( Ed Spaulding is a 1969 graduate of the University of Texas and a former sports editor of the Daily Texan and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. He worked for the Houston Chronicle for 21 years. The South Texas town of Freer, where Steve McMichael went to high school, was part of the area covered by the Corpus Christi paper. Ed covered McMichael during his high school days, and later at Texas. Tomorrow, McMichael will be honored for his contribution to football with induction into the College Hall of Fame. Fifteen Texas players and Coach Darrell Royal have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, including McMichael’s UT teammate, Johnnie Johnson. Thanks, edsp.  whills)

You start in a dusty South Texas town. Population maybe 3,000. In high school, you play every position except quarterback and defensive back. Your first start in college is at defensive end. Your dad dies, violently, in a shooting incident, that same day.

Skip ahead. Let’s find out how the story ends. You end up an All-America defensive tackle. You start for one of the great (and most adored) Super Bowl champions. You do a stint in the pro wrestling ring, do a gig behind the microphone. As you pass age 50, you coach an arena league team to a championship (and a perfect season). And, this week, you join an elite handful out of the many thousands who have played the game with induction into the National Football Foundation’s College Hall of Fame.

The life and times, as it were, of former Longhorn star Steve McMichael.

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Right now it is a Monet sky and a beautiful burnt orange sunset here in Central Texas, a tremendous fall evening. The weather isn't the game we are considering, as great as it may be. 

I'd bet the Horns have planned the Missouri and OSU games as a two-fer. I intuit that the plan was to run it up the first half, nail down what we could in the third quarter and get some rest for the starters on both sides of the ball. And, as a special benefit, get a complete quarter of playing time for subs to build depth for the stretch run as well as next year.

Any complaints about the second half need to be couched in terms of the plan. The plan for the second half seemed to be to smother the Tigers and reveal as little as possible to OSU. For the third week in a row, it will be a short week again for practice and with travel, so conservation of energy is the real name of the game.

Sure, running up the score could have been great for the style points and palaver for the talkin' heads. The Horns don't need frickin's style points - the SEC propaganda machine, ABC and ESPN would just chew them up anyway - so screw 'em. What the Longhorns need is a critical victory in Stillwater. This falls under the cliched 'must have' win.

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The future is uncertain and the end is always near. Roadhouse Blues, The Doors

 What are the odds of one team having two All-Americans wearing the same number?

Twelve turns out to be the propitious number, the first 12 steps in the MNC quest and the players wearing #12 become some of the key anchors in that quest.

 But no one ever said it would be easy for the 12s, for the team or for the rest of us.

Football is endurance and perseverance. There’s really only one option: to play or not play. If you play, it is for keeps. You are committed to battle on the field and to survival of the herd.  You can quit at any time, usually the sooner the better.

 We, as fans, have our own perseverance and endurance, too, both inside us and with respect to other fans. Some, like our brethren over on the Brazos, are sorely tested. Some are more fortunate and can celebrate their victories. Some always question, even in the best of times, because change can occur so quickly. 

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In the agony of the workday world, it is no wonder obsession can demean the most patient and balanced of individuals. We only have 12 games, maybe 13 if we’re lucky or good, and after an interminable wait through the sweltering sweat box we call summer, the glorious weekends can’t get here quickly enough.

Finally, in the smoky aftermath of the games, when the emotions have simmered down and that brief respite we call sanity ensues, suddenly next Saturday seems so far away. In the meanwhile, we dwell on the details, hang on every word and implication, and scratch through the stats and analysis like mad ethnographers reconstructing ancient relics from what seems like only yesterday. Mid-week has come and gone and we’re still waiting, dammit, less than  48 hours out and just counting down the minutes.

Grab a bowl of chili, maybe some beans and we’ll obsess on the jump…

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 (This feature will be a regular on Thursdays before game day exploring some relative function of Texas football history and that of our upcoming opponent. This particular one takes a long and broad view at the history of Texas and Texas Tech, focusing on the Southwest Conference era up to the present. Despite the depth of modern stats and the ever-present verbiage everywhere, there is usually something to be gained by an intuitive study of the historical record. whills)

Prediction for the game: Texas 43, Texas Tech 28

Actually, the prediction is the actual average score in the Mack Brown era. Darrell's teams skunked Tech four times, and Freddie garnered two more shut outs. In this era, that is just a dream, although I'm sure Will Muschamp dreams it. Early Mack teams twice held the Red Raiders to seven points, but those dirt-bound pirates have scored in the 40s three times, winning two of those in '98 and '02. In 2007 Tech scoring peaked with 43, but Texas ran up a big lead in the first half behind Jamaal Charles and essentially played tit-for-tat in the second half of a 59-43 victory. The 59 is the most points scored in the series by either team.

