Could not stand the Weather by Professor Larry Carlson

“If you don’t like the weather in Texas, just wait five minutes and it’ll change.”

You’ve heard that one since you were a tadpole.

And you no doubt learned early on that, unlike other outdoor sporting pursuits, the show goes on with football. It’s similar to the U.S. Postal Service’s longtime motto, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night…” in that football promises to deliver, regardless of the climatological conditions.

University of Texas football teams have regularly toiled in high heat and humidity. To date, the hottest stage for a UT game was the 2023 season opener against Rice at DKR. Okay, I’ll succumb to it: Texas boiled Rice, 37-10. Plenty of games have felt pretty damn hot. That’s a given.

But the Longhorns — at home, on the road and in neutral territory — have sampled their share of frog stranglers, wild winds, freezing cold, a few bouts with snow…even once in Austin. Let’s trek through some memorable settings and outcomes from the pigskin past. No, this won’t cover every game impacted by weather but here’s a sample set.

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2013: Weird and Wacky Weather

If you set out to peg a season as a metaphor for stormy weather, you could do worse than 2013. That’s even if you’re not afflicted with triskaidekaphobia. You know, the fear of the number 13.

The Longhorns had gone 8-5 and 9-4 after a 5-7 mess that somehow followed UT’s championship appearance against Alabama to close the ’09 season and the Colt McCoy era. It was clear that Longhorn Nation had somewhat lost that lovin’ feeling for Mack Brown. Would 2013 return UT and Mack to prominence? As it unfolded, the forecast called for pain.

After an obligatory blowout of New Mxico State’s Aggies in the opener, number 15 Texas flew west to face BYU. Early September brought a deluge to the Provo area and delayed kickoff time for two hours. It only prolonged a humiliating night, a 40-21 beatdown. Cougar QB Taysom Hill ran for 259 yards, averaging 18 yards per carry. BYU scorched Texas for 550 yards on the ground. That set a dubious defensive record. Call if foreshadowing. Call it embarrassing and plenty of x-rated words.

One week later, Ole Miss piled on and punked the Horns. But after the two non-conference routs, UT put Humpty Dumpty together for six straight Big XII wins.

Within that streak was a bizarre October night in Fort Worth. A three-hour rain/lightning delay midway through the contest pushed the final gun to 40 minutes past midnight in old Cowtown. Texas won handily, 30-7. Curiously, the brain trust elected to burn the redshirt of freshman QB Tyrone Swoopes with five minutes remaining in game seven. The 6-5, 245-pounder was projected as UT’s future savior at quarterback. He ran three times for minus two yards as UT ran the clock down.

“He handed off magnificently,” noted Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman.

In spite of a mid-November blowout loss to Oklahoma State, Texas was still in contention for the Big XII title when the Horns journeyed to Waco in early December for the regular season finale and the last game to be played at dreary, ugly Floyd Casey Stadium. It was freezing that afternoon and the Horns and Bears retreated to the snug comfort of the locker rooms at halftime with the score tied, 3-3. Then Baylor warmed up and punched in 17 third-quarter points to ice the Horns. While BU’s Bryce Petty threw for almost 300 yards, UT’s Case McCoy managed but 54 passing yards in the frigid air. The Bruins triumphed, 30-10, earning their first Big XII trophy.

“We knew Mack was gonna be fired,” Bohls — now with the Houston Chronicle — said this week, recalling the bitter weather and Mack’s final conference game with Texas. The Horns lost three of their last four, including a lopsided loss to Oregon in the Alamo Bowl. The Brown era, so rich for so long, had ended on the skids with 21 defeats in the final four seasons. But UT’s fortunes were about to really fall down the well.

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Larry’s Favorite Weather Tunes

The Summer Wind Frank Sinatra

Riders On The Storm The Doors

Rainy Night In Georgia Brook Benton

I Can’t Stand The Rain Ann Peebles AND the version by Eruption

In The Rain The Dramatics

Kentucky Rain Elvis

The Rain Oran “Juice” Jones

Purple Rain Prince

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RAINY DAYS & MUD-DAYS, THUNDER & LIGHTNING

Texas 15 Tx A&M 13 College Station 1963

Enough rain fell in Brazos County as Thanksgiving ’63 approached, with the top-ranked, 9-0 Longhorns set to visit their country hosts, 2-6-1. A&M officials later spoke of tarps that leaked but the field was in ridiculous condition and Darrell Royal was apoplectic.

