The Sunday morning newspapers and the television sports news reports featured raves of Vince Young's impressive performance in the Longhorns' 42-17 victory over Colorado.
Exactly one year to the day prior, a segment of fans, and a lot of reporters, were projecting his impending move to wide receiver.
In the Missouri game on Oct. 16, 2004, Young had struggled so much that the Longhorns able senior, Chance Mock, had been summoned from to the rescue from the bullpen.
What happened in the week that followed will grow with time in Longhorn lore. There will be many versions of the story. But the end result was, when Vince Young took the field in Lubbock against Texas Tech, a different player emerged.
"We had seen it in practice," recalls Mack Brown. "We just needed him to take that guy to the game."
Greg Davis put together a video of Young's best plays at Texas, as well as some clips from his high school career. Young shared with the coaches the plays, and the comfort level, he felt best with. When Texas boarded its charter plane to Lubbock, there was new excitement for the young quarterback.
He was an effective 10-of-15 passing for 142 yards, and he added 158 yards rushing and scored four touchdowns. Vince Young, quarterback, was on his way.
The culmination of that metamorphosis came in the Rose Bowl, when Young was the Most Outstanding Offensive Player in the 38-37 victory. The doubters, however, still remained. Sure, he could run. That's where the magic was. But could he really pass.
In his book, Championship Football, the late D. X. Bible discusses the difference in a passer and a thrower. Passers, he says, are born, not made.
Bible also says, "If a player throws the ball freely and accurately, a coach should not be concerned with how he holds the ball. As with all things fundamental, results matter."
Saturday against Colorado, the results spoke for themselves. On a spectacularly brilliant Autumn day in Austin, Vince Young was spectacularly brilliant. And if anybody had any questions about his ability as a quarterback, he answered them. His first half statistics were incredible. He completed 16-of-18 passes for 258 yards and one touchdown, and rushed for 48 yards and three TDs.
It was, said Young, like one of the team's summer workouts in Austin, where Young worked evenings in seven-on-seven drills developing the core of the Texas passing game on humid evenings at Denius Fields.
When it was over, Young had hit on 25-of-29 passes for 336 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 58 yards and three TDs. He completed passes to seven different teammates.
He was, officially, no longer a running quarterback. He was a quarterback who could also run.
But while the team's emotional leader, Young, was stealing the headlines, the Texas defense was playing a superlative game as well, limiting the Buffaloes to 45 yards rushing and 192 passing.
The victory over Colorado extended Texas' Big 12 mark to 36-1, excluding the Oklahoma game, over the last five plus seasons. It extended the Longhorns' home league winning string to 21 straight games, dating back to a loss to Kansas State in 1999. That, by the way, is the only Big 12 loss Texas has suffered at home in Brown's tenure at Texas. It was Texas' 13th straight victory, good for third on the longest winning streak list, dating back to 1968-69.
The victory, coupled with Florida State's loss to Virginia, also moved Mack Brown to No. 1 in the NCAA's winningest coaches over the last 10 years. Brown is now 96-22, good for a winning percentage of .814, while FSU coach Bobby Bowden is 95-22, a .812 winning percentage.
The Longhorns' victory over No. 24 Colorado was UT's seventh straight over a ranked opponent.
Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium continues to be one of the toughest venues in college football for an opponent. Since Brown came to Texas in 1998, the Longhorns are 41-3 at home. Texas has won 13 straight in Austin, and is 34-1 at home since the 1999 season.
But the Colorado game left no room for resting, on two fronts. First, unbeaten Texas Tech comes into Austin Saturday, and second, if Texas can win the Big 12 South Division, the Buffaloes likely will be waiting as the North champion for a rematch in the league championship game in Houston.
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