Texas Longhorns come up short in NFL draft

This wasn’t the kind of shutout University of Texas football fans had in mind.

For the first time since 1937, the school failed to produce a single pick in the NFL draft.

That’s right, Texas is in another depression.

In fact, it wasn’t a great weekend for Texas or USC, which had only three players drafted.

It wasn’t that long ago, January 2006, that USC and Texas met in, arguably, the most talent-rich national title game ever contested.

That thrilling 41-38 victory by Texas at the Rose Bowl produced 14 NFL draft choices in the 2006 draft, seven for each school. Each team had two players selected in the first round.

According to a 2012 story in the Austin American-Statesman, 27 starters from that game went on to play in the NFL (17 for Texas and 10 for USC).

That was then, this is now. USC can blame scholarship reductions and NCAA sanctions for its low number of NFL picks this year, but what is Texas’ excuse?

Texas is college football’s biggest cash cow, generating $109.4 million in football operating revenue in 2012-13.

Not surprisingly, Texas and USC have new head coaches. Mack Brown resigned after last year’s 8-5 campaign; Lane Kiffin was fired during the season by athletic director Pat Haden. USC responded with a 10-win season that ended with a Las Vegas Bowl win over Fresno State.

New Texas Coach Charlie Strong may give the Longhorns a talent boost. His old school, Louisville, produced four NFL picks last weekend, including three first-rounders.

Not surprisingly, the Southeastern Conference led all leagues with 49 NFL picks, 11 in the first round. The Atlantic Coast was second with 42, followed by the Pac 12 (34), Big Ten (29), Big 12 (16) and Mountain West (16).