Texas Longhorns Football Under Mack Brown - 2008 Season

2008 Season

Main article: 2008 Texas Longhorn football team

The 2008 Texas Longhorn football 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 defeated the number-one ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the 103rd Red River Shootout. It was the third UT win in four seasons, and the first time in Brown's tenure for either team to upset the other in the Red River Shootout.

Following the victory over OU, the Longhorns vaulted up the standings to first place in the AP, ESPN/USA Today, and Harris Polls. In their next game they secured a win over #11 Missouri in Austin, setting a new school, state, and conference attendance record in the process. It was the first time since 1977 for the Longhorns to play a home football game as the #1 team in the AP. They were ranked #1 in the first BCS standings of 2008. Texas defending the first place ranking by beating another top-ten team, the Oklahoma State Cowboys. They lost to Texas Tech in the final second of the game and fell to #4 in the BCS rankings.

The Longhorns entered 2008 as the third most victorious program in college football history, in terms of both total wins and win percentage. Only Notre Dame and the University of Michigan had won more games and a greater percentage of games played than Texas, On November 8, 2008, Texas' 45–21 victory over Baylor was the 829th win for the UT football program, which tied Notre Dame for 2nd in the list of total wins. Notre Dame lost later the same day, leaving the two teams tied. Texas pulled ahead of Notre Dame at the end of the regular season, to take sole possession of #2 on the list.

Texas won a road game against Kansas 35–7; ensuring their eighth consecutive season with ten or more wins per season. That is the longest active streak in the nation and it ties them with Miami (1985–92) for the second-longest streak of all-time.

Texas finished the 2008 regular season with a win over Texas A&M, the Longhorns longest running-rivalry oppoenent. The biggest margin of victory in the history of the series occurred when Texas beat A&M 48–0 in 1898. Texas nearly equaled that record this year by producing a 49–9 victory, the second-largest margin of victory for this rivalry series. It was also the 200th career win for Mack Brown, and it set a new attendance record for UT, the State of Texas, the Big 12 Conference, and the southwest region. This left Texas in a three-way tie (with Oklahoma and Texas Tech) for the Big 12 South championship, which created a controversy over BCS rankings and conference tie-breaking procedures.

Texas defeated Ohio State 24-21 in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl to finish the season 12-1.