The 2008 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Mack Brown, and played their home games in Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, which during 2006–2008 was undergoing renovations to improve older sections as well as to add extra seating capacity.
The team entered the season ranked 10th in the USA Today Coaches' Poll. They won their first four games to rise to number 5 in the national rankings. Texas began Big 12 Conference play on October 4, 2008 with a trip to Boulder, Colorado and a win over the Colorado Buffaloes. On October 11, 2008 they upset the number-one ranked Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl, in Dallas, Texas, in the 103rd Red River Shootout and Texas moved into the number-one spot in the polls the next day. One week later, defending the number-one ranking in a home game for the first time since 1977, the Longhorns beat the number-eleven ranked Missouri Tigers. The following day, Texas was ranked #1 in the first Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings released during the 2008 season. The next week, the Longhorns beat previously undefeated Oklahoma State, who were ranked #6 in the BCS at the time.
Texas lost a close road game against Texas Tech, who were undefeated at 8–0 and ranked #5 in the BCS ranking. As a result, the Longhorns fell to #7 in the Coach's poll while the Red Raiders rose to #3. Texas fell to #4 in the BCS Standings, keeping alive the possibility they could still play for the national championship if other top teams stumble. Next, the Longhorns won a home game against Baylor and a road-game against Kansas, who were previously ranked but had fallen out of the polls since losing to Texas Tech. Oklahoma defeated Texas Tech, which returned Texas to a #2 ranking in the BCS and created a three-way tie (Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma) in the Big 12 South.
The final regular-season opponent for Texas was in-state rival Texas A&M, part of the Lone Star Showdown. The Longhorns won 49–9, the largest margin of victory in the rivalry in 110 years. Despite this victory, Oklahoma moved past Texas in the BCS rankings. The three-way tie was resolved by the fifth tie-breaker so Oklahoma advanced to the Big 12 Championship instead of Texas. This was controversial since Texas had beaten both Oklahoma and Missouri (the Big 12 North champion) during the regular season. Texas finished out the season with a 24-21 win over Ohio State in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl.
Before the season
The Longhorns have enjoyed considerable success in recent seasons. Mack Brown's Longhorns won at least 10 games in each of the previous 7 seasons (2001–2007); that is the longest active streak in the nation. The 2004 team had the first Bowl Championship Series win for any Texas team and the 2005 team won the National Championship (the fourth for the Texas football program). The 2006 team finished with 10 wins, 3 losses, including a victory in the 2006 Alamo Bowl. They received a final-ranking of 13th in the nation by both the Associated Press AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches' Poll
Texas entered the 2007 season ranked third in the all-time list of both total wins and winning percentage. The 2007 team was ranked in the Top 10 by numerous pre-season polls. For instance, a pre-season ranking by ESPN writer Mark Schlabach had the Longhorns ranked eighth; Rivals.com had them at ninth. College Football News and Real Football 365 both had Texas ranked third in the pre-season. The Longhorns came into the season ranked fourth in both the Coaches' Poll and AP Poll. Texas started out 4–0, but with sloppy playing, edging out 4 unranked teams. Texas came particularly close to being upset when the beat unranked UCF, 38–35. Texas then suffered losses to Kansas State (41–21) and Oklahoma (28–21). Texas then surged back, winning five games in a row. At 9–2, they were poised to gain a BCS bowl berth. However, a 30–38 loss to Texas A&M dashed these hopes. The Longhorns finished the season 10–3 with a victory in the 2007 Holiday Bowl. The Longhorns were ranked tenth in the final AP poll and in the USA Today Coaches' Poll.
Five Longhorns were selected in the 2008 NFL draft: Limas Sweed (53rd pick), Jamaal Charles (73rd), Jermichael Finley (91st), Tony Hills (130th), and Frank Okam (151st). In addition, Brandon Foster, Marcus Griffin, Nate Jones and Derek Lokey agreed to sign free-agent contracts with NFL teams.
Both Jamaal Charles and Jermichael Finley skipped their senior year in order to enter the NFL early. The loss of Charles was a particularly hard blow to the team. Despite skipping his senior year, Charles ranks fourth on the list of total rushing yards by a UT player, behind Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson, and Earl Campbell, with 3,328 yards. Williams and Campbell each won the Heisman Trophy in their senior seasons. With Charles' departure, quarterback Colt McCoy becomes the leading returning rusher for the Longhorns. Tight end Jermichael Finley also declared he would forgo his senior season to enter the NFL.
Texas entered the 2008 season ranked number 11 in the AP Poll and number 10 in the Coaches' Poll.
Facilities and equipment Following the final home game of 2006, construction workers demolished the north end of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. This section was rebuilt to make the lowest seats closer to the field while adding luxury boxes and an upper-deck. The lower deck of the expansion was completed for 2007, and the upper deck and remaining renovations were ready for 2008. The modifications put the north end-zone seats thirty yards closer to the field of play. This results in several game day changes, such as Smokey the Cannon moving to the south end-zone near Bevo. Texas worked with Bluetooth SIG to deploy Bluetooth kiosks throughout the stadium. These kiosks will broadcast free game-day information to Bluetooth-enabled cell-phones in the stands.
