As deflating as this defeat feels at the moment, only good can come from it. I know you don't believe me. Heck, I barely believe myself. If we had scraped through today and pulled off the W, the same problems would have resurfaced next week in Dallas anyway. Would you have preferred seeing it for the first time against OU? I think not.

We needed a wake up call. Some of you might say we already got those the last 3 weeks when we sputtered against mediocre opposition. But those weren't really wake up calls. They were merely opportunities for us to call for Greg Davis' head, while backslapping ourselves on the commendable performance of the D - all the while secretly hoping that this team would somehow pull off a miracle and bring back a championship.

We needed this defeat. Needed it to remind ourselves that we are very beatable. Needed it to remind ourselves to keep our feet firmly on the ground. Needed it to remind ourselves that the last few seasons with Vince, Colt, Jordan, Earl and company were truly special.

Perhaps this is the spark we needed to get rid of this nonsensical idea of forcing a running game when we simply do not have the personnel to make it work. Here's to the Texas passing offense of season's past we all yearn for. Our problems are very fixable. We do have a QB with a cannon for an arm. We just need to freaking stick to what we do best! And once our offense is able to stay on the field long enough to get those downs, we won't be asking our defense to be on the field for literally the whole game - which is what happened today.

I still believe this team has it in them to win the Big 12. And I still believe we have one of the best defenses in the nation. These are quality players. As fellow Longhorns, we need to stand by them in the good times and the bad. We ought not to jump the gun and call this season a failure just yet, for we don't yet know how this team will respond to a defeat. It may get worse. Or it might just have been the best thing that could have possibly happened to us. The pressure's off now. No one expects anything from this team anymore. For a young group, that's truly a blessing.

May the rest of the season be a pleasant surprise.

Hook 'Em!