Lone Star Statement

A cowbell-accompanied Sooners three-and-out was followed by the Longhorns' final, and most encouraging, touchdown drive of the day—encouraging in the sense that it was set up by a 62-yard ramble by Chris Ogbonnaya, who finished with 127 yards on 15 carries. Heading into the game, McCoy had been his team's leading rusher. In Ogbonnaya, a senior who made only the second start of his career on Saturday, Texas appears to have found its feature back.

Against their old rivals the Longhorns also discovered their identity as a feisty, resilient squad with no oversized egos and a penchant for team play. Those qualities will serve them well in the grind ahead: Next up is a home game against desperate and dangerous Missouri (pitting Daniel against McCoy, who replaced him this week atop the Heisman watch lists), followed by underrated Oklahoma State, also in Austin, and then an early November visit to No. 7 Texas Tech.

"If we play with less intensity," promised Brown, "we will lose."

That would be surprising, frankly. The calling cards of this Texas team, after all, are more intensity, more grit, more unity. And more cowbell.