Longhorn seniors learned a lot from 2005 team

AUSTIN, Texas (AP)—As their undefeated season rolls on, the Texas Longhorns are hearing a lot of comparisons to the 2005 championship season when Colt McCoy and a handful of other fifth-year seniors were redshirt freshmen.

McCoy and the others watched a team that had come off an 12-1 season and BCS bowl win in 2004 return with a hunger for a title.

“They knew how good they became,” coach Mack Brown said of the transition from 2004 to 2005. “They knew they got in the mix, they kind of smelled it and felt it.”

The biggest lesson the current team could take from 2005 is how to finish the season, Brown said. For the 2005 squad, winning the Big 12 South and the league title to get the BCS championship were big goals—but they weren’t enough.

“You have to finish,” Brown said this week as No. 2 Texas (9-0, 5-0 Big 12) prepares for Saturday’s game at Baylor (4-5, 1-4). “You can’t just get there and feel proud of yourself.”

Texas this season has been ranked No. 2 or 3 all season. In 2005, the Longhorns were No. 2 all the way to the Rose Bowl.

“The (2005) thing worked perfectly for us because as much as you could run under the radar for No. 2 all year,” Brown said.

In 2005, quarterback Vince Young was a top Heisman contender just like McCoy is this season. After a tough 25-22 win over Ohio State, Texas rolled through the rest of the regular season, their closest victory being a 40-29 win at Texas A&M.

Texas’ closest game this season has been a 16-13 win over Oklahoma. The Longhorns won their next four by an average of 31 points.

McCoy, who stays in regular contact with Young, was the scout team quarterback in 2005. He said that team laid the “foundation” for how to pursue a championship.

“You learn a lot from Vince in how to handle the pressures from week to week. It’s hard to win games every week. To be a part of that, to see how they did it, to see how focused they were … you’ve got to do it every day, especially on Saturday,” McCoy said.

Texas’ lineup is peppered with starters who were redshirt freshmen in 2005.

Offensive linemen Chris Hall and Charlie Tanner and linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy, Texas’ leading tackler this season, all were part of the 2005 freshman class that had only 13 players and remains the smallest Brown has signed in 12 seasons.

“We’re the best class, too,” McCoy said. “Sometimes in the locker room we joke about the few and the proud. When we came in, nobody was talking about us.”

Also on the sideline that season was wide receiver Jordan Shipley, who was taking a medical redshirt season and is now a sixth-year senior.

“We’ll claim him,” McCoy said.