Never Forget
by Peter Bean on Sep 12, 2007 11:05 PM CDT
in Texas Longhorns Football
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PrintTen years ago today, the Texas Longhorn football nation collectively went on life support. We laid there, on our death beds, choking on the exhausts of what was perhaps the most humiliating loss in school history.
Yes, 10 years ago today was Rout 66.
I had almost forgotten this dark, dark moment in Texas football history until an old friend emailed me with a letter titled: "Where is Skip Hicks now?"
After some deliberation, we decided that this moment must not be forgotten. That only through remembering the pain of the past could we be strong in the future.
Just remember this nuclear moment in Texas football history the next time you want to tear your hair out because Jamaal Charles isn't being used quite as well as he could be.
It could be worse. It could be far, far worse. Never forget.
I've chosen my own way to remember the mourning of that dark, dark day - pictured below. Take a moment to mourn in the manner that best suits you.
--PB--
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i seem to have blocked most of this
out of my memory, but i just clicked on the link to the box score and looked at the stats and was amazed. UCLA only ran up 90 more offensive yards than Texas. What was the difference? Well, UCLA sacked UT 8 times, but that was probably mostly a factor of Texas throwing so much to come back.
Then I looked at turnovers. I remembered it being a turnover-filled game, but Texas has 8 freaking turnovers! 4 fumbles and 4 interceptions! UCLA turned it over exactly 0 times.
7 fewer turnovers and we might have been in that game....
ughhhhhhh no you DIDN'T...
I can't believe it's only been 10 years and simulataneously, I can't believe how far we've come in just 10 years.
by cortexas on Sep 12, 2007 11:01 PM CDT reply actions
One things hasn't changed...
It was hot humid 93 degree day.
by rhoby13 on Sep 12, 2007 11:05 PM CDT reply actions
Oh gawd...
I used to live in the Simkins Dorm and around the end of the 1st half, I told my roommate, "I'm going to go get a drink from the concessions" WINK WINK NOD NOD and went back to the dorm to sulk in private. About 30 minutes later my roommate finally showed up realizing what I'd done. >_< </p>
Not as bad as the OU beatdowns, but hey, it at least started the ball rolling towards Macovik getting fired.
And heres the reason...
why my wife isnt such a huge UT football fan. This was the first game I took her to.
And we even stayed until The Eyes. I had to sing it with, at most, 10,000 of my closest friends-in-misery.
by the other Andrew on Sep 12, 2007 11:07 PM CDT reply actions
Mine too (or neither, I guess)...
Wife was 7 months pregnant with our first child - and she spent the entire second quarter under the stands pouring bottled water over her head. Grace of god or whatever - but we walked out of the stadium as halftime started and there was a lone taxi sitting right there. Got back to the hotel, showered and was laying on the bed in front of the tv and the AC by the time the 3rd quarter started.
It was my wife's last trip to Austin. What an awful, awful day.
66
Not to quibble too much, but shouldn't it be termed "Rout 66"?
I'll never forget sitting in the stands that day, and I always point to this game when someone starts bitching about Mack Brown.
what was the line in that game - anyone?
anybody know the line in that game - were we favored by ~ 10?
i watched all of that game on tv, but I still have no idea how it went so horribly awry.
perhaps it had something to do with 8 turnovers, but any insight would be greatly appreciated.
by cortexas on Sep 12, 2007 11:33 PM CDT reply actions
also, i notice that the LB in PB's photo...
looks less athletic than our DT's under Mack and it's not an illusion of melanin....
by cortexas on Sep 12, 2007 11:41 PM CDT reply actions
If the picture isn't enough to spike your memory
This might, I remember watching this and thinking what the f#ck am i going to do the rest of this season bc their obviously won't be ut football to watchhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp0cy...
At least we beat ou that year ...
... the only bright spot in a 4-7 season. I was in the Rose Bowl the following year for our rematch against UCLA. Lost that one 49-31, but at least we put up a fight. My next trip to the Rose Bowl was in 2006 ...
Definitely the low point
I was there at the game that day. It was an absolutely horrible experience. For me, going through this game helped make the championship game so special. When you live through something like the UCLA game...makes you really appreciate winning it all.
This game in particular (and also the Colorado and Virginia games) shows why so many of us still hold Phil Dawson as one of our favorite UT players.
Great post
I was just telling an ND fan the other day, trying to make him feel better, I have trouble walking away from the train wrecks. UCLA and UV I stayed the entire game while watching with strange fascination, because I just couldn't look away. Sometimes I stay to see the young guys for a glimpse of the future and a little hope. Other times I'm glued to my seat, because of some deeper hidden sadistic side of me that wants to stew and soak up the awful misery of the moment.
