Depending one who wins Super Bowl XLIII  at least one former Longhorn will have a Super Bowl ring to go with his National Championship ring.  If Arizona pulls off the upset Cardinals starting center Lyle Sendlein will be the lucky one.  If Pittsburgh wins, then back up receiver Limas Sweed and rookie offensive lineman Tony Hills will add to their jewelry collection.  All three players were on the Texas 2005 national and would join Aaron Ross who won with the Giants last year, with the coveted double championship.  While Steelers defensive tackle Casey Hampton didn’t win a title at Texas, he could pick up his 2nd Super Bowl ring.  Hampton was also on the Steelers Super Bowl XLI championship team

Amazing doesn’t do what Texas did in the Fiesta Bowl justice.  When Ohio State scored the go head touchdown with 2:05 to go in the game there were two thoughts that came into my head.  Texas Tech and Heisman.   Colt McCoy was able to lead Texas on about the same drive that he had to watch Graham Harrell do to the Longhorns back on November 1st that kept UT out of the national championship game.  Even though I don’t have a big problem with Sam Bradford winning the Heisman over McCoy, seemed fitting that he got to have his Heisman moment.  In fact after the game Mack Brown said “that was a Heisman drive.” 

Then there are the two seniors, Quan Cosby who will go down in UT lore with his final career touchdown being that game winning 26 yard touchdown.  That was also his 92nd catch on the year, 8 shy of Kwame Cavil’s single season record.  And Brian Orakpo, one of the best defensive players to wear the burnt orange sealed the game with that sack of Terrell Pryor when Ohio State still had a shot at getting into game tying field goal range.

The Longhorns can’t win the BCS national title, probably a long shot to get a split championship from the A.P., but no team including the winner Thursday in Miami will celebrate or enjoy their win any more than Texas did Monday night in Glendale.

Finally we hear about how the bowl game is the final time this team will be together like they were the the season.  Some may not realize that begins Tuesday morning.  Players go their separate ways, most travelling back to the hometowns for the rest of their holiday break.  Brian Orakpo is staying out here.  He will train in Phoenix to prepare for the NFL draft where he is a expected to be a first round and possibly top ten pick.

It has been an amazing year and again I feel privileged that have that special view from the sidelines.  Next year the Horns hope to end their season at the Rose Bowl, that’s where the 2010 national championship game will be played.

While Roger and Todd have been keeping busy following the longhorns this week in and around the Phoenix area, I have tried to do my best to help out with the live aspects of the broadcasts.

We are in a place in the phoenix area called “paradise valley”  The name trully says it all.  Everywhere you turn, you are surrounded by beauty and wonder.  Here at the camelback inn, we are surrounded by beautiful scenery.  A fellow photojournalist mentioned to me just today that you can’t take a bad picture here.  The Camelback Inn has been the backdrop for most of our liveshots here in Arizona with the pre bowl coverage, and while during the day, theres never a bad picture, At night, it gets extremely dark.  This is where I come in.

hopefully my flip video is showing up above this line, if its not the check out our KXAN youtube channel for more.

Anyway, I hope that you have been able to enjoy our coverage, and stay tuned.  Tomorrow is the game.  Should be very exciting

 laters,

Thomas

 BTW,

Todd wanted me to let everyone know that even though Roger is currently leading the count with Flip videos, he is doing it with Todds camera.

It was a quiet day for the Longhorns in the Phoenix area.  The team went through a light workout at Scottsdale Community College.  Sunday will be the first time they will get a look inside University of Phoenix Stadium where they will play Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.   On Saturday the Arizona Cardinals won their wildcard playoff game over Atlanta at the stadium.

We did head into downtown Scottsdale on Saturday evening for the  Longhorns and Buckeyes battle of the bands.  I ran into a man who puts the fan in fanatic, take a look. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTgfLgNrAk0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6z4XM128qw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvVVZaUjnE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msr4kMghrzU

On the final day that the Texas players can be interviewed before the Fiesta Bowl, senior cornerback Ryan Palmer was in rare form.  Palmer is not shy around the cameras and has to work hard to not say anything that opponents could use as bulliten board material.  But Friday wasn’t about Ohio State for Palmer, it was about Palmer.  Hope you enjoy the video we shot.

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Texas safety Blake Gideon spoke about the Texas Tech game for the first time on Friday in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Gideon let a tipped pass slip through his hands on the play just before Graham Harrell hit Michael Crabtree to beat the Longhorns on November 1st.  The true freshman from Leander said that he was over it just a few days after that game.  He understands what comes along with being a defensive back, you’re going to make plays and you’re going to miss plays and you have to have a short memory.

Gideon ranks third on the team with 59 total tackles.

Texas junior linebacker Sergio Kindle was as elusive about his future at UT as he’s been with offensive lineman this season.  Kindle would not hint one way of the other as to how he’s leaning when it comes to staying at Texas for his senior season or declaring for the NFL draft.  Kindle is 2nd on the Texas team with nine sacks and 13 tackles for losses.  

Kindle would not take the bait when asked if it made a difference on his decision that defensive coordinator  will be back next year. 

January 15th is the deadline for underclassman to declare for the draft.

I think they may be on to something  with this whole “Valley of the sun” thing.  Our fourth day in the Phoenix area and we are still waiting to see our first cloud.    This is my 13th bowl game with Texas and it is by far the best week of weather I can remember. 

Still strange to get used to playing way beyond New Years Day.  Monday will be the latest game  Texas has ever played.  The 2006 national title game was on January 4th.  This may also hurt travel for fans.  I know several people that are having a tough time getting rid of tickets.  Combine the late game day that coincides with the start of school and the tough financial times and that will almost certainly keep some fans back home.  We noticed that at the Insight Bowl on Wednesday in Tempe.  They tarped off about 20,000 seats at Sun Devil Stadium and it was still far from capacity for the Kansas win over Minnesota.

We got our last look at the Horns practicing on Thursday.  After pads and a lot of hitting, they backed off a little, going in pads and shorts, of course the intensity was still there.  From here on out its all closed workouts for the Horns.

Thanks to midnight curfew for the Longhorns here in Scottsdale it was a pretty quiet New Years Eve.   Ryan Palmer said he heard fireworks but couldn’t see them from his hotel room.  Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp said he spent New Years Eve watching LSU and Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A bowl until he fell asleep during the Tigers 38-3 win over the Yellow Jackets. 

Ohio State players got an extra hour, they had a 1AM curfew. 

As for the wild KXAN crew, out like a light by 11:00 local time.

Ohio State running back Chris “Beanie” Wells drew a lot of attention at his meeting with the media this morning.  Wells said that while he has not made a final decision on whether or not to come back for a senior season, he did say he wants to leave at the best back in Ohio State history.  That would only seem possible if he did return for another year after injuries limited Wells to just nine regular season games, although he did run for 1136 yards and averaged 5.7 yards per carry in those games.  Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo compares Wells to Giants running back Brandon Jacobs with his combination of size and speed.  UT linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy figures Wells would have been a Heisman finalist if he had been healthy the entire season.  Wells told us while he’s not 100 percent with nagging leg and toe injuries, he’s as healthy as he’s been all year.