1998 Texas Longhorns football team

1998 Big 12 Conference football standings
	Northern Division
	Southern Division
	Championship: Texas A&M 36, Kansas State 33
	$ – BCS representative as conference champion; x – Division champion/co-champions; Rankings from AP Poll

1998 Texas Longhorns football
1998 Texas Longhorns football
Cotton Bowl Classic champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 38–11 vs. Mississippi State
Conference	Big 12 Conference
	South Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 16
AP	No. 15
1998 record	9–3 (6–2 Big 12)
Head coach	Mack Brown (1st season);
Offensive coordinator	Greg Davis (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Carl Reese (1st season)
Home stadium	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 79,471)
	Seasons ← 1997 1999 →

The 1998 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin during the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season. They were represented in the Big 12 Conference in the South Division. They played their home games at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. The team was coached by head coach Mack Brown.

Regular season[]

Ricky Williams had a sensational senior season, highlighted by rushing for nine touchdowns and 385 yards in the season's first two games; rushing for 318 yards and six touchdowns against Rice; rushing for 350 yards and five touchdowns against Iowa State; and rushing for 150 yards against Nebraska's legendary Blackshirts defense. He also helped beat longtime rival Oklahoma rushing for 166 rushing yards and two scores.

Williams broke the career rushing record during the annual rivalry game held the day after Thanksgiving (this particular year fell on November 27, 1998) between Texas and Texas A&M. Needing only 63 yards to break Tony Dorsett's 22-year-old NCAA Division I-A all-time rushing record (6,082), Ricky Williams approached the line of scrimmage with 1:45 seconds left in the first quarter having already rushed for 54 yards. At first and ten on the Texas forty yard line, quarterback Major Applewhite handed off to Williams who broke two tackles, sprinted into open field and received a down field block from receiver Wane McGarity for a 60-yard touchdown run and the record. Williams' record-breaking run gave Texas a 10–0 lead in its eventual 26–24 upset of sixth-ranked Texas A&M. He finished the game racking up 295 yards. He also broke the NCAA Division I-A career rushing touchdowns and career scoring records in 1998 with 73 and 452 respectively (topped one year later by Miami University's Travis Prentice), and rushed for 200 or more yards in twelve different games (an NCAA record he shares with Dayne and USC's Marcus Allen). Williams won the 64th Heisman Trophy, becoming the second Texas Longhorn to win this honor, joining Earl Campbell. Williams was sometimes known as the "Texas Tornado."^[1]

Schedule[]

The Longhorns finished the regular season with an 8–3 record and defeated #25 Mississippi State in the 1999 Cotton Bowl Classic, 38–11.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	6:00 p.m.	New Mexico State*		Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	PPV	W 66–36	75,914
September 12	2:30 p.m.	at No. 6 UCLA*	No. 23	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	ABC	L 31–49	73,070
September 19	2:30 p.m.	at No. 5 Kansas State		KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	ABC	L 7–48	43,714
September 26	6:00 p.m.	Rice*		Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)	FSN	W 59–21	71,486
October 3	6:00 p.m.	Iowa State		Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	PPV	W 54–33	70,681
October 10	11:30 a.m.	vs. Oklahoma		Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Red River Shootout)	FSN	W 34–3	75,587
October 24	6:00 p.m.	Baylor		Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	FX	W 30–20	81,437
October 31	2:30 p.m.	at No. 7 Nebraska		Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	ABC	W 20–16	76,434
November 7	2:30 p.m.	Oklahoma State	No. 20	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	ABC	W 37–34	81,437
November 14	6:00 p.m.	at Texas Tech	No. 18	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (Battle for the Chancellor's Spurs)	FSN	L 35–42	50,647
November 27	10:00 a.m.	No. 6 Texas A&M		Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)	ABC	W 26–24	83,687
January 1, 1999	10:00 a.m.	vs. No. 25 Mississippi State*	No. 20	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl Classic)	FOX	W 38–11	72,611
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[2]

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	RV	23	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	20	18	25	NR	20	20	15
Coaches Poll	RV	23	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	23	21	NR	NR	23	22	16
BCS	Not released								NR	14	15	23	NR	NR	NR	Not released

1998 team players in the NFL[]

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Ricky Williams	Running back	1	5	New Orleans Saints
Wane McGarity	Wide receiver	4	118	Dallas Cowboys
Jay Humphrey	Tackle	4	125	Minnesota Vikings

^[3]

Game summaries[]

at #5 Kansas State[]

Kansas State welcomed Texas for their first Big 12 Conference matchup, and first meeting since 1942, and Texas' first trip to Manhattan since 1926. 1998 Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams was held to just 43 yards on 25 carries for an average of just 1.7 yards per carry. He did not score in the game. Williams averaged 202 rushing yards per game in 1998 and was held to a season low 43 years, his next lowest yardage output was 90 yards against Oklahoma State. K-State racked up 223 yards on the ground on 51 carries and the Wildcats won handily, 48–7.

Awards and honors[]

Ricky Williams, Heisman Trophy^[4]
Ricky Williams, Walter Camp Award^[5]
Ricky Williams, Maxwell Award^[6]
Ricky Williams, Doak Walker Award
Ricky Williams, Consensus All-American^[7]

References[]

^ Richard, Dave (December 9, 2002). "Q & A: Williams makes it look easy". Miami Dolphins. Archived from the original on November 14, 2006. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
^ "MackBrown-TexasFootball.com - Official website of the Texas Longhorns - Texas Football". Archived from the original on 2010-11-01. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
^ "1964 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-23.
^ "Heisman.com - Heisman Trophy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
^ "Football".
^ "Football".
^ http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/DI/2010/Awards.pdf

[1] Richard, Dave (December 9, 2002). "Q & A: Williams makes it look easy". Miami Dolphins. Archived from the original on November 14, 2006. Retrieved January 26, 2007.

[2] "MackBrown-TexasFootball.com - Official website of the Texas Longhorns - Texas Football". Archived from the original on 2010-11-01. Retrieved 2012-03-13.

[3] "1964 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-23.

[4] "Heisman.com - Heisman Trophy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2007-04-16.

[5] "Football".

[6] "Football".

[7] ttp://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/DI/2010/Awards.pdf

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v t Texas Longhorns football
Venues	Clark Field (1896–1924) Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium (1924–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arkansas Nebraska Oklahoma: Red River Showdown (Golden Hat) Rice TCU Texas A&M Texas Tech
Culture & lore	History Brown years Bevo Hook 'em "Texas Fight" Hex Rally 1969 "Game of the Century" Longhorn Band The University of Texas National Championship 2005 2005 Ohio State game 2007 player suspensions 2008 Texas Tech game 2008 Big 12 South 3-way tie controversy 1 Second Left My All American
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks All-Americans Statistical leaders NFL draftees
Seasons	1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

1998 Big 12 Conference football standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
Northern Division
No. 10 Kansas State x		8	–	0		11	–	2
No. 19 Nebraska		5	–	3		9	–	4
No. 21 Missouri		5	–	3		8	–	4
Colorado		4	–	4		8	–	4
Kansas		1	–	7		4	–	7
Iowa State		1	–	7		3	–	8
Southern Division
No. 11 Texas A&M x$		7	–	1		11	–	3
No. 15 Texas		6	–	2		9	–	3
Texas Tech		4	–	4		7	–	5
Oklahoma State		3	–	5		5	–	6
Oklahoma		3	–	5		5	–	6
Baylor		1	–	7		2	–	9
Championship: Texas A&M 36, Kansas State 33
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll