Mack: Still committed to the job
Today, I asked Mack Brown how progress in the program this year should be measured.
"I think we've made great progress," Brown said. "We had a chance to compete for a championship as of Thursday night. We didn't finish it right.
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"We've had three disappointing games, and at Texas if you lose a game, it's a disappointment. We need to come back here and try to get two wins at the end.
"It's a whole lot ahead of where we were last year, and most of the players are coming back next year. So the future is really bright. Just disappointed in last Thursday and need to get back on track this week against a really good team."
I asked the same question of players, including junior offensive lineman Trey Hopkins.
"I think a big thing will be seeing how we respond to this game (at Kansas State)," Hopkins said. "I think that will help us going forward to see what kind of team we are.
"We've seen where we let a tough loss beat us twice. We lost to West Virginia and we came back and didn't play nearly as well as we could against Oklahoma.
"That's one thing we have to do better at this time around. We had the tough loss against TCU, and now we have to fix the problems - not just say there were problems. Actually come back with the fire that we're not going to lose again.
"I think that's how we can evaluate ourselves going into the next season, by seeing how we respond to situations like this, because we've seen them before."
I asked the same question of junior safety Adrian Phillips.
"This game is big for us because it gives us a chance to get to 10 wins and a chance to knock off a top team, which is something that everyone would love," Phillips said.
"I feel like the team knew we let something slip away (losing to TCU). We knew what we did. You were kind of mad more than anything. It's one you wish you could have back. But we can't do anything about it now.
"If we win at Kansas State, it will take Texas back in the direction we need to be going in."
Mack Brown was asked about the morale of the team.
"Dispappointed over Thursday," he said. "Lost a lot of things that were out there for them. Really excited about trying to win 10 games and get back on track. We had a very good meeting yesterday (Sunday)."
Mack was asked if he's still committed to the job at Texas going forward, and he laughed and said, "Yes. For the 19th time, yes."
He left it at that.