Waiting Is Hardest Part for Brown

The Rose Bowl is still nearly two weeks away, and already Coach Mack Brown is getting antsy.

“It’s such a long time between games,” he said. “It seems like forever. It’s hard to wait that long. And this game is on the 4th, so that’s three days later than a normal bowl.”

If history is any guide, the January records of the two teams give USC an edge.

Texas is 15-12-1 during the month and lost its only game played after Jan. 1, the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2, 1983. USC is 30-11 in January games, including 9-2 in games played after Jan. 1.

The hard part about a layoff, Brown said, is keeping the players focused for more than a month and then getting them to peak at game time.

“You have to handle the time,” Brown said. “You can’t be ready to play today. Everybody’s so excited, but part of this process is watching a lot of football and mentally preparing yourself to play the game on the 4th, not being ready to play the game too early.”

Texas last played Dec. 3 in the Big 12 Conference championship game, and players spent a good part of the next 10 days watching game films and studying for final exams. Unusually cold weather in Austin -- the temperature has dipped into the 30s several times in recent days -- forced the Longhorns to practice indoors much of the last week.

The Longhorns resumed more extensive practices late last week and moved outside Tuesday. They practiced Wednesday and will meet again today before they break for Christmas. The team will then meet in Los Angeles on Dec. 28.

“Then we’ll have a week and one day out there where we can go ahead and have our regular game week,” Brown said.

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The win streaks of 34 and 19 games by USC and Texas, respectively, have been well-publicized in recent weeks, but Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik has a win streak of his own.

Chizik was the defensive coordinator at Auburn from 2002 to ’04. The Tigers won their final two games in ’03 and were 13-0 in ’04. Chizik took the Texas job before this season and the team is 12-0, giving him 27 straight victories.

Chizik was at Auburn when the Trojans visited for the 2003 opener. USC won, 23-0, but scored only two touchdowns. Matt Leinart completed 17 of 30 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown.

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One of Brown’s biggest concerns for the game is a USC defense that leads the nation with 37 turnovers created. Texas is 25th in the nation with 25.

Of particular note are USC’s 22 interceptions, second in the nation to Texas Christian’s 24. Texas is 72nd with 10. Brown said the West Coast mentality might have something to do with that.

“I don’t know if it’s because in the fourth quarter more people throw out there,” Brown said. “In our games if we’re ahead 60-0, they don’t throw much. They run the clock to get the sucker over.”