Hooked: UT Football through a UK lens.

I’m in Boston. We got photobombed by a crazy UT fan. We need to beat the Bulldogs. These statements aren’t correlated. They’re just facts. We need to beat the Bulldogs — for everyones sake.

I was in a couple of bars in downtown Boston last night, Texas vs. Georgia was on everybody’s lips. It made me proud. It was so cool to hear a city of die hard sports fans talking about our team. And they are die hard.. The bar was full of people chanting “Fuck the Yankees!” whenever Cleveland scored a run. The Red Sox weren’t even playing, they just hate the Yankees! I’ve never followed baseball, or really seen the appeal, but last night I was in to it. Boston, y’all a different breed.

Something about sport in general does hit different here. Fans are passionate and they’re committed. Much like we are to The Longhorns and the journey we’ve been on. And they see that, too. They respect it. Even the Michigan fan that started the conversation throwing a “horns down” left us with a jovial “Hook Em” before returning to his friends.

Chatting to a few of the patrons, questions swirled about whether we had the minerals to come away with the win. It was said that even if we had to roll down to Georgia we’d still come away with the victory. A sentiment I didn’t share until last night, but if these folks are saying it, I kinda believe it. My traditionally pessimistic outlook has been changed for the weekend by this city. It’s exciting. I’m excited. Confident, even. Maybe that’s foolish.. But the city of Boston believes we can do it, and that’s good enough for me.

Folks here are also very interested in the Quinn or Arch discussion. They want to know from Texas fans what we think, so that they know what to think. I didn’t know what to tell them. What I did tell them is that if Texas come out and play for the first two quarters against Georgia like they did in Dallas last weekend, we’re going to have a bad day. A bunch of that is on Quinn. It took him too long to settle in to the big game — he doesn’t have that luxury.

My mind is still torn. I accept and understand the desire Sarkisian has to stand behind Quinn as QB1. He was great last season. What we’ve seen from him so far this season has been okay.. In the end the scoreline represented a comfortable victory against the Sooners, but there’s a lot of cleanup to be done. I see Quinn long-term as a coach, not an NFL quarterback. He played a great supporting role on the sidelines in the games he sat out, and I think those leadership qualities are hugely valuable. I don’t know much about the kids character, if we benched him for Arch would we lose that?

Questions are unanswered for Arch. “Can he perform in the big games?” being one. This weekend might be too big a risk to fuck around and find out as a starter, but if we’re down by two scores in the third today, I’m putting him in.

Our team has the chance to do something pretty monumental. Beat Georgia to cement themselves as unstoppable juggernauts. We beat Alabama last year. We beat Georgia this year, and Texas are inevitable. Steve Sarkisian is king.

I’ll be in the Texas Ex’s bar in Boston later, shouting, cheering, and hopefully celebrating long into the Massachusetts night. If last night taught me anything, we’ll be heard all across the city. It’s showtime.

Hook ’em.