UT’s shoeless placekicker, Tony Crosby did manage a 27-yard first quarter field goal from a hashmark. “The field at the 10-yardline was so muddy that when the kicking tee was placed on the ground it disappeared in the slop,” Crosby told writer Gaylon Krizak many years later. The ag school had perfected cultivating the slop and led 13-3 into the fourth quarter. But behind the passing of backup QB Tommy Wade, UT rallied to win a hair-raising 15-13 verdict. The Horns later put an exclamation point on their first national championship by beating #2 Navy, and Heisman winner Roger Staubach, 28-6, in the Cotton Bowl.

Texas 15 Arkansas 14, Fayetteville 1969

A cold rain fell through the night on “Big Shootout Eve” in the Ozarks. It was a misty mountain hop to Razorback Stadium for the visiting Longhorns. Foggy, drizzly, 38 degrees for the national title game between number one Texas and second-ranked Arkansas. “It was cold,” Texas halfback Billy Dale recalls now. “But it was cold for them, too.”

Dale said that slipping on the Astroturf and not getting traction was more of a concern than the temperature.

Defensive back Tom Campbell, who would smack the chef’s kiss on UT’s historic victory with a late interception, well remembers the desperate search for cleats that would grip. He and his twin brother, LB Mike Campbell, were among the Horns who got back to the bench area after several series of slip-sliding away and found that their spare shoes had been tied in pairs and thrown in duffel bags. The shoes were joined “in a seriously good knot,” according to Tom in a TLSN interview of several years ago. The Campbells and their teammates went to work on the knots. “If we had had to go on the field during that time, we would have had a big problem,” Campbell said.

Texas turned the ball over six times that frosty day. Four fumbles and two interceptions.

The Texas “D” fought that daunting reality off, along with the inhospitable weather of “The Land of Opporturnity,” and the offense re-grouped and surged back from a 14-0 burial to a 15-point fourth quarter comeback win that sticks as UT’s brightest orange tower win of the 20th Century.

Arkansas 31, Texas 7 Little Rock 1971

Texas was without Eddie Phillips at quarterback. And backup Donnie Wigginton was barely able to take the beating he did, no thanks to a painful rib injury. Meanwhile, Arkansas’s Joe Ferguson had a big night. It all happened amid rainstorms. About the only UT highlights came on special teams. Dean Campbell zipped off a long punt return and Jay Arnold became the first to ever block a field goal attempt by All-American Bill McClard. But what still stands out to Jay is the weather and the Arkansas fans who launched full oranges and empty whiskey bottles at Longhorn players.

“After about two minutes on the sidelines, Coach Royal made everybody put on their helmets with orders not to take them off at any point in the game.”

Footnote: After crippling, back-to-back, lopsided losses to OU and Arkansas, UT was written off by many “experts.” But while Texas rebounded with five straight conference wins, the fat and sassy Hogs lost to a lousy A&M team and tied an even lousier Rice squad. The Horns earned their fourth straight Southwest Conference championship by a half-game, the hard way.

Wigginton scored 14 TDs for a UT record and was named SWC Offensive MVP.

Texas 35, Arkansas 15 Austin 1972

A year after the deluge in Little Rock, it poured on the Horns and Hogs on a 75-degree mid-October Austin night. That heavy rain was the backdrop for the nationally televised game. The UT offense sputtered early and Texas trailed,

9-7, at halftime.

But QB Alan Lowry and phenomenal sophomore FB Roosevelt Leaks both rambled for over 150 yards and the Horns made a splash with 28 unanswered second half points.

The Longhorns were headed for a 10-1 season, champs of the SWC for the fifth year in a row and winners of the Cotton Bowl against Alabama.

Texas 15, Oklahoma 15 Dallas 1984

It was the heavyweight fight with all the hype. All the ammo. But no decision.

The Longhorns were number one and the Sooners were ranked second. The state fairgrounds were soaked. Cotton candy and corny dogs were soggy.

“It didn’t just rain, it was a relentless downpour,” UT’s All-American kicker, Jeff Ward, told me in a TLSN interview several years ago. “Truthfully, I’ve never played in a more intense, chaotic game. Neither of us played very well but the game was played in an angry way and the entire stadium had an angry vibe, for good reason,” Ward said.

