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LAWRENCE, Kansas – Texas players hugged their friends and family on the Kansas Memorial Stadium visitors' side before heading to a cloakroom much different from the one they had left two years ago.
The celebration took place after Friday's 24-17 win against Kansas.
"Who danced? Everyone," said defender Charles Omenihu.
The players had a lot of reason. The Longhorns clinched their place in the Big 12 championship game. Texas will face the winner of Friday's match between Oklahoma and West Virginia at AT & T Stadium on December 1st. The Longhorns (9-3, 7-2 Big 12) will make their sixth appearance in the Big 12 title match and the first since 2009.
No matter the 2016 epic crisis against Kansas, which cost Charlie Strong his job and inaugurated Tom Herman as head coach. Herman's assurance that Texas could achieve its goals after the defeat against Maryland was considered unconscious at the time and now looks prophetic.
Even Herman struggled to measure the distance between the September 1 defeat and the FedEx field.
"Eons, I do not know, what is the longest period of time?" Herman said. "This team has grown a lot – going from six straight wins to a four-point loss in two weeks, and coming back knowing we can do a lot of really cool things has been fun." a part of."
Herman and athletic director Chris Del Conte emphasized the fact that a group of seniors had embraced the change and had been part of the change this season.
Texas has not won nine regular season games since 2009, when it reached the national championship game.
"The 2015 promotion arrived and was not the glorious way we thought we had," said Omenihu, who had a sack bag, awarding him 8.5 for the season. "Having the opportunity to play in the big 12 league match is huge."
Nothing has come easy in Texas this season or Friday. Quarterback Sam Ehlinger was the victim of a shoulder injury and the Kansas team desperate to dismiss lame coach David Beaty with a win.
Texas' defense was without senior tackle Gary Johnson (suspension of a match) and safety Brandon Jones after a concussion in the first period.
Junior Jeffrey McCulloch, who had joined the linebacker instead of replacing Johnson, delivered the biggest piece. After Ehlinger's selection by Shakial Taylor, Kansas was in Texas 17, attempting to reduce the score to 21-7.
The ghosts of 2016 were back in force.
Then McCulloch perfectly read the quarterback Peyton Bender, deviated a short passage in the air, caught him and took off at 65 meters from the field.
"I was in the right place at the right time," McCulloch said.
He thought he was touching but he acknowledged that he had hurt himself en route to the end zone.
Cameron Dicker scored a 34-yard goal at 34 yards in Texas. For McCulloch, it was a bit of atonement. He was the player who bit inside and failed to hold West Virginia quarterback Will Virginia on the winning two-point conversion.
"The game is huge, huge," said Herman. "For our defense to be turned around and Jeff making a game as incredible as this one, it will allow us to take time and get points …"
The Longhorns needed the cushion.
Kansas scored 70 yards late in the fourth quarter. Bender beat Daylon Charlot on a 31-yard touchdown pass with time remaining at 3:27. When Andrew Beck was unable to score, the Jayhawks were again in business, settling for a shot at goal from Gabriel Rui with 1:37 to go.
Lil 'Jordan Humphrey, of Texas, has covered the next send-off attempt to dispel any doubt.
Despite his previous win 48-45 over Oklahoma, No. 7, Ehlinger does not think Texas has yet beat his best.
"I do not think we have reached our potential at all," Ehlinger said. "I think we always limit ourselves, we always stop and there are things we can do, I know we can do it, we showed it during the season."
So, after all and with Herman continuing to call this year's top students, is Texas a championship team?
"We play for a player if that tells you enough," said Omenihu.
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