MAJOR "What if...?" FLASHBACKS
By Larry Carlson https://texaslsn.orgMajor Applewhite is a storied quarterbackin' figure in UT history, a record-setter and cucumber-cool finisher who already qualifies as polished top brass among the ranks of Longhorn fan favorites.
But how much brighter would his star shine, had he been provided with a few more opportunities at Texas?
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What if he had played against OU in 2001, his senior season?What if he had been the starter – or even just been handed the reins a few minutes earlier in the Big XII championship game against Colorado?
Coaches hate hypothetical questions and the reporters who ask them. And coaches do not like being second-guessed. Especially after things have marinated for, oh, say 23 years. Let me beat the quarter-century statute of limitations.
Apologies, Mack Brown.
If you were at the Cotton Bowl in '01, you saw two menacing defenses playing lights out. Oklahoma led 7-3 midway through the final period when the Sooners got the ball again in its own territory. Press box jockeys and fans between the 20 yardlines noticed that Major Applewhite took it upon himself to begin warming up in the shadows of the Texas bench on the west sideline. Having missed the final three games of his junior season in 2000 because of a knee injury, Major was bypassed by Chris Simms in August when Brown named the lefty from New Jersey as his QB-1. Simms looked sharp in four Texas blowout wins in September. This day, though, Simms had been relentlessly hurried by the Sooners and was averaging just over four yards per attempt on 40 passes. The UT ground machine was stuck in park and had gained but 22 yards all afternoon. Highly touted freshman Cedric Benson, deemed by Brown as not quite ready for the rigors of pass protection, remained on the bench.But could Applewhite spark a punchless burnt orange offense?
We never found out. Texas got the ball back with two minutes to play, 93 yards from victory. Simms trotted out to the end zone with the offense. Seconds later, Oklahoma sealed the win. In what became OU's most-replayed defensive highlight ever, Sooner safety Roy Williams soared like Superman over the Horns and crashed into Simms. The ball fluttered into LB Teddy Lehman's grateful grasp and OU ran out the clock for a scruffy 14-3 verdict.
Simms' statline was 24 of 42 for 198 yards. With four interceptions.
Applewhite's day was filed under DNP...did not play. The guy who had thrown for more than 700 yards with six TD passes against two picks in three Texas-OU games, was unavailable to reporters after the game. Simms wasn't allowed to speak up and take ownership. His head coach butted in when a writer asked about the interceptions, saying "I'll take that one for Chris..."
Contrary to what many fans believe, Brown did not pull Simms in December's Big XII championship game against Colorado, following four quick Simms turnovers that led to 22 points and a 29-10 second quarter lead. Simms hurt his left thumb on a Buffalo helmet and Brown at last summoned Applewhite from the bullpen. On his second play, Major hit a streaking BJ Johnson over the middle for a 79-yard TD. Memorably, Applewhite sprinted down the field in front of Colorado's bench, shaking a Hook 'em Horns warning sign that the game was on.
You likely remember the rest. A team beaten 41-7 by Texas in the regular season had just enough left in the final 30 minutes and won 39-37, elbowing Texas out of a national title shot they would have to wait another four years for. Applewhite had been money. But Texas roughed the CU punter late, when the game was on the line. So...well, we'll never know.
"I was stunned with what happened to me," Simms said in post-game remarks. "We had a chance to go to the Rose Bowl. I don't know what happened."
Four days later, Brown tabbed Major as UT's starter for the Holiday Bowl matchup, After a slow start in San Diego, he rallied Texas from 19 down for a rousing 47-43 tingler over Washington.
Applewhite, who had set 47 passing records at UT, saved room for one more. He dissected the Huskies' defense for four touchdowns and 473 yards, a single-game yardage mark that still stands.
Applewhite always had what college kids today call, "the rizz." Charisma. The "it" factor. A terminal case of cool under fire. And then he rode out his senior season – when many felt he should still be starting – without complaint, soaring above the turmoil fueled by media and fans. He could stand on his record.
