There's an old joke that folks around Texas use to tell, "How many Longhorns does it take to change a lightbulb? Answer: "10" : 1 to change the bulb, and 9 to sit around reminiscing about the good ole days."

That was the general attitude about Longhorn football for decades after Darryl Royal and the 'Horns won their last national championship in 1970. However, once Vince Young came around and helped UT to its first national championship in over 35 years, one would think that attitude would go away. Two years removed from UT's championship, we're already seeing the same attitude creep back into college football fans. The good ole days of Vince Young, and the 'horns can't win without Vince.

The idea that the Longhorns only beat USC because of Vince Young does have a measure of validity to it. However, the rest of that Longhorn team is grossly under appreciated. It's rare that a champion doesn't have at least one special star on it that leads them to the promised land. But, even rarer is the team that wins a championship strictly on the shoulders of a single player. The last time I looked, it wasn't Vince Young who stopped USC on 4th and 2 in the 4th Quarter. It wasn't Vince Young who had an incredible interception in the endzone. It wasn't Vince getting open and receiving his own passes for 15-20 yards on 3rd and very long to keep a drive alive. For all of Vince's fantastic skill and freakish abilities, he was just the crown jewel of a team that was already studly. The 2005 Longhorns had to live in the shadow of the unbeatable #1 Trojans all year long, and having been in that shadow caused many to not notice what a talented team was playing in Austin that year. If you dissected the 2005 Longhorns by the numbers, you'd see that Vince neither led college football nor the Big 12 in total yards, passing yards, efficiency, rushing, TDs, etc. However, what you would find is a team full of Longhorns that were scoring TDs in every way imaginable at a clip of 50+pts/game. Special teams, defense, and every skill player outside of Vince were routinely taking the pigskin to pay dirt. So, even though Vince was definitely the key catalyst to making the whole team work, he was not the lone, single reason for the Longhorns' success. So I wish people would stop saying how the 'horns and Mack Brown can only with Vince.

So, this leads me to my main point in all of this. The talent on this year's Longhorn team is every bit as good if not better than the 2005 team. I think this year's team is as good as any other team that stands a chance to go to the national championship game and win it. I think where the Longhorns might fall short this year is that 1) the Big 12 is stronger this year, 2) Gene Chizik is no longer the defensive coordinator, and 3) Greg Davis' play calling seems to get more conservative by the second. This team does not necessarily need a Vince Young type to win a championship, but it does need to gel better and quickly to win it all.

It's definitely true that every army needs a field general and every team needs a leader. I won't deny that the Longhorns may be in need of leadership like Young's. I think Colt McCoy could blossom into that kind of leader over the next few years, but I don't think he's quite there yet. I just don't want football critics continuing to say that UT only won because of Vince, and that they'll never be able to do it again until there's another Vince. This is absurd, because whether Vince had played for UT, USC, Army, or Rice, he'd still have been a freak of nature, and he was truly one of a kind freaky. The difference between Young's talent and Reggie Bush's talent was madein the performances of the teams as a whole. The teams determined the outcomes of the championship game. Does anyone ever say that USC will never win another championship because they no longer have Leinart or Bush? It's a new season with new teams. Maybe Vince's team would not be able to beat this year's USC team. Maybe this year's champion would not be able to beat Vince's 2005 team. Things just fall out strangely every year, but I'm usually always confident that the best team was eventually the champion.

I do happen to think that the 2005 USC Trojans were a more talented team than the Longhorns, but I think the Longhorns and Vince played the better game for the championship that year. And, that's the game that matters most. So maybe a more accurate description of Vince's importance to the Longhorns was in his ability to play up to the big games. Yes, the Longhorns will never have another Vince, but neither will anyone else really. Whatever championship the Longhorns win in the future will depend more upon the all-around performance of the team, and not just a single individual. However, I do think that 2005 team deserves more credit outside of just being the championship that Vince won. Look at the numbers for the 2005 TEAM through the season, and tell me that was all Vince.

No one loves Vince more than I, and I had the extreme pleasure of being at the Rose Bowl that wonderful evening (although I was in the opposite endzone of his winning run :-( ). However, I think it's time to move on, and be optimistic about the Longhorns who are playing now and for the future. UT's recruiting is top-notch as always, and UT is still winning 10+ games a year. Vince can join Earl and Ricky in the hall of greatness for UT, and will always be spoken in the same circles with them. Let's look forward to the next legend who will soon join their ranks, and hopefully bring another championship like Vince did.

(How many championships did Adrian Peterson win?) Hook'em!