Longhorns of Plenty

Texas eyes the national championship

It has never been a picnic, the annual football ferocity between the University of Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners. But this year it was strictly M*A*S*H for Texas quarterbacks. On Texas' seventh play, the starting quarterback was scissored by two Sooner defenders and carted off the field with an ankle injury that will keep him out for the season. The second-string signal caller lasted longer--nine plays--before he too went down with a torn knee. From the farthest reaches of the Texas bench came Randy McEachern, a senior quarterback who had sat out last season, his knee in a cast, as a spotter for U.T. radio announcers. When he entered the game, according to campus wags, he had to introduce himself to other players in the offensive huddle. Suddenly in the midst of the fray, McEachern recalls, "my heart was pounding. The whole game went by real fast." Too fast for Oklahoma, which lost to Texas for the first time in six years.

It has been nothing but happy endings ever since for McEachern and the Longhorns. Though Randy himself had to miss the Texas Christian game with a sprained knee (fourth-string Quarterback Sam Ansley came in to lead the team to a 44-14 win), Texas last week remained atop the college polls with the only undefeated record among the football powers. The No. 1 ranking has enabled Coach Fred Akers to emerge early from the long shadow of his legendary predecessor, Darrell Royal. It has also vindicated members of the university athletic commission who disregarded a Royal choice and picked Akers instead. Actually, they had good reason for their decision. Akers had prepped as a Royal assistant before moving into the head coaching job at Wyoming in 1975. In two years he turned the perennially lackluster Cowboys into co-champions of the Western Athletic Conference.

Akers had his job cut out for him: Texas was in a downhill slide; the Longhorns' 5-5-1 record last season was the worst in Royal's 20-year reign. With just 16 seniors on a 60-man roster, the inexperienced Longhorns were expected to finish well down in the rugged Southwest Conference this year. As Defensive Coordinator Leon Fuller said at the beginning of the season: "We're so young, we hold hands going onto the field." But Akers and the staff he brought with him immersed their players in a rigorous training program, breaking down and emphasizing the physical requirements of each position in carefully coordinated drills.

The youngsters learned quickly and, with the handful of blue-chip upperclassmen anchoring a green team, Akers' prodigies became a scourge, ranking in the nation's top five in fewest points allowed and in total points scored. Says Senior Guard Rick Ingraham: "Things were different with Coach Akers and his staff--just the electricity they were generating. I can't remember being so enthused to go out and play."

To whip up that enthusiasm, Akers stresses "positive attitude" and "personal accountability," and went so far as to import a hypnotherapist from Seattle to instruct the Longhorns in "deep relaxation and positive suggestion which eliminates the negative." Says Akers: "The players are committed. You don't come to Texas unless you're a competitor and committed. Mental concentration, though, is harder than physical preparation." As his players looked on first with awe, then growing respect, Akers and his assistants put in grueling 14-hour days. Their dedication proved contagious. Says Interested Observer Royal: "He is willing to pay the price in long hours, elbow grease and getting out of the shade."

Leading the Longhorn attack is Fullback Earl Campbell, who plows through the line as if he were walking through a turnstile, gained 1,522 yards in the first ten games, and is a strong candidate to win the Heisman Trophy. To take advantage of Campbell's brute (6 ft. 1 in., 220 lb.) strength and the sizzling speed of Wide Receiver Johnny ("Lam") Jones--a 1976 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 400-meter relay and, according to Akers, "the fastest football player in the world"--the new coach substituted a big-play, I-formation offense for the Royal Wishbone. When the offense bogs down, there is the estimable leg of Kicker Russell Erxleben to put three points on the scoreboard. Erxleben set an N.C.A.A. field-goal record early this season with a 67-yarder, and routinely kicks true from 50 yards away.

Another Akers innovation is a swarming, stunting defense that, despite seven sophomore starters, has shut out three opponents and given up just one touchdown to the run in ten games. That defense was very much in evidence last weekend as Texas--and Campbell--rolled past overmatched Baylor, 29-7, thus setting up the Southwest Conference title showdown with Texas A. & M. on Saturday.

The city of Austin may not be able to survive another Texas win. No. 1 has been scrawled on every exposed surface in town, and post-victory celebrations reach near anarchy. For the extra police necessary to cope with the delirious fans, Austin's city fathers have had to shell out $7,500 in overtime pay every Saturday night. Still, no one is complaining. Indeed, when members of the university band strike up The Eyes of Texas Are upon You before the opening kickoff, they are not just tooting their horns.

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