Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Saying what needs to be said)
Everyone just take a deep breath.
After a weekend that was full of entertainment, but zero favors being done in the name of Texas getting into the four-team playoff that has become the quest that the Texas fan base is so thirsty to taste that it's somewhat made this season slightly disappointing for some, let's just stop for a moment and smell the roses.
The entire burnt orange universe might need to learn some breathing exercises after the AP and Coaches Polls came out on Sunday with the Longhorns trailing one-loss Ohio State.
Nevertheless ... just breathe.
Not to go all weak-in-the-knees on such a championship-starved audience, but it was Norman Dale who once told a soon-to-be-championship squad that if they put their effort and concentration into playing to their potential and being the best they can be, the team would emerge as winners in his book.
While I fully believe that the Texas Longhorns are going to emerge victorious in this weekend's Big 12 Championship game against Ollie Gordon and a bunch of dudes, I already feel how I feel about the 2023 Texas Longhorns.
A team led by Mr. Realizing His Potential T'Vondre Sweat has woken the hopeless romantic in me with regard to Texas Football.
I think I love this team.
This group has made football around here fun again.
As someone who has not only watched a lot of bad football for much of the last 14 seasons, but has sat ringside to how the sausage was made along the way, a little pigskin romanticism after so many years that have felt like we were all going through a pigskin divorce kind of feels like a first kiss of sorts.
Although this season has gone by in the blink of an eye, it has already given Orangebloods so much in the way of memories. Beating Alabama will remain in our collective hearts and souls as an all-time reawakening. Making sure that the likes of Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and the rest of the blood-sucking ticks that represent the Big 12 from having any eternal scoreboard is borderline priceless. Chasing a first-ever playoff bid has reminded so many people why they commit so much of themselves to being a fan in the first place.
So many of the young men that have made all of this happen are easy to root for. Pick almost any name ... there are good people and amazing stories all over the place. For all of the worries about NIL robbing the sport of its soul, this Longhorns team is full of characters that look like they are having the time of their lives and there's real love being shared between them.
You don't need me to tell you about it, you can see it with your own eyes.
I know there's a lot of frustration at the notion of going 12-1, winning the Big 12 and getting left out of the playoff ... and if four power five conference teams remain undefeated through this weekend ... it'll be justified. Yet, if you view things with a bigger lens, there's so much to be thankful for.
This feels like the beginning of something and not the apex of the ride.
So, take a deep breath.
A team worthy of celebrating for the rest of your lives has a title game to play in five or six days (depending on when you read this). The first conference championship since season two of Breaking Bad and Taylor Swift's first tour is within reach.
I can't wait to see the videos of this team celebrating if it can close the deal, playoff or no playoff.
No. 2 - A special season in the making ...
A general rule of thumb over the course of the last 40 years is ...
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