Texas Longhorns, fans not on the same page

Who is Correct: Texas Longhorn Fans or Texas Longhorn Coaches/Players?

Should Mack Brown go?

[quote]AUSTIN - At least Quandre Diggs tried to see things from the other side.

If anything has been apparent about the state of Texas football over the past two months, it's the glaring disconnect that exists between the way players and coaches perceive the program and the way it's viewed by its fan base. Both groups talk a lot about progress and a UT standard, but they clearly disagree on what those terms mean. One side acts like all is well, the other acts like the sky is falling, and the result is that week after week, at least one member of the Longhorns faces the media and looks stunned to be asked about the team's struggles.

It could be argued that Diggs, a sophomore cornerback who's been around the program since his brother Quentin Jammer starred at UT more than a decade ago, understands Longhorns fans' expectations better than any of his peers. And that's why what he said Monday was so revealing. "I feel like if we're 8-3, we should get some love," Diggs said. "But I understand where y'all are coming from."

Diggs' admirable effort to keep an open mind notwithstanding, this is the point: If the Longhorns truly expect to be praised after losing three games (with a distinct chance to make it five) in one season, they do not understand where the fans or media or any other outsider is coming from at all.[/qupte]

Opposing views clash

Call it an image gap. Every college football program in America has one to some degree, but UT's is growing. When coach Mack Brown said Monday that he thinks the Longhorns have "made great progress" this season, the message boards and talk-show lines lit up before he even finished his sentence.

It doesn't necessarily matter if Brown might be absolutely right or if he's completely wrong. Whether one side is being unrealistic or the other is out of touch is irrelevant. At issue is the fact that Brown's description of UT football is, to perhaps the greatest degree since John Mackovic talked about blips on radar screens, different than that of most people who support it.

"We're a whole lot ahead of where we were last year," Brown said this week. "I think the future is really bright." That doesn't jibe with the lamentations of doom heard in the Royal-Memorial Stadium grandstands during a panic-inducing loss to TCU on Thanksgiving.