The Texas Longhorns did not have the perfect season they envisioned in 2013, but after playing some solid ball down the stretch, the team is in the Alamo Bowl against the Oregon Ducks for head coach Mack Brown's final game and the matchup in the Alamodome in San Antonio starts up at 6:45 pm and will be on the ESPN channel and the WatchESPN website Monday.
Bowl week continues with one of the more anticipated matchups of the schedule and this game could have been a BCS matchup a few years ago, but after some disappointing losses on both sides, the Longhorns and the Ducks will face off in Texas and this will be the swan song for Mack Brown, as he is stepping down after the game after a near two decade run at Texas. The Longhorns now have the chance to end things on a high note and after coming into the season ranked in the top 20, the team lost out on the chance to get a Big 12 conference championship and finished the season unranked and now they are playing in the Alamo Bowl after going just 1-3 against teams ranked in the top 25 this season.
Oregon comes into the game ranked 10th and their BCS chances were dashed with losses to Stanford and Arizona and now they are the final team to face Brown with the Longhorns. Brown set a high standard for himself in Austin with the Longhorns, as he averaged double digit wins and won a number of titles and he also brought home a national championship during that run, but after missing out on Texas recruits in RG3 and Johnny Manziel, time ran out for Brown and now he will be out as the team looks for a new head coach to go forward with and there are plenty of names on the list.
Brown has seemingly been on the chopping block for a couple seasons and time finally ran out for him in Austin, especially after his 1-2 start this season. The team had a nice run of six straight wins in the middle, which included a controversial one point win at Iowa State, but the team limped to a 1-2 finish and lost to Baylor in the final game of the season to lose the Big 12 and now the Bears are playing UCF in the Fiesta Bowl and once again Texas is out of the top games. Oregon's fans travel well, but this should be a nice home type game for Brown in his final game for Texas and the team will have to deal with one of the highest scoring offenses in the country in the Ducks, who average well over 500 yards per game and with the Longhorns defense ranked 57th in points against, it could mean trouble.
The Ducks come into the game ranked ninth in rushing yards per game and third in scoring with nearly 50 points per game and they are also averaging close to 300 passing yards per game with Marcus Mariota under center. The QB will be returning to school next season and that is good news for the Ducks and they come in having won two of the last three games and they are looking to end the season on a high note after falling out of the top BCS spots.