Texas led, 10-zip, at half. OU took a 15-10 lead by the end of the third period.

The game officials missed key calls on both sides.

In punt formation with scarcely two minutes to go, the Okies snapped one out of the end zone rather than risk a punt. But Barry Switzer’s strategic two-point giveaway by backfired. Big time.

The Longhorns drove into scoring position and went for the win.

There was no such thing as a dry football that day, but UT Coach Fred Akers kept trying the airways and Todd Dodge (6 of 24) aimed for a Texas receiver in the end zone with just seconds left. OU argued that Keith Stansberry picked the ball off but the officials ruled otherwise. Waterlogged ball and all, Ward went out and banged a 32-yarder through as time expired. Since college football was still 12 years away from overtime, it was over. UT 15, OU 15.

Nobody was happy, and Ward said that Akers, in the post-game locker room, was furious about not winning. But the kicker can at least smirk now about denying the Sooners a win. “The ball we used to make the kick was stamped ‘OKLAHOMA’. It was their ball and it weighed five pounds.”

Rice 19, Texas 17, 1994

Re-run this one in the black-and-white version of your mental replay.

Stop-and-go drizzle in sad, half-empty Rice Stadium on an October Sunday night — that’s right, Sunday — set the Twilight Zone mood. The Owls had lost 29 straight to the Horns, dating back to ’65.

But now, Texas seemed to be sleepwalking in a fog. And Texas fans swore that the rain picked up consistently when UT had the football, halting when Rice played offense. As a witness, this writer saw it that way, too. The fates? Providence? Rod Serling?

Rice held the Horns to 16 yards rushing on 22 attempts. UT quarterback Shea Morenz threw for 183 yards and both Texas TDs but the Flock led most of the way, and held on for the victory.

Footnote: A&M, unbeaten, once-tied (by SMU) was on probation, so Rice’s drought-busting win over the Horns enabled the Owls to finish in a tie for what passed in ’94 as the SWC title, along with Texas, TCU, Tech and Baylor. Only in the Twilight Zone. Cue the music.

Texas 40 Missouri 10 Austin 1996

Welcome to the Big XII ! Welcome to newly-named Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium! The Tigers and Longhorns were duking it out on a hot August night, UT’s first league game since the dissolution of the Southwest Conference. And mid-way through the third quarter, with Texas ahead 27-10, lightning and a torrential downpour resulted in another first…a weather delay at the venerable stadium with a new moniker. Fans sought shelter under the leaky concrete shell but a few dared to belly-flop on the field’s turf, a new twist on Slip’n’Slide. When play resumed, thousands of fans had morphed into shirtless and giddy mode. The Daily Texan reported that eleven were arrested, six for public intoxication. “I think some of the rain coming off the fans would be about 80 proof,” Texas safety Chris Carter observed, after his team had poured on 13 more points to drown the Tigers’ hopes.

Spoiler alert: The Horns had left clues that they might be a force in the leauge. Ricky Williams ran for more than 100 yards, James Brown threw for two touchdowns and the defense was stingy. The boys in burnt orange went on to capture the first Big XII crown, besting Nebraska in a monster December upset in St. Louis.

Texas 37 Iowa St. 14 Austin 2006

The seventh-ranked Longhorns took control early and led the Cyclones, 30-14, at halftime. Freshman QB Colt McCoy and UT stretched the lead to 37-14 in the third period. Menacing clouds and lightning prevailed before the fourth quarter, and a 70-minute delay prolonged ISU’s misery. The final period was scoreless.

Maryland 34 Texas 29, Landover, MD 2018

The Terrapins had ruined UT coach Tom Herman’s debut in September 2017, hanging half-a-hundred on the burnt orange in Austin, upsetting a 23rd-ranked team, 51-41.

It couldn’t happen again, could it? Texas and Herman, older and wiser, would be ready when the Horns traveled to the Old Line State in September 2018.

But it was deja vu all over again, in Yogi Berra terminology. Heck, Terrapins are made for watery conditions, unlike Longhorns, used to scorched earth and mesquite beans for feed. So when the rains came to Landover, home of the Redskins, the Terps swam past the Horns and a lengthy rain delay. Sportswriter Kirk Bohls recalled last week that the press box ceiling at FedEx Field was “gushing water.” Texas led 29-24 as the final quarter began. But Maryland banged a ten-spot on the board and paddled in for the win, its second straight upset of a Longhorn team ranked 23rd to start the season.

