It was up to Dicker the Kicker yet again, but the Horns pulled out the win in the closing seconds. It was exciting and a big relief, since we were down 14-0 early.
After our excitement, we rushed back to the tailgate to tune into the ou-Iowa State game for their close call. The sooners managed to win by 1, but we all enjoyed the schaudenfreude as our Okie friends sweated that one out.
We felt pretty good about the 19-point lead, but then the Wildcats came roaring back, scoring 14 unanswered. The Horns held on, and our guys found a W in the “Little Apple.”
Oct. 22, 2016 • Manhattan, Kansas
Early in the season, I was walking through IKEA and spied a box of alphabet cookies. The outside of the box had only K cookies on it (probably because the Swedish brand name for the “biscuits” is Kex), so I grabbed it. What could be more perfect than to spell Texas with a bunch of K’s for K State, I thought.
I brought that box home and hid it in the pantry, making sure it didn’t get mistaken for an up-for-grabs snack. The day of the K State game, I pulled out the cookies and got ready to spell Texas with a bunch of K’s.
Except all the cookies weren’t K’s. Well, duh—of course they weren’t! I thought it was a little odd that a whole box of cookies would be a bunch of one letter, but it’s IKEA, right? Ugh. So dumb. Once I got over my chagrin, I made quick work of picking out the letters I needed. Easiest spelling ever, even if the connection to K State was completely lost.
Speaking of lost, my Horns lost this one, too. Blech.
The last time we beat K State, we barely knew who this V. Young guy was, and Colt McCoy was still at Jim Ned High School. Even if our scouts had their eyes on Colt, we certainly weren’t watching YouTube videos of the young whippersnapper because YouTube didn’t even exist back then! Yes, our last victory over the Wildcats was waaaaaay back in 2003.
Fast forward to 2013, and we Longhorns already had two miserable losses in this young season and were out of the rankings. One coach was already fired, and another was on the chopping block. “Saban 2014” T-shirts were for sale around town.
It looked like we’d be ’Cat food, for sure.
For past games against the Wildcats, we’ve spelled Texas using Kit Kat bars. But you know, a five-game losing streak against these guys is a pretty good sign it’s time to try something different. That led to the cat food idea. I considered borrowing a handful of Friskies from home, but—EW!—that stuff smells SO bad! Instead, we used a different kind of cat food: FISH! Don’t all cats love fish?
Maybe, maybe not. But my kids love the sweet, gummy Swedish Fish candy, which means the prop could double as a tailgate treat. And surprise, surprise, the game turned out to be quite the treat, too.
Johnathan WithAnH Gray had a breakout game (141 yards, two TDs), David Ash had a GORGEOUS 63-yard touchdown pass to Kendall Sanders, and our defense looked like a real D. It. Was. Glorious. Colt’s younger brother, Case, came in for Ash in the second half and didn’t miss a beat. Some really awful calls late in the game led to a fourth quarter Wildcat TD, pulling KSU to within 10, but two late fumble recoveries preserved the win (and saved us from our first 1-3 start since the 1950s).
This season may turn out to be as hard on us fans as gummy fish are on our teeth, but this win was good for the sole. We might have looked like we’d be cat food, but thank cod, the ’Cats are the ones who got schooled. For reel.
(I confess: I’m gillty of using fish puns—just for the halibut. Did you catch them all? Let minnow.)
Nov. 19, 2011 • DKR
To quote the old Kit Kat commercials, “Gimme a break!” This was NOT the way we wanted to send off the 2011 senior class.
At least we enjoyed a great tailgate!
Spell Texas 
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