ROOT FOR THE HOME TEAM

EVEN AMONG A GROUP OF NATIONALLY CONTENDING TEAMS, FOOTBALL REMAINS THE KEY TO TEXAS’ SUCCESS.

In the past, whenever I traveled — whether my trips took me to Los Angeles, Manhattan, Germany or even Grand Junction, Colo. — I could always spot someone bearing the Longhorn silhouette on a hat or shirt. These days, not so much. Even at the Austin airport, you need to work hard to count at least a dozen people dressed in Texas garb. Fridays may be the one exception — if the Longhorns are playing on the road.

At one time, a group of folks stood around The Longhorn Store’s television screens to watch the never-ending loop of Vince Young beating the USC defense to the corner of the Rose Bowl …

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end zone, and the baseball team dog-piling near the pitcher’s mound after winning another national championship. Those DVDs now seem dated — memories that fans need to stash away. They belong with the 1963, ̓’69 and ̓ ’70 national football titles, Kevin Durant’s one season on the 40 Acres, and the glove that Roger Clemens threw in the air after beating Alabama to win the 1983 College World Series.

But fans can find hope in the Longhorn teams capable of making their mark on the national scene — most notably Jerritt Elliott’s volleyball team, Eddie Reese’s men’s swim squad  and Bev Kearney’s women’s track team.

Every year, these three squads vie for the national championship. But success in any one of these sports creates little commotion. T-shirt sales will likely remain the same and Texas will draw little attention  from National Merit Scholars. To regain the national spotlight, the Texas football team must end the season as a big time winner. I’m not talking about an 8-5 season followed by a trouncing by Oklahoma, with the hope of a nine-win campaign in 2012. Texas needs to dominate the competition and play in a BCS bowl game every season.

Not that long ago, playing in a bowl game was a given — not an exception. Our gridiron heroes set the pace for achievement and help sell the University of Texas. Fair or not, when the Longhorn football team fails to perform at the highest level, the entire perception of the university suffers. That’s quite a burden to place on the shoulders of young men, as well as those who coach them.

But this is Texas. If the weight of that burden is too heavy, there are other places to play and coach football. Expectations on the 40 Acres are as big as the perception of the  Lone Star State. The Longhorns will never fall into obscurity — the Longhorn Network assured us that — but being mediocre is worse than being irrelevant. And with the spotlight always upon Texas’ efforts, rebuilding remains questionable. We’re reminded every day that “The Eyes of Texas are upon you.”

If the Longhorns can’t maintain consistency on the field, only those within the confines of Austin will care about the program. The attention around the nation — that Texas officials crave and expect — will eventually disappear.

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