Footnote: Texas, behind soph QB Sam Ehlinger, shook off the defeat, won six in a row and later upset Georgia in the Sugar Bowl to finish 10-4, UT’s first season of double-digit wins since ’09.

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BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE

Nebraska 19, Texas 3 Cotton Bowl, following the ’73 season

The pre-game as foreshadowing was ominous for Texas. It was 30 degrees and the Longhorns shivered in sweatshirts jammed beneath their jerseys. The Big Red players frolicked in short sleeves…such a pleasant January day. The Steers donated five turnovers to the Huskers, who pulled away after a 3-3 tie at halftime. Small consolation, but UT’s junior linebacker Wade Johnston, the pride of Agua Dulce, was named Defensive MVP. He had 17 tackles and led several goal-line stands, along with Gary Yeoman, Jay Arnold and Glen Gaspard.

Texas 32 Tx A&M 3 Austin 1974

The #8 Ags of former UT offensive whiz Emory Bellard were dead-set on their second Cotton Bowl ever. Texas, ranked 17th, was playing for pride, having been stunned several weeks earlier by a team of destiny, Baylor. The Horns would not earn a seventh straight SWC crown and Cotton Bowl bid. Weather was uglier than A&M’s yell leaders.

The wind chill was 20 degrees. A north wind howled at 30 mph. Placekicker Billy Schott remembered the fruitless pre-game attempts at kicking into the gale. “It was like kicking into a wall,” Schott said.

But Texas had first quarter wind, and the Aggies had butterfingers. Thanks to fumbles, the Longhorns took a 14-0 lead in the first minute. And a 33-yard Schott field goal made it 17-zip at the 10:31 mark.

Powered by Bill Hamilton, Doug English, Wade Johnston, Lionell Johnson and Fred Sarchet, the tough UT defense held aggy to nine first downs in the 32-3 pounding. Freshman fullback Earl Campbell bullied the Farmers for 130 yards and QB Marty Akins added 65. Texas earned a Gator Bowl invitation. The Aggies got the cold shoulder and spent another bowl-less winter, drowning sorrows at the Dixie Chicken.

Notre Dame 38 Texas 10 Cotton Bowl, following the ’77 season

The Longhorns’ heavenly (11-0, # 1) season went to hell in 35-degree weather. An overnight dusting set the snow-globe scene. Texas responded by losing three fumbles, three picks. The Irish took advantage of a Longhorn defense that was sorely missing All-Conference middle linebacker Lance Taylor, out with a shoulder injury from the A&M game. Notre Dame and QB Joe Montana made Texas pay, piling up 26 first downs and 399 yards in total “O.”

On a personal note, this reporter’s press box credentials were mistakenly NOT waiting at the Cotton Bowl’s “Will Call” window. Ninety very cold minutes later, a substitute pass was issued. But my perch was not in the press box but on a frigid, open photo deck, high above the fray. A long day for the Longhorns, a long day for KVET Radio’s youthful Sports Director…hosting the Longhorn Locker Room Post-Game Show for the first time ever after a loss, after eleven joyous postgames enjoyed with talkative heroes. Coach Fred Akers summed it all up in his response to the Irish ambush and questions about what had happened. “You ever had a bad day, man? We had a bad day, man.”

Miami 46 Texas 3 Cotton Bowl, following the 1990 season

Those in burnt orange who witnessed the carnage on this frosty day, do remember the weather. Damn, it was cold. ‘Twas 38 at kickoff in thin winter sunshine that disappeared in minutes. It just kept getting grayer, colder.

But, hey, it had to feel pretty chilly for the guys from “The U,” too.

I told my buddy next to me, that I was picking RB Chris Samuels as the man who would be UT’s game MVP. The Hurricanes kicked off, Samuels ran it back 20 yards and was tagged so hard he was knocked out. A hint of things to come.

If you’re a Stephen King horror fan, you likely know the rest. A talented and cocky band of Miami players who had attempted to intimidate Texas players all week during pre-game festivities, seemingly succeeded.

The Horns chipped in five turnovers and, in spite of 16 brazen penalties that gave back more than 200 yards, the Canes cruised to a win that proved so humiliating to Texas that UT, number three entering the game, tumbled out of the season’s final top ten.

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LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, ETC.

