on the schedule. No sweat, right? At first, it looked like we would coast into AT&T Stadium, leading 21-0 after three quarters. But the Jayhawks made it interesting, closing the gap in the fourth. The Horns held on to escape the Sunflower State with a win, and our tickets for the conference championship were punched.

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Winds of Change

Texas 24, Iowa State 10

Nov. 17, 2018 • DKR

The Cyclones blew into town, but the Horns, still sailing on the strong West Texas win from the previous week, withstood the storm. Our guys never trailed in this one, and with a win, came to within one win from clinching a spot in the Big 12 championship game.

The win (and fireworks!) capped off a fantastic day. My niece’s family joined us at Bevo Blvd. and the tailgate, and because this was our home finale, we relished our time with our football family, too.

The last home game is always sad, but it’s a good time to recognize how lucky we are to have shared those special moments on the Forty. 

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Lovin’ Lubbock

Texas 41, Texas Tech 34

Nov. 10, 2018 • Jones AT&T Stadium, Lubbock

Ever since Katie moved to Lubbock for college, I’ve been fortunate to attend several Tech games on the South Plains. 

Pregame we feasted on the ATX original, Chuy’s, and relied on bona-fide Lubbock tortillas to spell Texas. Then we joined a friend’s tailgate and tried to keep warm in that West Texas wind.

Once inside the stadium, we found our seats on row 42. That’s when we discovered that the Longhorn Band went up to row 37! Being that close to so many sousaphones—yes, all 21(!!!) of them—meant we were all about that bass.

This time, the Horns were the ones with the late TD to secure the win. Sam hit Lil’Jordan Humphrey for the game-winner with 21 seconds left, saving many tortillas in the process. (After witnessing the flinging throughout the game, we were amused to see this dire warning on our way out!)

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Can’t Move That Mountain

West Virginia 42, Texas 41

Nov. 3, 2018 • DKR

Back and forth and back and forth. A bunch of lead changes made this one exciting, but the Mountaineers TD and 2-point conversion with seconds left put this game into the loss column.

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Poked

Oklahoma State 38, Texas 35

Oct. 27, 2018 • Stillwater, Oklahoma

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. After the season-opening loss, our guys were on a six-game winning streak when they rode into Stillwater. Ranked #6, the Horns were down by as much as 17, came storming back in the second half, but couldn’t pull off the win.

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A Hook ’Em Halloween

Oct. 26, 2018

Our mascot, Hook ’Em, was the subject for my annual UT pumpkin this year. First-year Texas history teacher Ryan went with the classic Texas outline for his.

Hook ’em!

The Hat at Home

Texas 23, Baylor 17

Oct. 13, 2018 • DKR

After the previous week’s big win over our biggest rival, Bevo Blvd. was rockin’! Ryan and Katie were with me to see Bevo’s grand entrance, and then we got to pose with the star of the moment, the Golden Hat trophy. 

Later, I ran into an old friend from church, and then we caught wind that online quiz show host Scott Rogowsky, the HQ-tie himself, was at the Chase booth, we managed to find him in the crowd for selfies.

In the game, QB Shane Buechele came up big, helping us get a good lead at the half that Baylor couldn’t quite overcome.

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Dicker the Kicker

Texas 48, ou 45 

Oct. 6, 2018 • Cotton Bowl, Dallas

What. A. Day.

ESPN’s College Gameday AND Fox’s College Football Saturday were at the fairgrounds for this showdown. The band serenaded us near the Gameday set, and over with the Fox guys, we saw Matt Leinert hanging out with his daddy, VY. (I kid, I kid…)

After our traditional Texas-ou breakfast (Fletcher’s corny dogs—duh), we headed to our usual meet-up spot (the food court, near the cheap beer stand). At our table, we soaked in the atmosphere as we stacked up those wax cups. 

After all that hype, you’d think the actual game would be a let-down, but no. Our guys led for most of the game until the sooners tied it up with 2:38 left. It took Cameron Dicker’s 40-yard field goal with 9 seconds left to put the Horns on top. But even before the snap, a legend was born with these 2 epic seconds of screen time:

Because it was an 11 o’clock kick, we stayed at the fair a bit after the game. We checked out the butter sculpture and the creative arts pavilion, but the best thing we saw all day was that stunning Golden Hat.

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And for the family archives: For this Red River Rivalry, we hosted a gaggle of Ryan’s college friends at our house the Friday before the game. It was fun to see him and his friends hangin’ out just like we had a decade or three ago.