Even the Defense Is Bigger in Texas Now

Bad reputations are nasty things to shake -- and the Texas defense definitely had one.

How do these things get started?

Maybe it was giving up a historical landmark road-sign score against UCLA in a 1997 game dubbed “Rout 66.”

There were 63 points surrendered against Oklahoma in 2000 and, two years later, that roped-off crime scene at the Cotton Bowl after Oklahoma bled 65 points out of Texas.

In 2001, if Texas holds Colorado to 36 in the Big 12 title game, it plays Miami for the national title.

Texas gave up 39.

Oh well.

The out-of-Austin perception of the Texas defense was Bevo grazing in a field of grass.

Texas recruited premier athletes, who luxuriated in country club facilities, looked good in their uniforms, liked ice cream and hit like Dom DeLuise.

“Texas was known as being soft on defense,” Longhorn linebacker Rashad Bobino was saying Sunday in the swank Beverly Hills hotel that past Texas defensive teams might have appreciated for its turn-down service and down pillows. “When someone calls you soft, well, you’re a man, you play football, you don’t take that well.”

Then, it was as if Texas ate a can of nails.

A Holiday Bowl trip in 2003 in which Texas took the “holiday” part literally might have led to the indigestion.

Whatever the case, cushions were overturned in the Texas velvet room.

“Some of the guys told me it was after the Washington State loss,” defensive lineman Frank Okam said of the 28-20 Holiday Bowl defeat. “We got embarrassed and the switch was made.”

Texas is 23-1 since that game, the only blemish a 12-0 defeat to Oklahoma in 2004 in which the defense actually stood up to the Sooners.

Texas has won 19 in a row since and has not arm-tackled its way into Wednesday’s national title-game against USC at the Rose Bowl.

Two things happened, and both led to a lot of head-cracking.

Last year, Mack Brown hired Greg Robinson and Dick Tomey and told them to wipe the smile off some Texas faces.

Robinson was a pro, coming off a stint as the Kansas City Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, and Tomey had designed the “Desert Swarm” defenses when he coached Arizona in the 1990s.

Tomey says Brown told him to “set some new standards,” and he and Robinson set about to do it.

Both coaches had this thing about getting pushed around -- they didn’t like it. Tomey formulated a challenging off-season program and Robinson introduced the squad to a tackling dummy.

“I think it all happened last year,” defensive end Tim Crowder said. “We went back to our roots. Robinson and Tomey brought how to play defense with a passion.”

Progress might have been hijacked, though, when Robinson left to take the Syracuse head coaching job and Tomey departed to San Jose State.

What now?

Brown, in a masterstroke, persuaded Gene Chizik to leave Auburn, where he had won his last 15 games as the Tigers’ defensive coordinator.

“I thought the University of Texas was the best job in the country,” Chizik explained of his leaving a 13-0 team. “And I think Mack Brown is the best coach in the country.”

The fiery Chizik, 44, took what Robinson and Tomey started and kicked it up a notch.

Texas is a top-10 defense this year; the Longhorns have given up 17 points or fewer in eight games.

Longhorn players wondered how Chizik’s style would compare to the previous regime, and it didn’t take long to find out.

“He reminded me of a drill sergeant,” Okam said. “As soon as he spoke, you could see the whole defense stand up straight.”

Once, when he was a high school coach, Chizik put on pads and practiced with his team.

Bobino said Chizik brought a swagger to the defense and there times when he was scared.

“It was the way he looked at you,” Bobino said. “It kind of made you cringe.”

Chizik has added 12 more victories and has now won 27 straight games as a coordinator. His last loss was against Georgia on Nov. 15, 2003.

“It’s really unique,” he said of the streak, “ ... I don’t think about it a whole bunch.”

Chizik has this thing about his players competing with a mentality that “is not a nice one.”

Like USC Coach Pete Carroll, he is a disciple of defensive guru Monte Kiffin. Chizik went so far as to take a job with Central Florida just so he could get closer to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coordinator.

“People try to make the game very complicated,” Chizik explained of the Kiffin way. “He tries to make it very simple.”

Chizik’s application of principles may be Texas’ best hope of defeating USC.

Chizik isn’t conceding a first-down marker. He likes his defense and thinks it has enough speed to contain USC’s arsenal of offensive options.

He was Auburn coordinator in 2003 when Auburn held USC to 23 points but didn’t score any on offense.

Chizik reminded everyone, “It was Matt Leinart’s first game and Reggie Bush was a true freshman.”

Chizik, though, says Texas doesn’t have to be perfect to win.

“Somebody’s going to miss a tackle,” he said. “But if you miss it correctly, I know that sounds funny, but you can get some help from your friends.”

When USC pushes hard, Texas is going to push back.

Chizik would let you in on the plan, but as he said, “I’d have to kill you.”

Many things are rumbling through his mind.

“You’ve got to be careful when you have a month off, because you become a mad scientist,” he said.

If you had to gold-pan Chizik’s Texas plan down to a nugget, though, it might be “hit somebody.”

So go ahead and drop the “country” in Texas’ “country club” image.

Now, it’s just a club.

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The Chizik factor

Gene Chizik, Texas’ first-year defensive coordinator, held the same position at Auburn last year when the Tigers went 13-0. Comparing the Longhorns’ defense this year with Auburn’s defense last year in key categories (national rank in parentheses):

*--* AUBURN 2004 Category TEXAS 2005 104.2 (12) Rush defense 124.4 (31) 173.5 (10) Pass defense 155.9 (5) 277.6 (5) Total defense 280.3 (6) 11.3 (1) Scoring defense 14.6 (T-4) 25 (36) Turnovers gained 25 (T-29) 16 (T-17) Interceptions 10 (T-76)

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