AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eight games into the 2009 season, 1 second from 2008 still haunts and motivates Texas.
One second, one play and one loss to Texas Tech ruined the Longhorns' chance to play for a national championship.
Several Longhorns said Monday the memory of that game has been with them all year and will be over the final month of the season.
"Let's not let that happen again," quarterback Colt McCoy said. "We know that feeling and we don't want to feel it again."
It would seem Texas players would have exorcised those demons when the Longhorns beat Texas Tech 34-24 on Sept. 19, but they acknowledged the last-second defeat to Michael Crabtree and the Red Raiders in Lubbock last year has driven them motivated every day of 2009.
"It was a good lesson," defensive tackle Lamarr Houston said. "We don't ever want to leave our destiny in someone else's hands again."
That won't happen if Texas keeps winning.
At 8-0, the Longhorns are No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series standings and in sole possession of first place in the Big 12 South.
Win the division, and Texas gets to the Big 12 title game. Win that, and Texas has a clear path to the BCS championship game on Jan. 7 in Pasadena, Calif., the site of the Longhorns 2005 championship game victory against USC.
On Saturday, the Longhorns play Central Florida (5-3). The Knights were supposed to be an early season tuneup before the game got switched with Texas Tech.
Then the Longhorns travel to Baylor (3-5), which has lost four in a row, before hosting Kansas (5-3), which has lost its last three. The finale at Texas A&M (5-3) seems to be the biggest hurdle on the way to an undefeated regular season.
The Longhorns are trying to tune out talk from fans and media that they might as well start making hotel reservations in California.
"But we're the ones who have to play," senior center Chris Hall said. "We know better."
And that's when he brings up Texas Tech, that 1 disastrous second and how it keeps the Longhorns razor sharp at what could be a dull point in the season.
"With our experience last year, there are no thoughts like that with us," Hall said.
For anyone unfamiliar, No. 1 Texas fought back from 19 points down at Texas Tech to take a 33-32 lead with 89 seconds to play. Then Crabtree made the play of the year, scoring the winning touchdown with a tick left.
That play ultimately knocked Texas out of the Big 12 title game and out of a chance to play for the national title.
Roy Miller, who was a Longhorns defensive tackle last season and is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, visited his old team last week. He told them he is haunted by that second in Lubbock.
"Don't leave a play on the field," Miller told them. "It stays with you the rest of your life."
After Miller's speech, Texas thumped Oklahoma State 41-14 and got a bump from No. 3 to No. 2 in the rankings and the BCS standings. It also put the Longhorns in first place in the Big 12 South.
Although Central Florida can't impact the Big 12 race, Brown said he told his players they can make a statement nationally.
The win over Oklahoma State earned some national respect that had waned in recent weeks. And after his slow start, McCoy can still make a run for the Heisman Trophy.
Everything is still within Texas' reach.
If the Longhorns keep winning. If they avoid that one game — or 1 second — letdown.
"These guys don't ever want that feeling again," defensive end Sergio Kindle said.
