Four days later, I guess I can finally step back off the edge of the cliff. After hours of avoiding ESPN, imagining the what-ifs and engaging in all that great sour grapes behavior that seemed to come so naturally, I finally managed to settle down and put things in perspective.

As heartbreaking as Thursday was, maybe it isn't the end of the world.

Two years ago, fresh off of an underwhelming season capped off by a drubbing of Rudy and the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Holiday Bowl, I remember thinking to myself that this Texas team was two years away from glory. I, like a lot of people, was ready to write off 2008 as another one of those '10-win rebuilding years'. Colt looked like he was struggling following his freshman campaign and needed another season to mature. We were losing guys like Frank Okam, Derek Lokey, Jamaal Charles, Jermichael Finley, Limas Sweed, Billy Pittman and Scott Derry (HAR HAR MADE YOU LOOK), so the talent pool looked to be shallower than normal until the young guys got up to speed. 2009, though, would be our chance before we lost another hunk of talent and spent the next few years building up for another run. This seemed reasonable, and I embraced it.

Then the next season rolled around. All of the sudden, Colt was a freakin superstar. The Great White Hype blossomed into greatness (I swear to God it feels like he was in school when I was a freshman in 02') and teamed up with Quan Cosby to make one of the most potent receiving duos in the nation. Will Muschamp turned our floundering Akina led defense into a well-oiled machine. All of the sudden, that write off season ended inches away from a national championship and a BCS bowl win. And that wasn't even supposed to be our good year.

Then, 2009 lived up to its billing until Colt's shoulder gave way just five plays in and crushed our dreams of another Rose Bowl triumph. 

Yet, I can't look back at my projections after the Holiday Bowl and I can't help but smile. Yeah, Texas lost on Thursday. There's no way to sugarcoat that. But, the more I think about it and read what others think about it, there is more than enough to get excited about. Turns out, there's no need to compromise and write anything off as a 'rebuilding year'.

Item No. 1 -- Garrett Gilbert grew from a 19-year-old kid to a f'ing Mike Gundy-esque man right before our eyes. As pointed out in burnt in ny's eloquent analysis, this kid played beyond his years in a situation that was flat out impossible and came within three points of breaking the world record for most amount of poontang acquired by a college freshman in a 48 hour period. What we saw on Thursday night was something special -- the kind of stuff that goes down into Texas football lore. I still remember the first time I saw Vince play back when I was in school against New Mexico State. It was breathtaking the talent he brought on the field and you couldn't help but think the kid was going to be special. This, though, was way different. VY had his growing pains before be became a deity. Colt faced his trial by fire against Ohio State as a freshman in the friendly confines of DKR after working with the first team for months. Gilbert stepped into the national title game against a great defense with no first-team experience and performed better. Something tells me the pregame jitters for Rice next year aren't going to be that bad.

Item No. 2 -- Burnt in ny put this much more eloquently than I ever could, but I was actually impressed with Greg Davis and his handling the crisis on Thursday. I've joined in happily with the bashing over the past few years, but I'm starting to think he's turned a corner here. Instead of the conservative, scared play calling we've all grown to love there were a number of times during that game where he stepped up to the plate and made the aggressive-type decisions we've been clamoring for. If this carries over to next year, I feel very good.

Item No. 3 -- We've got an entire offseason to improve our running game with a stable of talented but raw backs. Ditto with the young receiving corps and their inconsistency. We've got Hix, Huey and Snow back (I think this is a positive, maybe?) along with Trey Allen to anchor what should be a strong o-line. Defensively, we lose Earl, Kindle, Houston and Muck. That sucks, but so what? We've got a slew of young talent still on the roster (The Acho bros, Aaron Williams, etc) along with one of the best defensive recruiting classes in the country coming in. That and, frankly, I've developed this hubris over the past two years and firmly believe that Coach Boom could put together a top 10 defense out of my middle school lineup.

Basically, what I'm trying to say here, is that even with the loss of so much there is absolutely no reason that Texas shouldn't be competing for another Big 12 title and a national championship next year. The biggest question mark to me was how we'd perform with an inexperienced Gilbert under center during his sophmore season. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not worried.

So chin-up, folks. This isn't the end of the world. We blew a shot, but not the shot. There will be others much, much sooner than you think.

I've finally moved on to acceptance.

