Visit from No. 4 TCU sets up another opportunity for Texas' first top-5 home win since 1999

The last time the Texas Longhorns defeated a team ranked within the top five of the AP Poll at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium, a significant number of Texas players hadn’t even been born yet. With No. 4 TCU coming to town on Saturday, the Texas program has a chance to gain a win over a top-five team for the first time since late in the last millennium.

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“The idea that we have an opportunity to do something like that I think as a competitor, naturally, instills a little bit more motivation there,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday. “Maybe that has a guy watch film for another hour throughout the week. Maybe do a little more recovery. Has a guy question maybe that he’s uncertain about.”

Texas is 0-2 in the 2000s against top-five teams. The last win occurred on October 23, 1999, when the No. 3 Nebraska Cornhuskers ventured from Lincoln, Neb. to Austin, Texas to take on the No. 18 Longhorns in the second year of Mack Brown’s tenure as UT head coach.

Nebraska was coming off of a down year compared to their lofty mid-1990s standards. After taking home the national title in 1997, the 1998 Huskers went 9-4, breaking a string of five consecutive seasons with double-digit wins. The ’99 NU team sought to gain revenge for a 20-16 loss to the Longhorns in Memorial Stadium the year prior. Their search would prove unsuccessful.

Despite being outgained by the Cornhuskers 429 to 275, Texas won 24-20. Nebraska fumbled five times and lost three, including two surrendered by 2001 Heisman winner Eric Crouch. Major Applewhite had two touchdown passes, including the eventual game-winner to Mike Jones with under six minutes left.

Since that game, the Longhorns have played at home as a top five team on 31 different occasions. However, top five teams have ventured into DKR just two times since the Longhorns’ win over Big Red in 1999. Both visitors left the Forty Acres victorious.

In 2006, the season following Texas’ fourth national title, the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes traveled to face newly-minted starter Colt McCoy and the No. 2 Longhorns. Troy Smith, that year’s Heisman winner, finished 17-for-26 with 269 yards and two scores. Antonio Pittman added a touchdown on the ground to top the Longhorns 24-7 in the second game of the season.

Texas played as a top-five team on several more occasions in the coming seasons, but wouldn’t host another team in the upper echelon of college football until the then-No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide traveled to Austin earlier this year.

Alabama emerged with the victory thanks to Bryce Young‘s heroics and a late go-ahead field goal. At the time, the Longhorns probably didn’t expect to host another highly-ranked team in their remaining home games, but the TCU Horned Frogs had different plans.

Sonny Dykes’ team heads south on IH-35 with a 9-0 record and a 6-0 mark in the Big 12. After starting the season unranked, TCU surged into the top 10 in mid-October and into the top five less than a month later thanks to quarterback Max Duggan, running back Kendre Miller, and wide receiver Quentin Johnston.

When toe meets leather on Saturday, Sarkisian will be in search of his second career win over an AP top-five opponent. The first? It took place during his first season as a head coach in 2009, when his Washington Huskies defeated No. 3 USC in Seattle.

A number of teams have visited Texas with a ranking inside the top 10, the last being No. 6 LSU in 2019 when the Longhorns themselves were ranked No. 9. Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, and Terrace Marshall helped the Tigers leave with a 45-38 win on their way to the national championship.

TCU will be the third top five team this century to visit Texas. On Saturday, the Longhorns look to improve to 1-2 in games against such highly-ranked opponents.

“The reality of it is, you’ve got to go play the game, but it sets the stage for a great opportunity for us for something we haven’t done in a while,” Sarkisian said.