The last time I saw Cade McNown was at a grocery store on the north side of Chicago, literally the day the Bears finally traded him to Miami and shipped his Bruin ass out of town. It was a strange cosmic twist that one of the only Bear's players I've seen out in public was the man who had torn my heart out just a few years earlier. I guess he liked living on the near north side, so he could party and be close to the bar action.
Good riddance bitch!
When Michigan lost to App state
This game is the only thing I could compare it to. I remember saying that day that Mackovic should be fired immediately - that under no circumstances should a Texas team ever be beat that bad by anybody, especially at home.
Luckily I wasn't at that game, although I was at the game in 1989 where we lost to Baylor 50-7 at home
I Was There- And It Sucked Royally
We had more recruits there at that game than any other that year. It was a little awkward trying to recruit guys with that monstrosity going on before them. We mostly just said, "Well, at least you know you've got a shot at early playing time!"
Worst. Game. Ever.
Present and accounted for.
I stayed all the way to the end. The worst game I have been to. I expected to win going in and we were coming off the 1st big 12 championship. Huge disappointment does not begin to describe it. plus it was hot as hell.
me too...
I had just moved back to Austin for what I thought would be heaven on earth. Good job, back in Austin and the proud bearer of UT Football season tickets!
Anyone else remember the UCLA boosters that somehow managed to get permission to setup a big tent on what used to be an IM football field/now a new spiffy dorm across the street from the Stadium? It was total Cali-fied tailgating with wine glasses and smug looking left coast chumps all over. Some even had their tennis style UCLA sweaters drapped over their polos and Lacoste gear and it WAS a hot day. And I was just so sure we'd be making them pay and how much we were gonna beat that spread by...
I stayed to the end, partially in shock and up thru the last few minutes of the game sure we'd at least score a touchdown or two in junk time to make it look a bit less horrible than it was...[pause while shiver runs down my spine]
I agree totally with the post that said this is what you tell unreasonable dumbarse alum that bitch about ANYTHING under the Mack Brown era. Thankfully, what I felt then I see now in the eyes of young Aggies who speak wistfully of the good ol days under Jackie Sherrill days! Just imagine, the best era for them was when they won a Cotton Bowl or two....pshhhhuh!
Walton and Cherry?
I barely remember Richard Walton. Was he the regular QB or was Walton the 2nd string with the 1st string out for the game?
And we really had a backup QB named Marty Cherry? I have absolutely no recollection of him at all.
Cherry
was the one that quit to pursue a modeling career wasn't he?
Yup
Marty Cherry was the prettiest clipboard holder we ever had on the sidelines.
And he went off and modeled for A&F and then Paris, I believe.
More than you ever wanted to know ...
... about Marty Cherry. Curious about this post, I looked for a Google image. No luck, but found this, from a 1998 Dallas Morning News story:
Former Texas quarterback Marty Cherry didn't think anything could be more intimidating than walking down the tunnel of the Cotton Bowl for the Longhorns' annual clash with rival Oklahoma. Then he found himself in the company of supermodel Naomi Campbell as he was about to walk down the runway of the Versace fashion show in Milan, Italy, this summer.
"The runway is a lot more intimidating than the tunnel for Texas-OU," Cherry said. "In football, you have a helmet on and a bunch of players around you. On the runway, it's just you, and all the cameras and eyes are on you."
It may be one of the most bizarre audibles a college quarterback has made in recent history. But Cherry, a third-stringer for the Longhorns last year, managed to turn his lowest moment in sports into a very profitable modeling career and a possible venture into acting.
A square-jawed, aqua-eyed 22-year-old from Texarkana, Ark., Cherry bombed miserably when he entered what would become the Longhorns' worst-ever home loss, against UCLA in Week 2 of 1997.
Cherry threw incompletion after incompletion and had three turnovers - two interceptions and a fumble - that led to easy touchdowns for the Bruins.
Late in the game, which UCLA won, 66-3, an ABC camera honed in on Cherry as he watched dejectedly with his helmet off. The announcers joked that while he may not have been able to connect with his receivers, he would probably have no trouble finding a date with such an impressive mug.
Enter Bruce Weber, one of the world's top photographers of male models, who just happened to be catching the game on television.
And the rest is history. If you really want to know more, read on.
Walton
Walton was the starter his senior season in '98... but only for a little while. He got injured playing at UCLA, and that's when Major stepped in as a redshirt freshman. Walton came back off being injured after 3 or 4 weeks, but by then Major had done well enough to keep the starter spot.
Was this the game...
They flew the "Flush John and Dump Deloss" banner from a plane that flew over the stadium?
I was at that game and vaguely remember something like this happening, but it could just have easily been a dream/nightmare.
Oh my gosh
I had TOTALLY forgotten about that banner. I don't know if it was at this game, but that definitely happened.
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