2001 Holiday Bowl
Major wearing the Golden Hat after beating O.U.
He had every reason to hit the portal. But he didn’t. It didn’t exist yet. For that, Longhorn fans who watched the ’01 Holiday Bowl can rejoice, even long after the fact. Major Applewhite still had it when his name was dialed up. And he endures as a legendary Longhorn. The freckle-faced guy from Baton Rouge had come on like gangbusters as a redshirt freshman in ’98, when QB Richard Walton was injured early on.
Behind a star-studded veteran O-line and a dude named Ricky Williams, Texas rolled to a 9-3 record and Cotton Bowl championship. Major was money that season. This week, I asked one of the senior linemen, All-America guard Ben Adams, about the apple-cheeked young Applewhite of ’98. Ben said the young guy “took it like a champ” when regularly supplied with “linemen feedback” such as “get out of the way when I pull, gotta get rid of the ball faster,” etc. “I was just impressed with his overall confidence and demeanor as a young quarterback starting at Texas,” Adams testified. “I was shaking in my cleats, starting my first game as a redshirt sophomore.”
Applewhite never really suffered a bad day at Texas and was at his best on the bigger stages, sparking wins over Nebraska, wins over OU and A&M, multiple comeback victories. But after earning Big XII Offensive Player of the Year as a soph, he tore up a knee in a bowl game against Arkansas. In his recuperative junior year, he saved UT’s and Chris Simms’s bacon in several games, generally rotating with the sophomore from New Jersey.
Applewhite and Simms
But come 2001, Coach Mack Brown elected to go with Simms, the former number one recruit, as his starter.
To the chagrin of numerous Longhorn fans, Applewhite got to throw only 21 passes in the 10-1 regular season. He never took a snap in the loss to OU, despite Texas scoring a puny three points. But when Simms floundered in the conference title game against Colorado, ringing up four turnovers in under two quarters, then jamming a finger, Major was ready. Despite inheriting a 19-point deficit, Major twice led the Horns to within a TD of the lead and victory.
It was not to be. The Buffs, losers by four TDs to Texas in October, escaped with the title. With Applewhite’s final game as a Longhorn looming, Brown named him the starter for San Diego’s Holiday Bowl against Coach Rick Neuheisel’s Washington team.
One could forgive Major for at least a little rust that evening. The Horns and Huskies were scoreless in the first period. Then the wheels — and arms — loosened up, with 90 points piled up in the next three quarters. Late in the third, though, Texas was down 36-19. Another 19-point margin to face, and this one was on Major.
1998 Applewhite hands off to Ricky Williams
He owned it. Can you say “24 unanswered points?” Applewhite and company could and did. The veteran QB hit Roy Williams eleven times and spread it around to eight receivers. A lanky backup wideout named Kyle Shanahan even made a catch.
But UW’s Huskies had their own magic with QB Cody Pickett, rallying to take the lead, 43-40, with barely 100 ticks remaining.
The Horns needed another Dusty Mangum field goal to force OT.
Naaah. Seven plays, 79 seconds and 80 yards later, big Ivan Williams crashed in for a Texas touchdown. The Horns had their first bowl victory in three years, a 47-43 triumph.
Applewhite, in the lone start of his last season had led his Longhorns to what was then their biggest comeback ever.
The game’s MVP, Major completed 37 of 55 passes for a UT record 473 yards. Always good, he had never looked better.
Number eleven went out in style. Call it a fitting farewell for the man who re-wrote the UT passing record book.
And who never voiced a gripe while riding the pine after three stellar seasons on The Forty Acres. It worked out in the end.
Author of Article on the Holiday Bowl is Larry Carlson
