Portal:College football/Selected article/29
The 2007 Texas Longhorn football team (variously "Texas" or "UT" or the "Horns") represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 2007–2008 college football season. The team was coached by Mack Brown, who received the 2005 Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year award. The Longhorns play their home games in Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium (DKR), which is undergoing renovations from 2006–2008 to improve older sections and add extra seating capacity.
The Longhorns entered the 2007 season ranked third on all-time college football lists in both total wins and winning percentage. A pre-season ranking by ESPN writer Mark Schlabach had the Longhorns ranked eighth, while College Football News ranked Texas third.
During the summer leading into the season, five players were disciplined for legal infractions, another was suspended for NCAA rule violations, and a coach underwent surgery for cancer. Additional players were suspended during the season.
The Longhorns played games against two opponents they had never faced previously: Arkansas State University and the University of Central Florida (UCF). The Longhorns narrowly achieved a victory in their home opener with Arkansas State, and in their first road game of the season, Texas was the inaugural opponent for the UCF Knights in their new stadium. In preseason speculation, games against Texas Christian University (TCU) and Oklahoma (OU) were considered among the top 20 games to watch during the 2007–2008 college football season.
The Longhorns lost conference games to the Kansas State Wildcats, the Oklahoma Sooners, and the Texas Aggies. In two close games, they avoided upset attempts by lower-ranked Nebraska and Oklahoma State, the latter game involving a 28-point fourth quarter comeback by the Horns. Texas concluded its season by winning the 2007 Holiday Bowl against the Arizona State Sun Devils—another first-time opponent for Texas—bringing their season record to 10–3.
The Horns finished the season ranked tenth in the AP poll and in the USA Today coaches poll. After the season, five UT players entered professional football through the 2008 NFL Draft and four others agreed to sign free-agent contracts with NFL teams.