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There’s an argument to be made that the 2000s under Mack Brown, not the 1960s under Darrell Royal, are the best decade in the history of the Texas football program. Only Boise State tallied more wins than the Longhorns’ 110 victories from 2000-09 among FBS clubs. Texas only won two conference championships during the decade. But the Longhorns suffered an upset loss in the Big 12 title game in 2001 and were denied rightful entry to the 2008 game (it’s hard to explain to someone who wasn’t around or didn’t follow college football at the time that a system of computer rankings rendered Texas’ 45-35 win over Oklahoma in arguably the best in the history of the series moot). The Longhorns won at least nine games in each of those 10 seasons, including nine consecutive seasons (2001-09) with at least 10 wins. Texas was a legitimate national championship contender in three of those seasons (2001, 2004 and 2008) and finished no worse than 12th in any final Associated Press Top 25. The 2005 national championship team is one of the best in college football history. The argument for Vince Young as the greatest college football player of his era (or any other, for that matter) is strong. Young, Brown, Derrick Johnson and Michael Huff are in the College Football Hall of Fame. The likes of Cedric Benson, Justin Blalock, Quentin Jammer, Casey Hampton, Colt McCoy, Brian Orakpo, Jordan Shipley and Rod Wright helped the program gain and maintain national relevance for those 10 seasons. If the 2008 squad had its date with destiny against Florida, or if McCoy played the entirety of the title game against Alabama the following season, a second national championship in the decade might be enough for the 2000s to unseat the 1960s as the golden age of Longhorn football. Still, in this discussion, second place isn’t a bad place to be, if that's where one chooses to rank those 10 seasons. *** The No. 60 is chock-full of Longhorn legends, especially with Derrick Johnson wearing it in his last game at DKR (a 26-13 win over Texas A&M, which helped secure a Rose Bowl berth against Michigan at the end of the 2004 season). With that said, the discussion on the greatest No. 60 in school history starts and stops with Tommy Nobis. Recognizing Nobis on Tuesday, which coincides with the 60-day mark until Texas kicks off the 2026 season, puts into perspective how special the No. 60 has been on the Forty Acres and caps off an incredible run of Longhorn legends who wore a jersey number in the 60s. For starters, the 60s are bookended with Nobis and Dan Neil, a College Football Hall of Fame nominee and two-time first-team All-American (1995 and 1996) who wore No. 69 during his four seasons (1992-96), is impressive. What’s even more eye-opening is that if Neil is inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (he’s been on the ballot three times, most recently in 2025), he’d be the fourth Longhorn offensive linemen in the Hall of Fame who wore a jersey number in the 60s, joining Bud McFadin (No. 61), Bob McKay (No. 62) and Harley Sewell (No. 66). *** If you’re trying to assemble the Mount Rushmore of Texas offensive linemen, you could do it entirely of guys who wore jersey numbers from 60 through 69. Along with the three College Football Hall of Fame inductees and Neil, Blalock was a two-time All-American who started all 51 games in his Longhorn career. Blalock’s primary competition to be considered the best No. 63 in school history is Mike Williams, a consensus All-American in 2001 (like Doug Dawson was in 1983, when he wore No. 66 and was a captain for a team that came painfully close to winning a national championship) who was the fourth overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft. Jake Majors' (No. 65) school record 57 starts over parts of his five seasons (2020-24) could be in jeopardy with five-for-five eligibility looming. Although Majors and Lyle Sendlein (No. 62) wouldn’t be considered for the Mount Rushmore, their names would be up for discussion when picking a center for an all-time Texas offensive line. *** There was more debate than I anticipated over which all-time No. 64 the OTF community preferred: Casey Hampton (1996-2000) or Kasey Studdard (2002-06)? While I’m a Studdard fan then, now and forever, it’s hard to put Hampton’s dominance into its proper context for those who were too young to remember the two-time first-team All-American’s career or didn’t see one of the best defensive line products the state of Texas has ever produced. Hampton led the Longhorns in total tackles with 101 in 1999 and 78 in 2000 (tied D.D. Lewis for the team lead), making him the first Texas defensive lineman to lead the team in tackles in consecutive seasons. A nose tackle who was constantly facing double- and triple-teams, Hampton recorded 39 of his 54 career tackles for loss over his last seasons and was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2000. The best example of what Hampton meant to the Longhorns (and later the Pittsburgh Steelers, the franchise with which Hampton won two Super Bowls, was named to Pro Bowls and was voted to their all-time team in 2007 after he was picked in the first round of the 2001 draft) came in the wake of a 64-13 loss to Oklahoma in 2000. A flustered Brown told Royal that he felt the team quit in the loss to the Sooners, while singling out how hard Hampton played, Royal let Brown know that his assumption wasn’t correct. "Teams don't quit,” Royal said. “Some players may have given up, and it may look like that. But some of your guys may have gone out and played the best games of their careers." View full news story

The Big 12 eats its boogers

What is a Big 12? Never heard of her.

My brother…..

Valid point, but for me, the dominance of the early Wishbone years overrides the dip.

The one thing that holds us back is the 3 year period of 65-67. 6-4, 7-4, 6-4 is a splotch on an otherwise dominant run.

Except for 66 and 67 , we were in the hunt for a Natty. Our 61 , 65 and 68 team could beat anyone. One of the few advantages of being old, got to live through the sixties. Country was a mess but Horns bailed me out.

Now that the USA is out I'm all in rooting for the Vikings from Norway

Yes definitely. Easton Autrey, Beau Peterson will compete for an INF spot. arms include Cooper Harris, Trey Rangel and James Jorgensen.

