There’s something new in Austin. And no, I’m not (yet) talking about Arch Manning. Nor am I talking about (yet) the team’s shiny new number one ranking.
What’s new around here is a top five scoring defense.
“Our standard this year is to not let anybody get in the paint,” junior safety Michael Taaffe said Monday. “That’s who we are now. That’s our defense now.”
The Longhorns have been doing a great job of keeping offenses out of the end zone, giving up just 19 points through the first three games.
You have to go back to 1983 to find a Longhorn team this stingy.
That was the year that the world was introduced to Matthew Broderick, a rapscallion young hacker who nearly started World War III in the movie “War Games.” In fact, it was a damn good year for movies all the way around.
I walked through the sticky floor of The Texan theater in Athens, Texas to watch another young man, Tom Cruise, slide his way into America’s consciousness in “Risky Business.” Chevy Chase loaded up the family in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster and set off on the road in “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” Dustin Hoffman taught us to love drag queens in “Tootsie.” And Ralphie really did end up shooting his eye out after receiving his coveted Red Ryder bb gun in “A Christmas Story.”
Yes, it was a fine year at the movies, and a damn fine year on the gridiron as well. Jerry Gray, Mossy Cade, and Tony Degrate led one of the country’s best defenses.
The ’83 Horns gave up a touchdown to Auburn in week one, six points to North Texas State (as it was then called) in week two and six points to six points to Rice in week three. Incidentally, the 21-7 loss to Texas to start the season was Auburn’s only loss of the year.
Texas ended up conceding only 114 points over the 12 games played that season (9.5 points per game). The defense led the team to an undefeated regular season and a chance at a national championship.
But alas, that year was doomed to end in heartbreak. Or, rather, 1984 was doomed to begin in heartbreak, as Texas ended up losing in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day to the Georgia Bulldogs, 10-9.
The Horns gifted the Bulldogs the only touchdown of when defensive back Craig Curry muffed a punt late in the 4th quarter, setting Georgia up for a 17-yard touchdown run.
Curry was sobbing after the game when he was asked about choosing to field the punt rather than letting it go. “I just don’t know why I did it,” he told reporters.
Sadly, he was never able to let that play go either.
“I am hoping and praying that they win the national championship this year,” Curry told the Dallas Morning News in 2005 before Texas played USC in the Rose Bowl. “Please, because I am just dying. I don’t even go to games at this point. I’m afraid that my presence will be like a taboo. Somebody will see me there and throw rocks or something like that.”
Texas’ loss, opened the door for Miami to win its first national championship after the Hurricanes beat number one ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl later that night.
It’s funny how 41 years later, what was old is new again. Georgia is one of the best teams in the country, Miami is good again, Nebraska is on the rise and the Texas Longhorns, once again, have one of the best defenses in the country.
