AUSTIN, Texas — “Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!”
That’s right. Students chanted Texas coach Charlie Strong’s name. Children danced on the burnt-orange longhorn logo at midfield while the marching band blared “Deep in the Heart of Texas. That’s when PA announcer Bob Cole cut in to the celebration.
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“What a mighty fine day,” Cole said. “For the University of Texas.”
That was the aftermath at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Sunday night after Texas defeated No. 10 Notre Dame 50-47 in a double-overtime thriller that could serve as a program changer.
Strong sprinted off the field to those chants and embraced Gov. Greg Abbott and had a private conversation. The cheers swelled into the locker room.
“We needed tonight to get this program back in the spotlight,” Strong said on the podium a few minutes later. “This is a big win for us to get the program headed back.”
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Texas needed this win. Strong — who had a 11-14 record in his first two seasons — needed this win, too, and a stadium record crowd of 102,315 were in attendance on a day that flirted with a triple-digit early September heat. This place had not felt like since No. 1 Ohio State visited in 2006.
The Longhorns needed to beat a ranked team. Texas had a 7-23 record against Top 25 teams entering the night, and that included a 1-11 record at home. This was a chance to bring that swag back against a Notre Dame team that embarrassed them 38-3 in South Bend last season.
Texas didn’t have Shane Buechele that night.
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Strong met Buechele and Tyrone Swoopes before the game. He told Buechele he was starting. Then he looked at Swoopes.
“I said, ‘Swoopes. You know what’s going to happen? You’re going to have an opportunity to go win this football game for us,” Strong said.
Buechele made the start, and it wasn’t just any start. Colt McCoy’s first start was against North Texas. Vince Young’s was against Iowa State. Buechele’s first snap came trailing 7-0 after the Irish marched down the field for a quick touchdown. Buechele quickly put offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert’s up-tempo offense in motion.
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He tied the score with a 19-yard fade to Armanti Foreman for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone. Buechele’s best throw on the night came on the next possession, a sideline streak to John Burt. That pass went off Burt’s hands.
“I told him to stay calm,” Buechele said. “He said to trust him, and I did.”
The next time Buechele, who finished with 280 yards and two TDs, hit Burt for a 72-yard TD. That was part of four straight scoring drives that helped the Longhorns build a 31-14 lead.
The party was on. Or was it?
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Notre Dame erased that lead with three straight TDs of their own behind DeShone Kizer, and one came after an untimely interception from Buechele.
“I said a year ago that we probably would have lost this game because we wouldn’t have known how to finish,” Strong said. “We wouldn’t have known how to continue to play through.”
Case in point: Buechele led a TD drive with 3:19 left for a 37-35 lead, but Notre Dame’s Jarron Jones blocked the ensuing extra point and Shaun Crawford returned it for two points to tie the game.
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Double overtime ensued. The Irish and Longhorns traded touchdowns, and Notre Dame hit a field goal in the second overtime. That’s when Strong turned to Swoopes. To make that prediction come true.
“A lot of times, when you get a senior, a lot of them can actually go the other way and kind of become a problem,” Strong said. “I said, ‘Listen, I’m behind you.’”
Swoopes barreled through Notre Dame safety Avery Sebastian to get to the six-yard line, and on the next play he lunged for the game-winning score. Strong’s prediction came to fruition.
After 961 total yards between both teams, Texas had a 50-47 victory.
From there, pandemonium. Buechele made a mental note his father — former Texas Rangers third baseman Steve Buechele — gave him. Don’t get on the dogpile. Shane ignored it. He was caught in the moment.
Swoopes was, too. He finished with 18 carries for 53 yards and three TDs in the “18-Wheeler” package. He’s seen a lot of heart-breaking losses. This win was a long time coming.
“This team is different,” Swoopes said. “I know I could sense it at the winter conditioning was over and we came back; it was just different. I don’t know how to describe it. I knew we were going to keep on fighting and do what we needed to do to win.
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Big wins by big programs come with big hype, and you know how the saying goes in Texas. Oklahoma lost, TCU struggled and Baylor is still coming out of an offseason nightmare. The door is open in the Big 12.
The Longhorns, however, still walked the fine line between thrilling victory and the agony of blowing a second-half lead. That would have had Strong right back to the hot seat, where he’s been for most of past two seasons. Strong said this win doesn’t change that.
“I’ve still got a few more to go,” he said. “So I don’t have any relief. No, I don’t think you get any relief.”
Maybe not for Strong, but for one night it was different. Texas had two quarterbacks play well. Texas overcame a near-collapse. Texas is probably going to be ranked now.
“Our fans really needed that,” Strong said. “We’ve been down for a long time and people have been talking about us. It was a night for us to make it just right. At least for one game, for one game.”
For one day, too. What a mighty fine day it was.