University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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A flash of brilliance Split-season Horns soar, then plummet to 7-4-1 FOOTBALL VARSITY ATHLETICS Stories by TOMMY KNIGHT and STEPHEN WEED Nineteen Eighty-Four simply failed the Longhorns. From the Jan. 2 Cotton Bowl loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, 9- 10, to the 23-55 humiliation at the inaugural Freedom Bowl against the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Horns ' 7-4-1 season turned dreams of the national championship into cold nightmares. The season, however, saw many of the traditional college football institutions rise in the polls, then stumble into lackluster years. The universities of Michigan (6-6), Penn State (6-5), Alabama (5-6) and Notre Dame (7-4) were all highly regarded in the nation ' s preseason polls. Michigan climbed to No. 2 and Penn State to No. 4 before falling com- pletely out of the rankings. Alabama ' s record reflected the first losing season in Tuscaloosa in 27 years, while 18-year coaching veteran Bo Schembechler at Michigan and 16-year veteran Joe Paterno at Penn State each suffered the worst seasons of their coaching careers. But it was also the year that saw unheralded TCU and en- thusiastic helmsman Jim Wacker surge to an 8-1 record, and Auburn tailback Bo Jackson reaches for first quarter yardage as Longhorns Blake Brawner and Tony Degrate bring him to a halt. The Horn defense forced three turnovers, two that led to touchdowns and a third that all but clinched the victory as free safety Jerry Gray pulled down an intercep- tion with a little over two minutes remaining in the game. I thought they were a little tentative at first, but I don ' t blame them, Texas coach Fred Akers said. Photo by Bev Cotton 138 Football

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A i J A CLASS ACT UT ATHLETICS PROGRAM ACHIEVES TOP RANKING ve by STEPHEN WEED First and Finest. It is a distinction to which only one school each year may lay claim. In 1984, the Texas athletic pro- gram was recognized as simply that, the best in the country, by the National Col- legiate All-Sports rankings, compiled by Steve Williams of the Knoxville Journal. In the past three years, Longhorn athletics placed first in 1982, second in 1983 and No. 1 again in 1984 to become the only other school than USC and UCLA to earn the top honors in the 14- year history of the poll twice. This was an accomplishment deserving of high consideration, according to UT Men ' s Athletic Director Deloss Dodds. F always thought we stood in the top five year-in and year-out, Dodds said. Our goal, now, is to stay there and that ' s hard to do. The year 1983- 84 marked a watershed season for Longhorn sports as the women ' s swim team claimed the na- tional championship; the baseball team and the men ' s swim team each finished second in the NCAA ' s; the football team, the women ' s basketball team and women ' s tennis team all placed fifth; as the volleyball team earned a seventh place and the men ' s tennis, women ' s track and golf all climbed to llth place in the national rankings. Our coaches consider being in the top ten almost a minimum of any old season, said Dr. Donna Lopiano, the Women ' s Athletic Director at the University. It ' s that No. 1 spot that each of them shoot for. I think UT is out to set a standard, a very different standard. There ' s a dif- ference between having a winning ATHLETICS Edited by Stephen Weed program and a class program, Dr. Lopiano said. We consider sportsman- ship, team behavior, a near-perfect graduation rate for our athletes and the individual ' s character, as well as a win- ning record, to be just that distinction. I also think that to have a class pro gram, she continued, you have to have great coaches. Coach Conradt (basket- ball), Coach Quick (swimming) and Coach Crawford (track and cross coun- try) are good examples. This, and to be impeccable in the eyes of the public as a class act, is the standard we ' re out to set. Dodds agreed. I think a first class athletic program is a combina- tion of many things. First and foremost, it demands a great academic institu- tion. It takes great facilities and great coaches, because without those you can ' t attract the very top athletes. Fan support is also extremely impor- tant to a program. But above all, Dodds affirmed, a class athletic program needs to recognize that it ' s a part of the educational institu- tion, and not to let that get out of perspective. It ' s a high degree of integri- ty and credibility that distinguishes a good program from a great program. You get the best people you can find, hire them, and let them do their jobs to the best of their abilities, and everything just flows from that. In the 1984 poll, the athletic programs at the University of Texas distinguished themselves as singularly the finest in the nation. Through a unique Longhorn blend of leadership, academics, facilities, pride, character and sports- manship, UT ranks among the great in- stitutions as, above all, first and finest. Athletics

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preseason unrated Brigham Young cruise to a 12-0 season and claim the national championship after a victory in the Holi- day Bowl- But to the Longhorns, season-ending letdowns were old hat. In 1977, ' 79 and ' 83, the Horns rose into one of the two top spots, as in 1984, only to stumble to lesser opponents. Ironically, the 1980 season paralleled the Horns ' 1984 cam- paign almost game for game. In 1980, A. J. Jam Jones led Texas past Arkansas, Utah State, Oregon State, Rice and Oklahoma to a -5-0 record and the No. 2 ranking. Riding the pinnacle of their season, similar to the ' 84 at 3-0, Texas then lost to a host of unranked SWC foes: Southern Methodist, Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas A M, dropping five of their last seven games. The 1980 Longhorns finally closed their split-season in the Bluebonnet Bowl in the Astrodome, falling to No. 13 North Carolina, 7-16, and out of the national rankings. For Texas, it was just another one of those years. This was a season not unlike 1984. Sprinting for the end zone, Longhorn quarterback Todd Dodge runs around the last Auburn defenseman on a ten-yard bootleg for the game ' s first score. The touchdown put Texas up 7-0 in the first quarter as the Horns went on to win 35-27. Dodge, would later throw 11 completions of his first 14 passes and finished the night 15 for 24 for 215 yards. Todd had a spectacular start and game, said Texas coach Fred Akers. We expected him to go out there and play and play well and he did. Photo by Beu Cotton A. U D U XvJN For the second year in a row Auburn brought out the best in us, Texas coach Fred Akers aaid in the wake of the Longhorns 35-27 victory over the veiling Tigers, Sept. 15, in Memorial Stadium. I don ' t think we ' ve 7-4-1 Auburn W . . . . Penn State W . . Rice W . . 35-27 28- 3 38-13 Oklahoma T . ' .16-16 Arkansas W 24-18 Southern Methodist W 13-7 Texas Tech W 13-10 Houston L 15-29 Texas Christian W 44-23 Baylor L 10-24 Texas A M L 12-37 Freedom Bowl Iowa L 17-55 ever had a beter opening game. The game between the preseason No. 1 Tigers and the third-ranked Longhorns was indeed a barn-burner as the highly touted Auburn wishbone and the Texas Air Akers offense combined for 62 points and 777 total yards, with 441 of those through the air. Quite unlike the 1983 match-up in Auburn, Ala. in which the Horns devastated the Tigers, 20-7, the game went down to With hand over heart, defensive back Ray Hutchinson stands quietly with other members of the Longhorn squad during the national anthem before the season opener with Auburn. Photo by Bev Cotton Stretching for extra yards, converted tailback Rob Moerschell, who started 11 games in 1983 at quarterback, gains short yardage against Penn State at the Meadowlands. A week before the No. 2 Longhorns were to play the No. 4 Nittany Lions an unknowing reporter asked Lion coach Joe Pater- no if the Texas wishbone presented any significant problems. Texas doesn ' t play the wishbone, he shot back to the provincial sportowriter. They use an I formation and they throw the ball 24 times. The game, planned in 1977, was to be a showcase for the Horns in the East Photo by Ken Riddick Football 139