It was 26 Septembers ago since the guy some teammates called "Opie" took over the Longhorn huddle. Luckless senior QB Richard Walton went down with an injury in game two of Coach Mack Brown's first season at Texas. Walton, a tall senior from Bay City, had waited patiently for three years as James Brown's backup.
Applewhite, a redheaded redshirt freshman from Baton Rouge, went 8-2 as the accidental starter. If he looked to some like the kid down the street, he loomed large to opponents as the baby-faced gunslinger who stared down the bad guys and restored law and order to the Lone Star state.
The 1998 season was a star-spangled one for the triumvirate of Ricky Williams, Brown and Applewhite. Ricky became college ball's all-time leading rusher en route to the Heisman, Mack was quickly anointed as the potential second coming of DKR and Major was the Big XII Freshman of the Year. He hooked up with WR Wane McGarity for the longest play in UT history, a 97-yard touchdown pass in the 34-3 pasting of OU. And he coolly engineered late, late drives to lead Texas to victories in its two other biggest games. Applewhite hit McGarity for the score that ended Nebraska's remarkable 47-game home win streak on Halloween afternoon. A month later he directed a textbook two-minute drill – 70 yards in eleven plays – to set up Kris Stockton's dagger of a field goal to upset sixth-ranked A&M with just seconds left. Then the Longhorns crunched Mississippi State in the Cotton Bowl and Austin threw a parade for a team that had lost 3 games. The cold ghost of Mackovic and Rout 66?
Just a bad dream, baby.
All of that was a long time ago.
This summer, Major Applewhite turned 46. Still youthful in appearance, he is preparing for his second go-round as a college head coach. Applewhite is in Mobile, boss of the University of South Alabama. As offensive coordinator for the Jags last year he helped lead USA to its first bowl game, a 59-10 spanking of Eastern Michigan. He twice served on the staff at Texas and twice coached for Alabama, the team he loved most as a kid. At Texas, in 2013, Applewhite admitted he was disciplined by UT for "having an inappropriate relationship with a student at the 2009 Fiesta Bowl."
He left the Forty Acres several years later to work as OC/QB coach at Houston for Tom Herman. When Herman acquired the Texas head coaching position, Applewhite was hired to lead the U of H program. He took the Coogs to bowl games in each of his first two seasons. But he took a rap for a dust-up with Outland Trophy winner Ed Oliver and then a blowout Armed Forces Bowl loss to Army resulted in his firing. Insiders in the Bayou City said UH billionaire super-booster Tilman Fertitta was the catalyst, pushing strongly to oust Applewhite in favor of West Virginia's Dana Holgersen. After five seasons and a record just over .500 at Houston, Holgersen was canned last fall.
So now Applewhite owns the keys to the Jaguars for perhaps his final drive for success as a college head coach. Win big for a season or two, and a higher profile head coaching job would seem likely for Major. The Sun Belt, though, is widely acknowledged as the most rugged, most competitive "group of five" conference in America. It will not make for a menu of easy wins. Appalachian State, Louisiana and Texas State are rated higher than South Alabama in preseason polls.
But circle Sept. 28 on your football calendar.
That's when Major Applewhite gets to guide his troops into his old hometown, Baton Rouge, for a date with LSU at Death Valley.
Brian Kelly, the Bayou Bengals' head coach, is not about to overlook the Jags.
"That will be one of those games where after you schedule it, you're like, 'Could we have done something different here?'," Kelly said at SEC Media Days, smiling wryly. "They're a challenging football team, and Major...obviously I have a lot of respect for what he has accomplished."
Major did not get that one drive against that OU defense in 2001. Or an earlier introduction to Colorado in the title game two months later.
You can't go back, only forward.
And the burnt orange-blooded citizens of Longhorn Nation know to never count out the preternaturally cool cat who wore number eleven back in the day.
Does Major still have "the rizz?"
Nobody who knows him is going to doubt him.
TLSN
(TLSN's Larry Carlson teaches sports media classes at Texas State University.
He is a member of the Football Writers Association of America.)