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He was slobbering all over himself, which I thought a little odd for someone with only two drinks under his belt. Normally he was sane and could hold his booze.  

No, this person was a football fan counting down the 24 hours before the first full Saturday of the season. He’d been panting since the first of August, feeding on every sliver of data the dog days could provide. Objective: he has none - forget it. He hadn’t been objective since the Fiesta Bowl. He had those glassy eyes, cut crystal reflecting the hopes and glories of the new season: 2009. If greatness was measured in slobber, this was one for the ages.

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The game is now tied 4-4 and the comments are flowing deep and fast, so it's time to rewind and bring this baby home.

Workman is holding steady on the mound and LSU is close to having to dig into their tired bull pen.

Tonight's the night.

I had written this several weeks ago and was waiting for the appropriate time. Seems like it is now. I do this as a big thunderstorm is bearing down on me, including a tornado watch. Sorta appropriate, considering everything.

When Vincent Young left the University of Texas I felt that he had made an error in judgment, that his style of play had reached a pinnacle which would and probably could not be repeated in the National Football League.  

After three years in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans, his career has seen early highs and recent surprising lows but certainly, in my mind, he is far from the peak he achieved with the Longhorns in 2005.  I realize that the Titans are within reach of winning a Super Bowl and within that infinity of possible moments, Vince might win a ring.  He also might be on the bench when that occurs, but I doubt that unless it is injury-related.

Onward through the fog!

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Happy Holidays to one and all.

A few weeks ago I suddenly wondered just how many of the 831 games Texas has won had I been witness to in one fashion or another, and how many of those victories had occurred in my period of interest with the Longhorns. So, I did most of the research that is related deeper in this post and then let it stir around in my mind until I came across the propitious moment.

Then something disconcerting happened a couple of days ago. The Austin American-Statesman rolled out a front page of sports feature about Texas eclipsing Notre Dame in total victories. Somewhat close to what I had in mind, but not quite. On top of that, the AA-S put the jinx in. Notre Dame won last night, whipping up on Hawaii, and now we're tied. I deduce they were actually afraid ND would win and tone down their slack time, no-big-news, front-of-the-sports-page filler. I would have put Slinging Sammy Baugh's funeral on that page anyway; better story and it actually was news. But that would have been more holiday work, so....

Let's jump down to something for which we can be thankful.

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There are those times in life when an inch becomes a mile, a second becomes an eternity. When those things occur and you have no power to change those situations, it is time to collect your attention and focus on your intent for the future. In our specific situation, next season begins in January and fulfills the intent of "Let there be no question."

Sometimes your very best is just not enough. That is the nature of competition in this life. While the moment of recognition may send you into an emotional rage or to intense introspection, the wise position is to understand your responsibility in the situation, however large or small it may be, to accept it and to focus outward. Life does not stop just because we get lost in a moment. In fact, that moment is a serious vulnerability if you have enemies at the door and your vigilance is wavering.

Life is not full of replays. But the generations of humans are a spiral in time and sometimes you will get the opportunity to balance the past and reset the future. It is the most human of things to grasp at what slim and diminishing hope that you may have. But when that finally slips from your grasp and you have still survived, life is about the future, about right now.

The Sooners will reap what they have sown, with or without our collusion. We will have our opportunity next October. There is nothing we can do at the moment that will alter their fate. I suspect there are many who are thoroughly enjoying our discomfort. This board is about expressing ourselves and, by definition, is not particularly stoic in the warrior sense. However, that ethic should guide some of our sensibilities. We're Texas - and we're big enough to take it. And we're strong enough to do something about it in the future.

The Horns, as a team, do not have the luxury of dwelling in the past. In a month or so they'll face someone who would just love to wax our ass and to prove this whole interlude was cosmic joke. You youngsters need a little of that Clint Eastwood squint, to screw your butt into the ground and "get mean, get real mean." Because the future is not kind by nature, and it is coming straight at us right now. 

Hopefully, the Horns have buried this along with the other artifacts of this season and are strong and wise enough to face the future and begin the quest for next season when they alone can make sure there is no question about who is #1.