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ESPN Story on OC Mike Leach 1999 BlowU Game

LTtxfan

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49985

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http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/24866357/the-untold-1999-texas-oklahoma-story-mike-leach-fake-play-script

 "The untold story of Mike Leach's 'lost' OU play script that fooled Texas"

"During pregame warmups of that year's Red River Showdown, an underhanded script outlining OU's opening offensive plays was spotted on the field by one of Texas' student assistants, who scooped it up and took it to Longhorns defensive coordinator Carl Reese. To the heavily favored Longhorns, it seemed as if they'd caught an enormous break.

"We were trying to figure out if it was authentic," Reese said. "We were in this state of, 'Can we believe this?'"

They shouldn't have.

It was a fake, part of a plot hatched by Leach and consulted by the Longhorns, who quickly fell behind 17-0 before realizing they'd been duped.

"That does sound like Mike," said former Texas coach Mack Brown, unaware of the script at the time. "I do know this: offensive coordinators are so careful with those scripts they wouldn't be losing them. Those things are valuable. Only Mike would think to lay one out there as a decoy."

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LTtxfan

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11 minutes ago, satyanash said:

So is this justification for firing Casey Horny, then?

Enjoyed Ahmad Brooks comments....

"Brooks, meanwhile, said he and his teammates remained mystified as to why their defense had looked so lost that first quarter.

"The funny part is, I didn't hear that story until Tom told it a year ago," he said. "The coaches never tipped us off that that had been found, so we had no idea."

 

Also funny about Copenhagen pregame ritual and description of Casey Horny finding the script.... (see below)

"Next, Leach had to figure out how to lure Texas into taking the bait.

During the 1999 season, Leach, Smith and fullback Seth Littrell had a little tradition during pregame warmups."

"Back then, Coach Leach and me and Seth all dipped Copenhagen snuff," Smith recalled. "I would always carry the can out on the field during pregame. So I remember [Leach] calling me over and asking for the can. We were all going to take a dip together and he was like, 'All right, here's the deal, guys ...' explaining this to me and Seth. I just remember how excited he was about it. I got the feeling this was a total rogue thing that he was doing on his own.

"But he was like, 'Oh, this is going to be amazing. This is going to be hilarious. This is going to be epic.'"

As Leach carried on, Littrell and Smith grew just as excited.

"I thought it was pretty clever, to be honest," Littrell said.

"Yeah, it was kind of shady, but it's OU-Texas. There are no rules."Former Oklahoma tight end Trent Smith

Leach then handed the script to Smith and ordered him to execute the plant, which he did to perfection.

"He says, 'I'm going to walk off. I want you to stand here for a minute. Then, I want you to drop it right in front of their coaches over there and then just keep jogging," Smith said. "It was kind of exciting. I act like I'm going to tuck this script in the belt on my pants. I let it fall and just kept jogging as though I thought I still had it.

"It was killing me not to look back and see if it had worked."

Off to the side, Leach kept the discarded script within his peripheral vision. And to his delight, he watched as Texas student assistant Casey Horny picked it up.

"The body language was awesome. It was like watching a Muttley cartoon," Leach said, referring to the villainous 1960s dog who was the sidekick to Dick Dastardly. "They decided to give it the Muttley snicker and then went up the tunnel."

 

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LTtxfan

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18 minutes ago, mdmost said:

And that student assistant was....Tom Herman!

Casey Horny discovered the fake script....

"Off to the side, Leach kept the discarded script within his peripheral vision. And to his delight, he watched as Texas student assistant Casey Horny picked it up."

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Katfid54

Katfid54 9005

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7 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Pretty funny, Littrell. Saying maybe Texas shouldn't be trying to cheat. Coming from a Sooner that's pretty rich.

And by funny and rich I mean fucking stupid and hypocritical you piece of okie shit.

I imagined Littrell saying that with his tongue placed firmly in his cheek.

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6th Street

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3 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

That was a great story. 

I was at the game and the drunk dude behind me was not an applewhite fan (I think Major had a bad game against K-state the week or two before).  I'd never met a Major denier.  It was only a foreshadowing of the applewhite-simms wars to come.  

Ah yes the Apple Turnover game vs KSU.

 

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TxEx84

TxEx84 439

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2 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

I think Major had a bad game against K-state the week or two before

 

The famed "Apple Turnover" game was the week before.  Three INT's and three fumbles.  

13 minutes ago, GRHorn said:

That game provided false confidence when we fell behind early in 2000. It ended, differently. 

No shit.  I was thinking the same in 2000.  Ouch.

I miss Leach in this conference.  That guy is such a character.  

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Jiggy-Z

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21 minutes ago, GRHorn said:

That game provided false confidence when we fell behind early in 2000. It ended, differently. 

I was at both games, and the thought was that after 17-0 in the 2000 game was-"we got this"  I think we stayed in the 4 cup beer pavilion after halftime.  Crappy weather, too.

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LTtxfan

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10 minutes ago, TxEx84 said:

The famed "Apple Turnover" game was the week before.  Three INT's and three fumbles.  

No shit.  I was thinking the same in 2000.  Ouch.

I miss Leach in this conference.  That guy is such a character.  

Love the "Pirate"....

Recently posted this on another thread, but in case yah missed it....

Mike Leach was once asked:  What is the best way to help improve Quarterback Accuracy???

 The PIRATE'S  Answer was:   "Recruit Better"

.

ALSO......

 The "PIRATE" called The Wishbone one of the greatest Offenses ever devised...

 

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ajax

ajax 2675

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3 hours ago, Js1 said:

I'm surprised Mack didn't use the "fake script" excuse when we kept getting the shit beat out of us year after year to deflect from him treating the RRS like a game of candy land.

I'm having flashbacks to Greg Davis calling sideline screen plays for -2 yards back to back. I knew 2 plays in that we would lose that game. Ugh. 

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Beau Vine

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Just now, ajax said:

I'm having flashbacks to Greg Davis calling sideline screen plays for -2 yards back to back. I knew 2 plays in that we would lose that game. Ugh. 

Come on now, he was giving Chris Simms confidence by allowing him to complete a couple of easy throws. 

QBs are much more confident when they're 2-2 for -4 yards and facing a 3rd-and-14. 

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Sleepygrad

Sleepygrad 1040

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And I remember it being hot as fuck for that 11am kick in 99. So hungover and trying to get it going again, was drinking a flask of hot Jim beam and smoking bowls right under that huge Dr Pepper sign on the back row of the stadium around the 35 yd line. Shitshow doesn’t begin to explain it. Good times

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South Austin

South Austin 53220

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That game was a ton of fun for me.  It was my first year living in Dallas after graduating from law school, and a few of my law school friends came up and went to the game with me.  We all had a "what the fuck just happened" reaction when the Sooners quickly went up 17-0, then proceeded to watch the Longhorns administer a beatdown for the remaining three quarters.  I just now looked at the box score, and forgot that we had 225 rushing yards and 328 passing yards against OU that day.

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