Preview 2014 – Texas Longhorns

Harry · July 26, 2014

Is Texas going to be Michigan or Florida State?

Everyone loved Bobby Bowden, but his phenomenal run went a bit stale at the end as his Seminoles slipped off their ridiculously high perch. Jimbo Fisher took over and brought more youth and energy to the program, and it showed with elite recruiting class after elite recruiting class. The results have been tremendous with three trips to the ACC championship in four years, two conference titles, an Orange Bowl win and a national championship. All Florida State needed was a little remodeling.

All Michigan needed was a little rebuilding. Lloyd Carr won a national championship, came within a hair of playing for another in his second-to-last season, won nine games or more in five of his last six years, and won five Big Ten titles, but it wasn't enough. Maize and Blue fans wanted more, but to get there, it required a change in how things were done with a new style and a new look. So far, the move back into the world of the elite hasn't exactly been smooth.

And then there's Texas, a superpower program that's an interesting crossroads blend of 2009 Florida State and 2008 Michigan, needing a little bit of an attitude and energy burst, while at the same time needing to undergo an overhaul to go from very good to national championship great again after the Mack Brown era crawled across the finish line.

New head coach Charlie Strong appears to have realized this from the start, and now playtime is over at Texas.

He's doing everything possible to get the most out of the team he inherited, and his Longhorns are being put through the ringer to get the right mindset right away -- spring ball was far, far tougher this year. While Brown was fantastic at being the backslapper, Strong has come out as a butt-kicker.

Everyone liked Brown, and that was sort of the problem. His teams were never short on talent since losing the 2010 BCS championship to Alabama, but there just wasn't any nastiness -- it's hard to win with an offense that can't block and a defense that can't tackle. Brown's biggest issue over his final four years was an inability to get his teams to play up to its talent level -- a knock from the start of his time in Austin, but the results weren't there like they were early on.

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