For the second straight year in 2006–2007, Texas merchandise products were the top-selling products among clients of Collegiate Licensing Company.
Coaches In 2007, the University of Texas Board of Regents voted unanimously to raise head coach Mack Brown's salary by $300,000. This brings his annual compensation to $2.81 million and keeps him among the five highest paid coaches in the sport. The package also includes up to $3 million in bonuses, including "$100,000 if he wins the Big 12 Championship and $450,000 if he wins this year's national championship, as well as bonuses based on the percent of players who graduate." Brown's contract is good through the 2016 season and includes buy-out clauses should another school attempt to hire Brown.
Greg Davis is the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; As of 2008 Davis is in his eleventh season at Texas. In 2007, Duane Akina was the defensive co-coordinator along with Larry Mac Duff. Mac Duff left Texas at the end of the 2007 season and Akina was demoted to "Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Backs". The Longhorns hired Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator; he will also coach linebackers in 2008. Muschamp was previously defensive coordinator at Auburn and will make a $425,000 salary at Texas. Running backs coach Ken Rucker transferred to a newly created position with the athletic department where he will act as a liaison to high school athletic programs. On January 16, 2008 Texas replaced Rucker by hiring former Texas quarterback Major Applewhite.
On November 18, 2008, The University of Texas announced that Will Muschamp would eventually succeed Mack Brown as head football coach. They agreed in principle to increase Muschamp's salary to $900,000. There was no timetable set for Brown's departure, and both Brown and UT said they expected Brown to stay a long time. Austin American-Statesman commentator Kirk Bohls stated, "Muschamp's ascension conveys to fans and recruits that Texas values what it has now as one of the elite programs in the country and wants to maintain. This smart, bold move should bring coaching stability, sustained recruiting and possibly expanded recruiting into the Southeast and a continued framework for success."
Schedule
The primary source of schedule, attendance and box score information is the MackBrown-TexasFootball website.
Radio broadcast of Texas Longhorns football games is available on XM Satellite Radio channel 241.
Denotes the largest crowd to watch a football game in the state of Texas, at a Big12 Conference Stadium, or in the Southwest region. Denotes the largest crowd ever for the Sun Bowl Stadium. Originally scheduled for September 13, 2008, moved to September 27 due to Hurricane Ike. Denotes the largest crowd in the history of the Red River Shootout. Denotes the largest crowd to watch a football game in the state of Texas or at a Big12 Conference Stadium (beating record set at DKR earlier in 2008). Denotes the largest crowd to watch a football game in the state of Texas or at a Big12 Conference Stadium (beating record set at DKR earlier in 2008). Denotes the largest crowd ever at Jones AT&T Stadium. Denotes the largest crowd to watch a football game in the state of Texas or at a Big12 Conference Stadium (beating record set at DKR earlier in 2008).
Players The Longhorns are led by junior Quarterback Colt McCoy, who was the starting quarterback for the Longhorns in 2006 and 2007. Rivals.com named McCoy one of the top-10 quarterbacks going into the 2007 seasonRivals.com's QB Power Rankings, CNNSI.com, April 2, 2007. and he also made the Athlon Sports first-team All Big 12 McCoy has been the subject of much discussion regarding his chances of winning the 2008 Heisman Trophy. With the departure of running back Jamaal Charles for the 2008 NFL draft, McCoy became the leading returning rusher for the Longhorns.
McCoy has continued to be leading rusher in 2008; through the first 11 games of the season he rushed for a net 527 yards. The leading running backs were Vondrell McGee (347 yards), Chris Ogbonnaya (333) and Cody Johnson (234), all of whom have played in all 11 games. Despite injuries limiting him to only five games, freshman Foswhitt Whittaker rushed for 226 yards. McCoy had 3134 passing yards for a total of 3661 total yards of offense, which also led the team. The leading receivers through 11 games were Jordan Shipley (897 yards), Quan Cosby (872), Chris Ogbonnaya (458) and Lucas Hampton (428). The leading scorer was Hunter Lawrence, the place-kicker. He had made 9 of 11 field goal attempts and 52 of 52 extra points, for a total of 79 points contributed.
On defense, Roddrick Muckelroy led the team in tackles with 63 solo tackles and 39 assists. Brian Orakpo led the team in sacks, with 9 sacks for 79 yards. Ryan Palmer led the team in interceptions with 3, one of which he returned for a touchdown.
Besides Whittaker, several other Longhorns missed playing time due to sickness or injury. Cosby and Orakpo were both injured in the game vs. Texas Tech. Safety Blake Gideon suffered a head injury in the Kansas game but was expected to be healthy for the A&M game. Cornerbacks Aaron Williams missed the Kansas game with the flu and cornerback Chykie Brown missed three games due to injury. Tight end Luke Tiemann missed the season due to an ACL injury. Starting center Chris Hall missed time due to a knee sprain.