AUSTIN — Six wins in a row for the Texas football team and the Longhorns are in the top 10 in the nation with a 6-1 record. History shows us that a start like that should end with a great finish.
This after a rough start with the loss to Maryland six weeks ago.
“Week one will never define anybody," Coach Tom Herman said. "I imagine Penn State is not going to be defined by a home overtime escape or any other school that had a rough go of it in week one. How you grow from it and how you respond to it is going to be paramount. Being very honest with them. We have 11 more of these guaranteed to us, 11 one-game seasons and we've got to learn from it and move on.”
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Herman was right. A six-game winning streak for the first time since 2013. Texas hasn’t won seven in a row since 2009.
Over the last 60 years of Texas football, the Longhorns have started the season 6-1 or better 23 times. And they’ve played a “big bowl game” in 17 of those seasons.
- 2009, 7-0, National Championship Game
- 2008, 7-0, Fiesta Bowl
- 2006, 6-1, Alamo Bowl
- 2005, 7-0, Rose Bowl
- 2004, 6-1, Rose Bowl
- 2002, 6-1, Cotton Bowl
- 2001, 6-1, Holiday Bowl
- 1990, 6-1, Cotton Bowl
- 1984, 6-0-1, Freedom Bowl
- 1983, 7-0, Cotton Bowl
- 1981, 6-1, Cotton Bowl
- 1979, 6-1, Sun Bowl
- 1978, 6-1, Sun Bowl
- 1977, 7-0, Cotton Bowl
- 1975, 6-1, Bluebonnet Bowl
- 1972, 6-1, Cotton Bowl
- 1970, 7-0, Cotton Bowl
- 1969, 7-0, Cotton Bowl
- 1964, 6-1, Orange Bowl
- 1963, 7-0, Cotton Bowl
- 1962, 6-0-1, Cotton Bowl
- 1961, 7-0, Cotton Bowl
- 1959, 7-0, Cotton Bowl
The year 2006 was another 6-1 start for Texas and they seemed to be in the driver's seat to play in the Big 12 Championship Game until late-season losses to Kansas State and Texas A&M sent them to the Alamo Bowl. In 2001, Texas made it to the Big 12 Championship game against Colorado but were upset and sent to the Holiday Bowl. 1984 was the beginning of the end for coach Fred Akers as the Longhorns collapsed in November and then got embarrassed by Iowa in the Freedom Bowl. 1978 and 1979 had late-season losses that put Texas in the Sun Bowl in El Paso both years. And in 1975, Texas lost a top 10 battle with Texas A&M and fell to the Bluebonnet Bowl.
But every other year the Longhorns went on to either win the Southwest Conference and go to the Cotton Bowl, win the Big 12 to go to a major bowl, or be high enough in the national rankings (1964, 2002, 2004, 2008) to go to a major bowl game.
And national publications agree about the fate of this year’s team.
Nothing will be set until the first weekend of December, but Tom Herman has his team riding high and enjoying the week off. Texas enjoys a bye this week before taking on Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Texas Tech.
The Oklahoma State game will be a 7 p.m. game in Stillwater and will be televised on KVUE.