I wanted to make sure I got this up before we crossed the 60-day threshold in our countdown to kickoff.

I'm fascinated by Coach Royal's run in the 1960s and into the 1970s. If you haven't had a chance to watch the Wishbone documentary that ESPN ran last year, it's a must-watch for Texas fans, college football fans or football fans in general. As special as the 2000s were under Mack, Coach Royal did the best job of maximizing what Texas could be at its peak.

Darrell Royal, who would’ve celebrated his 102nd birthday on Monday, led Texas through what, to this point, is the golden age of football on the Forty Acres. The 1960s were so good to Texas that the Longhorns, not Alabama, should’ve been CBS Sports' pick for college football’s best program during Royal’s first full decade on the job. The sport was a different animal when Royal led the Longhorns to an 86-19-3 record, winning the Southwest Conference five times and claiming national championships at the conclusion of undefeated seasons in 1963 and 1969 than it was in the 2000s when Mack Brown won 110 games (the second-most FBS wins in the decade) and a national championship. It’s on a different planet today, with Steve Sarkisian (whose squad kicks off the 2026 season in 60 days) looking to break through after guiding Texas to a 35-8 record during a three-season run that included two trips to the College Football Playoff and a conference title. Still, what Royal’s program accomplished during the 1960s goes beyond the record book. That includes a few painfully close calls that would’ve added more hardware to the trophy case had things broken a different way. The 1961 Longhorns were ranked No. 1 and in the midst of an undefeated season when a controversial hit on All-American running back Jimmy Saxton in a 6-0 loss to TCU derailed what could’ve easily been a run to Royal’s first national title. Texas settled for a 10-1 record and a No. 3 ranking in the final Associated Press poll, scoring a 12-7 win over Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl. It was one of four seasons during the decade in which the Longhorns recorded a top-five finish without claiming a piece of the national title. Bear Bryant’s Crimson Tide benefited from the misfortune of Royal’s Texas teams more than anyone, splitting the 1961 national championship with Ohio State and sharing the crown with Arkansas in 1964. Although the Razorbacks snapped the Longhorns’ 15-game winning streak with a 14-13 win in Austin en route to an undefeated season, the AP and UPI ranked Alabama No. 1 at the end of the regular season, making the Crimson Tide national champions. Texas made its case to be considered the nation’s best on New Year’s Day, when Tommy Nobis led the defensive charge that denied Alabama’s Joe Namath the end zone on fourth-and-goal late in a 21-17 victory in the Orange Bowl, which was college football's first-ever prime-time telecast. Again, the Longhorns settled for a 10-1 record and a No. 5 final ranking from the AP voters. But it’s what Royal and Emory Bellard did in 1968 that makes Texas the team of the decade. Implementing the Wishbone after an underwhelming three-year stretch during the 1965 (6-4), 1966 (7-4) and 1967 (6-4) seasons, the decision to put James Street under center during what would eventually be a 31-22 loss to Texas Tech (and an 0-1-1 start to the 1968 season) kickstarted one of the most memorable runs in college football history. Texas went 9-0 with Street in the driver’s seat of the Wishbone, including a 36-13 rout of Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl to finish with a 9-1-1 record and a No. 5 finish in the final AP rankings, the first year in which the poll conducted a vote after bowl games were played (the UPI followed suit in 1974). Ending the decade with 20 consecutive wins (part of a school-record 30-game winning streak), having President Richard Nixon proclaim the Longhorns as national champions after the historic 15-14 win in Fayetteville over No. 2 Arkansas and handing Notre Dame a loss in a Cotton Bowl game that marked the end of the Fighting Irish’s 45-year self-imposed bowl ban should be more than enough for Texas to secure the “Team of the Decade” label. The way Bellard and Royal changed offensive football forever with the birth of the Wishbone, however, is what puts the Longhorns over the top as the sport’s top dog in the 1960s. Long after Bryant and Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer adopted the offense to revive their respective programs, Mike Leach and Hal Mumme studied the Wishbone while developing what would eventually become the Air Raid offense. "One thing with the Air Raid that's very important is to make sure all the skill positions touch the ball," Leach told ESPN's Jake Trotter in 2018. "In the Wishbone, all the skill positions touch the ball. All the skill positions contribute to the offensive effort. From the Wishbone, we drew the concept of distribution." Almost 60 years after the Wishbone took the game by storm, its influence on modern-day football adds further credence to the idea that from the start of Royal's fourth season through the end of his 13th, Austin, Texas, was home to the best program in college football. View full news story

Do we have any high school signees that could impact our lineup?

Thanks CJ, I must have missed this earlier today.

That’s a little harsh. At least the USMNT made it past the first round

I would think the addition of Goldenetz is in a way its own draft insurance policy for 2027.

Pretty sure they had assurances last year also. The MLB draft is this weekend so it won’t take long to find out if he gets drafted. Last year Moroknek committed to Texas on June 12, 2025 and Freeman committed on June 14….a full month before the draft.

It’s crazy i thought he would kill it at USC, But he’s been thoroughly exposed. His programs can’t field a competent defense to save their lives, Kind of like lane kiffin. I don’t fal for all of the lane kiffin hype. He’s the Lincoln riley of the SEC to me. Five years at ole miss before he won a ranked road game.

a&m has way more fake championship trophies though .

Their only argument against this would be last year with that soft ass schedule and getting the belt once again from that team in Austin that “couldn’t even beat florida”

If Norway makes the final I will eat a corn dog with mayo.

I don't think there could be a more accurate comparison!