THE END OF THE ROAD FOR BAYLOR

by Larry Carlson for  https//texaslsn.org

The Texas Longhorns have a business trip in Waco on Saturday.  

Take care of business, UT.  And never play Baylor again.  Ever.

Don’t grant the private school a hefty paycheck to take on an SEC team at DKR-TMS.

And certainly never again take a bus ride up I-35.

It should be an easy, crisp business decision for Chris Del Conte and UT’s brain trust.

For Texas, there is simply nothing to be gained by occasionally resuming the long rivalry that the Horns lead handily, 80-28-4.  

Let’s face it. Had it not been for the power politicking done by then “guv” Ann Richards and Attorney General Jim Mattox, Baylor would have been left out of the Big XII and the series would have been buried in 1995.

Zero room now for any politics, any sentimentality.  These schools won’t be in the same conference any longer.  And Baylor has never been in Texas’ league, so to speak.  Any football program that schedules Long Island University, whatever that is, need not apply to play Texas after this season.

Yes, Baylor has gone a feisty 6-7 against UT in the Horns’ recent 13 seasons of discontent, following the careers of Vince Young, Colt McCoy and others.  But Texas won 12 in a row over the the Bears in Mack Brown’s first dozen years at the Forty Acres.  

Baylor has plenty of donors, plenty of money.  And a nice little stadium that’s easy to fill when the Bruins are competitive.  They have a chance to regularly compete well in the strange outfit to be known as the “new” Big XII.  And the Baptist school is guaranteed to stage a holy war against the hated Longhorns

in Waco, come Saturday.  One more win against Texas would be a crowning achievement for the Baylor team, the university, the alumni base and perhaps, for all time.  Should the Bears take the fight to Texas and ruin UT’s momentum, it might be a really bad bump in the road for Texas.  For Baylor, it would be a monumental victory, the way it was in 1974 when the green and gold upset Texas and ended UT’s streak of six consecutive Southwest Conference titles and 16 straight series victories under Darrell Royal.

Baylor kept the scoreboard lights on for 24 hours after that win almost 50 years ago.  

It’s time for an ice-cold, businesslike tail-whipping by the Longhorns against a team that will play with its collective hair on fire.  Do not give the Baylor faithful a celebratory chance to drink and dance.

Turn out the scoreboard lights quickly.  Just take care of biz and get out of town.  Forever.

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