Doing his part for league PR, the Texas coach touted the virtues of every Big 12 team, North and South.
"Everybody's better. You've got more people who can win,” Brown said before running through the list, taking care to exclude no one, not even Baylor or Iowa State.
Just Mack's spin in the wake of last year's sins — late losses to Kansas State and Texas A&M that wiped out the advantage of beating Oklahoma and left the Longhorns at home watching the Sooners in the Big 12 title game?
Or reality?
And if parity really has arrived, mustn't it be irritating for a program that exists as college football's equivalent of the New York Yankees, so rich with resources and talent?
"It can be irritating,” Brown said. "Or challenging.
"It kind of rejuvenates your spirit again. ‘We better go back to work. Our national championship is gone now. Nobody cares. So let's go back to work.'”
Rejuvenation? That didn't take long.
The Longhorns won the 2005 national title and held high hopes of another run last fall with a slew of starters returning.
Granted, Vince Young was gone to the NFL, leaving a massive void at quarterback.
But Texas regrouped quite well, with Colt McCoy taking the reins, shaking off an early loss to Ohio State and leading the win over OU in the Cotton Bowl, essentially creating a two-game lead in the race for the South Division crown.
Injuries hit the Horns hard, including a stinger that knocked McCoy out of the devastating 45-42 loss to Kansas State. McCoy wasn't right, either, in the regular-season ending loss to A&M two weeks later that created the title game opening for OU to slip right on through.
Not that there'd be any sympathy shed in Norman, where the Sooners lost their starting quarterback before the season and later lost Heisman Trophy contender Adrian Peterson for seven games — all wins.
And while OU lost to Texas, parity talk didn't play against the Sooners, who finished 7-1 against league foes.
Texas is again the pick to win the South Division, with the Sooners the choice for second.
Spinning ahead, literally and figuratively, Brown found some solace in his team's 26-24 win over Iowa in the Alamo Bowl, preventing what would have been a three-game losing streak lasting eight months.
"If you lose your last game, you have to try to turn it into a positive and motivate the guys through the negative of the last game,” Brown said. "That's a hard thing.
"It's a lot easier when they walk out of the Alamo Bowl, they're feeling good about themselves, but not satisfied that they got what they wanted out of the entire year.
"I thought it was a great end to the season and to our seniors who meant so much to our team.”
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Helsey, What a completely idiotic comment calling the Texas Longhorns college footballs equivalent of the New York Yankees. The mighty longhorns have won only four national championships - one since 1970. Oklahoma has won seven. How many has Notre Dame won? How many has Alabama won? Those teams might be called college football's equivalent of the New York Yankees, but not Texas! I have a better designation for the longhorns. Considering all the talent and resources available in the great state of Texas, its flagship university has manages to win only four national titles. I submit to you that The University of Texas at Austin is the most under acheiving program in the history of college Football! Boomer Sooner
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University of Texas coach Mack Brown held court on Wednesday in San Antonio, touting the parity among the teams in the Big 12. by CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN
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