The Label “Underachiever” Doesn’t Quite Fit The Texas Longhorns, But No excuses Remain for 2013

By Trey Scott

Kansas State's Tre Walker thinks the Longhorns, with an 11-15 record in their three most recent Big 12 seasons, are pushovers.

"They kind of laid down a little bit," Walker said this week at Big 12 Media Days. "That's nothing to say about their character. That's just what they do."

Walker isn't alone in thinking the Longhorns are soft. That's the lazy, de facto label for a team that underachieves. Texas has an easy route toward disappointment. The national media, for the most part, is too bullish on the Longhorns. It's not realistic to expect them to scrape their standard year after year.

Think about it this way: Collectively, Texas is minus-66 since the AP's preseason Top 25 poll in 2002 (subtracting the final ranking of the year from the preseason slot). Special circumstances are made for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. 


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