Yeah, Texas got jobbed, the BCS is a load, playoffs, 45, 35 and so on. Looking back on those painful weeks after the Tech loss -- weeks where we reduced to rooting for the failure and success of others -- I'd be hard pressed to say that I didn't see this coming. There wasn't any real concrete evidence to support it, but the feeling that Texas was going to draw the short straw in January sat in my stomach like bad Taco Cabana.

Still, I was pissed. Heart-broken. Angry. Depressed. But now, as far as I'm concerned, its over. No more holding out hope for a split title. Barring a monster win over Ohio State a la 2005's Big 12 CG and a flat out awful title game, that's just not going to happen. So, now, its all about Ohio State and the Fiesta Bowl. That game in Miami? I've got no interest in it beyond that of the casual college football fan.

Now, make no bones about this. I despise OU with every fiber in my body. When I moved to Kansas to take a job up here a few years ago, I drove up through the Texas panhandle and skirted across the Oklahoma panhandle at 90 mph in order to spend as little time as possible in that dump. I still won't stop, contribute a cent in tax revenue or even deposit my bodily waste there. So, obviously, I'm coming into this game with a bias.

I want the Sooners to lose. Not just lose, to get crushed. To suffer the kind of loss that sets recruiting back five years. The kind of loss that sends any future Adrian Petersons watching on television back to the right side of the Red River.

But, as much as I'm rooting against the Okies, I'm rooting for Florida. And here, folks is why:

A) Similarity. Florida and Texas are a whole lot alike in that they're the predominant college athletic programs in their respective talent-heavy states. Both the Gators and the Longhorns are or have been powers in football, basketball, baseball and have produced a few Olympic swimmers over the past couple of years. Of course, (not that its relevant, Tech fans) both schools have strong academic programs as well.

B) Tim. Tebow. Watching this guy play the game of football is an absolute joy. There isn't a player in the entire nation that carries the intensity and emotion that this guy goes going into each and every game. I remember watching the Florida/Florida State game this year and seeing that camera shot of him after he went down in the Seminoles endzone, and got up with that blood-like red paint smeared all over his jersey and his face. That look he had in his eyes -- he looked like he'd just killed 20 men in a bar fight. A lot has been made of his speech after the Ole Miss loss and, I won't lie, in the weeks leading up to the final BCS standings it annoying the everloving crap out of me. But, looking back on it, it was probably one of the most impressive things I've seen from a college athlete. A lot of guys say the right things, but they don't mean it. You could hear in the guys voice that he meant every last word, and he went out on the field and proved it over the next seven weeks. The guy is a lot like Vince Young, in that he's one of those rare combinations of athleticism and charisma that lets people rally around him. He's an absolute leader of men.

Of course, that little speech leads to ...

C) This is a team of destiny. I don't believe in all of that crap, normally, but Tebow basically called his shot in front of a national audience in saying that they'd be back. And sure enough, here they are. The Ole Miss loss probably should have dropped them below Texas, in my humble opinion, but the way they bounced back from it is nothing short of impressive. A win here would put the cap on the first really memorable MNC storyline since Vince vs. Bush/Leinart in 2005.

So, consider this my official endorsement for the Florida Gators as the 08-09 national champions. And also consider this my plea to Tim Tebow. After you beat down some Okies in January, come back for your senior season. There's nothing I'd love more than to see the Longhorns knock you off in 2010.

Sustinence....or the Longhorns. It's a tougher choice than one might think.

If you have a degree from UT, then you probably have a full-time job. If you have a full-time job, you've undoubtedly had to work a Saturday or two during the football season. If you've had to work a Saturday or two during the football season, chances are you've probably contemplated quitting.

Who needs a steady paycheck, right?

Then reality sets in, and you realize you won't be able to watch the game next Saturday if you don't pay the cable bill. So you're stuck at work, or on the road while everyone else kills brain cells in front of the TV. What do you do? Share your coping mechanisms. Maybe it'll save someone's life (or job) some day.

For me:

I work covering another Big 12 team for a newspaper, so Saturdays are pretty much off limits for the foreseeable future. So, I made probably the best investment in the history of investments: The Slingbox.

For close to $200, you buy this box. Hook it up through your cable box, install some crap on your laptop, set it up and boom: you've got access to your TV on your laptop/cell phone. Just connect, pull it up and use the little remote on the side of the screen to flip channels.

Of course, if you don't have access to a laptop, there's always good ol' Craig Way. If you have no radio...uh good luck.