TCU 14 Texas 9 Austin 1959

The Horned Frogs (6-2) , ranked 18th, rode into Austin as slight underdogs to the unbeaten Longhorns, number two in the nation under third-year coach Darrell Royal. It was Nov. 14 and the weather was far beyond “unseasonable” for Central Texas.

The earliest snowfall on record had beaten jolly St. Nick by six weeks. The Memorial Stadium field was largely cleared, with snow and piles of sleet banked along the sidelines. UT’s David Kristynik opened the scoring at the end of the first quarter by blocking a punt out of the end zone, and Texas upped its lead to 9-0 after a short drive capped by a Mike Dowdle touchdown. But the defending SWC champion Frogs were undaunted. Led by a talented tackle named Bob Lilly, TCU held the Steers to but one first down in the game’s last 41 minutes. And the Cowtown crew got what it needed in the fourth quarter, a 56-yard breakaway sprint by backup HB Harry Moreland. He had been the state’s 100-yard dash champ at Arlington Heights High School The Frogs became the grinches who stole an unbeaten season for Texas. They would do it again two years later when Texas was number one in late ’61.

North Carolina 26 Texas 10 Sun Bowl, El Paso 1982

Sometimes, luck plays a part in life.

Number eight Texas got a bad break just a few days before the Christmas Day matchup against UNC. Ace QB Robert Brewer broke a thumb in practice.

That pushed inexperienced freshman Todd Dodge into UT’s man-under role.

The Sun Bowl was a misnomer this go-round for a Longhorn program returning to El Paso for the third postseason in five years. Snow flurries looked postcard pretty amid the mountains encircling the bowl but brisk winds kept attendance to below 30,000. The 12-degree wind chill made for what remains the coldest Sun Bowl game.

The Horns’ attack was stifled severely by the Heels, who surrendered just 130 yards in total offense. Twice, UT failed to score from the UNC one-yardline. The Texans were just as stubborn on “D,” paced by linebackers Mark Lang, Tony Edwards and June James.

Texas clung to a 10-3 edge when the fourth quarter began. North Carolina chipped away for three field goals and a 12-10 lead, then punched in two TDs in the last 150 seconds, finishing off the 23 unanswered points with an end zone recovery of a Texas fumble. The abominable UNC Tar Heels in snowshoes had spoiled what looked to surely be a ten-win season.

Texas 22 Nebraska 20 Lincoln, NE 2006

It’s an all-time “feel good” triumphant story for Texas and Ryan Bailey. Certainly not for Nebraska, UT’s personal pinata during the Mack Brown era.

October in the midwest, and 20 mph winds made the falling snow dance.

Trailing by a point with the clock winding low, Texas — with freshman QB Colt McCoy in command — drove to the Cornhusker five. Texas kicker Greg Johnson had hit two short field goals, one in the final period, but also missed two attempts and had a PAT blocked. His kicking leg was tight in the cold and Texas sent untested Ryan Bailey in to make the clutch kick. There was no icing Bailey. The walk-on (who would earn a scholarship) nailed it, freezing hopeful Husker hearts.

“I had no idea something like this would happen,” the unlikely hero said amid the postgame frenzy. “I was along for the ride.”

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BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

Texas Tech 31 Texas 22 Austin 1993

Texas Tech 33 Texas 9 Lubbock 1994

John Mackovic, Texas coach from 1992-1997, got blamed for many things during his checkered career with the Longhorns. In various quarters, he was criticized for everything from White House policy to the gross national product of South Sudan. Some criticism, though, he brought on himself.

Giving a Texas Tech team the opportunity to toy around with the wind? It’s akin to letting a big, surly gator choose a suffocating, stagnant bayou as your arena for a wrestling match

Against Texas Tech, first in Austin (’93), then a year later in Lubbock, sinister winds gusted to 30 mph at kickoff. In at least one of the two games, Mackovic elected to give away the wind to the Red Raiders.

In ’93, Tech blew out UT by 17-0 in the opening period, en route to a 31-22 win.

Out in Lubbock in ’94, the Raiders breezed to a 13-0 first quarter lead, a flying start to a 33-9 victory. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape and you don’t question anybody from Lubbock on experience with wind.

Mackovic once made a snarky remark about Texas folks, complaining that, “they have long memories.”

He got that one right.

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(TLSN’s Larry Carlson is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. He teaches sports media classes at Texas State University and lives in San Antonio. Write him at lc13@txstate.edu)