Top 4 Texas bowl games you've seen - and #1 doesn't count

[Disco Missile 456]

1. Duh. LenDale was on the sideline. VY got the corner. Confetti.
    
2. 2005 Rose Bowl, 38-37 over Michigan.
   Not only was this a good game, it was a message to the world.
   We went 11-1 in 2004 with our only loss a 12-0 demoralizing clusterfuck against OU. Mack Brown had been our HC since '98 and despite some top recruiting classes and NFL talent all over the roster, he hadn't won a conference champ or made a major bowl (3 Cotton Bowls and 3 Holiday Bowls). Robbing Cal of their first Rose Bowl in 5 decades aside, it was exciting for us to get an invite to a top-tier bowl against #10 Michigan led by the Wolverine's own version of Mack Brown, Lloyd Carr. 
   The entire game was great. Everything you would want from two heavyweights going toe-to-toe. It was all back and forth until Michigan went up 10 late in the third. VY took back the lead with a big run with 5 minutes left in the 4th, only to have Henne lead the Wolverines right back for a FG to put UM up, 37-35 with 3 minutes left in the game.
   Now we know - NOW - that there was nothing to fear. VY was the QB. But we didn't really know that THEN. But he took us down the field on an amazing drive, and as time expired, Dusty Mangum kicked a FG to secure the win. VY said we're back. And we were.
    
3. 2009 Fiesta Bowl, 24-21 over Ohio State.
   Another great game, and another message to the world. And that message was FOU, F Switzer, F ESPN, F the BCS, and Colt is for real y'all.
   By 2008 we were re-established at the top of the food chain. Mack was in his run of beating OU - in 2008 he got his best win, a 45-35 trouncing of a #1 OU team led by Sam Bradford -  and for a while we were the #1 team in the country. Then there was a night in Lubbock where the last few minutes of ball game featured a lot of spectacular events, none of which went our way. It's the only time I didn't like Mike Leach. Texas Tech would go on to get blown out by OU, and OU would score 60+ points on all of their remaining opponents to become the highest scoring offense in FBS history and the total fucking sweetheart darling of the national media. And they also got the nod to play Teebus and Urban Meyer in the Orange Bowl for the BCS championship. We were relegated to the Fiesta Bowl.
   Despite the letdown, we didn't take the night off. We were down 6-3 at the half but came out in the 2nd half and scored two TDs to go up 17-6. Unfortunately, that woke up Terrelle Pryor and the more physical Ohio State offense, and they scored 15 straight to go back up 21-17 with just 2 minutes left in the game.
   *side note - I still remember getting texts on my RAZR from a childhood friend/Sooner fan, talking shit at this point in the game*
   That's when Colt McCoy remembered that he was a magical player with two magical receivers and enough was MFing enough. We dinked and dunked and McCoy scrambled down the field until we were sitting on the OSU 25 yard line with :20 on the clock. That's when McCoy hit a little slant to a slot receiver named Quan who slipped through the overaggressive OSU secondary and jumped into the end zone with :16 left. 
   Ball game, bitches.
   Oooh, and also OU got punked by Urban and the Gators as the "highest scoring offense in history"® got held to 14 points and Teebus became a national...something.
   This game put us as the preseason #2 team in 2009 behind #1 Alabama, but I digress. 
   
   If Colt stayed healthy we woulda won.
   
   Runners up:
   2003 Cotton Bowl, 35-20 over LSU. Not a great game but a great win over the Tigers and Nick Saban.
   1999 Cotton Bowl, 38-11 over Mississippi State. Again, not an instant classic, but long before SECSECSEC MSU was an ascendant program led by Jackie Sherrill, who once had his team watch a bull get castrated before a game vs Texas, and it was the first big bowl win for Texas in almost 20 years. It bought Mack some trust and security that would pay off for us some years later.
    
4. 2019 Sugar Bowl, 28-21 over Georgia.
   Whatever this game means for the future, it means a lot RIGHT NOW. Texas has been wandering the desert for a decade. We haven't been winning, recruiting, or playing well for far too long. We're a blue blood that lost everything on some bad investments and we've been getting by on our name alone. It is known.
   Georgia is an established SEC power, dominating the SEC East and giving Bama a run for their money. Mark Richt and Kirby Smart are both good coaches who have had this team playing at a high level. They have good players, stability, top recruiting classes, and everything we haven't had for going on 10 years. And, they were 'supposed to be' in the Playoffs this year. And that idea had credence after Notre Dame and OU got blasted and outclassed in their games.
   Texas came limping in after a bad loss to OU in the Big 12 title game. We were ranked #15. Georgia was #5. We were 12 point underdogs. No one was picking us to win.
   But Texas came in with a plan and a chip on our shoulder and took it right to Georgia in a way no one expected. In a way no one has been able to all year.
   A few seconds into the 2nd quarter, it was 17-0 Texas and Georgia had 8 yards of offense. 
   Tom Herman isn't a well-liked coach (I like him tho ❤️). He's gruff and abrasive, and he's prone to making wild claims and weird excuses. He's in-your-face arrogant. But he's also driven, a perfectionist, has a strong work ethic, and he loves playing a tough, physical brand of football. In the 2017 Texas Bowl Texas blasted a favored Missouri team and shut down a high-powered offense that no SEC team was able to stop. He also mocked their QB. 
   In his second year, TH was (was) still on a hot seat after a 7-6 season in which the proverbial cake was said to be baked. Herman was given near zero slack from the Texas media and much of the fan base. He needed to win, yesterday. Texas made some big strides and made the Big 12 CCG, but fell short. Still, by the end of the year most of the critics were biting their tongues.
   The Sugar Bowl invite was a nice surprise, but #5 Georgia was a college football behemoth and we were a rickety rebuild with some pieces missing. The fact that Herman and his Horns dominated them for 4 quarters (28-21 looks closer than it was) was a total surprise. And a welcome one at that. This may be the 2005 Rose Bowl all over again - Sam seemed to think so - but even if it's not, it's a HUGE win for a Texas program that so desperately wanted to reassert themselves at the top of the food chain.
   "We're baaaack" - Sam Ehlinger

*1000th post!