The official word out of the Longhorns is that Colt McCoy sustained a stinger during the opening drive of the game. Per team policy, the trainers do not allow a player to return from such an injury unless and until the player regains full movement in the shoulder/neck, and does so without pain. Colt did not meet the standards for re-entry to the game.
This is a pretty standard policy, and a good one. You can't be too careful with injuries involving the head, neck, and spine, and the correct policy is to err on the side of too cautious.
The better question is what Texas plans to do about its goal line situations. After three unsuccessful attempts to get the ball in the end zone, Texas went to the quarterback sneak as a last resort. In the second quarter, facing a similar goal-to-go situation, Greg Davis asked Jevan Snead to plunge into the end zone.
It may be that Texas has a solution to this problem, and it's one that, in retrospect, I probably should have been suggesting earlier. Ladies and gentlemen: Chris Ogbonnaya. I want to take you all the way back to the Rice game in September, when I wrote:
Every time I've watched Ogbonnaya run - starting all the way back in that first scrimmage open to the public - I've thought the same thing. He looks like Priest Holmes out there. A kid gets backed up on the depth chart, and you don't trust your eyes sometimes. Maybe we should have. He certainly had the most impressive one yard run that we've seen from a Texas tailback this year. Given how many failed opportunities we've had in that situation, this is no small thing. It might be time to see if he can be our short yardage back. Goodness knows we need one.
The answer to the goal line problems?
Longhorn fans should remember just how dominant Holmes was around the goal line, which is why none of us were particularly surprised when, given the right situation, he blossomed into one of the most outstanding scorers in the entire National Football League. Ogbonnaya's got a long way to go before he can be ably compared to Priest Holmes, but it sure looks like he deserves a shot.
--PB--