It would be easy for the Texas Longhorns to play the blame game after being knocked off by No. 2 Texas Tech Saturday.
But the players see it differently: Texas succeeds and fails as a team.
The game-winning touchdown catch by Tech receiver Michael Crabtree brought the Longhorns a 39-33 loss and an end to a run as the No. 1 team in the nation on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Before Crabtree's touchdown, Texas cornerback Curtis Brown had the All-American receiver wrapped up for the tackle, and the comeback win for the Longhorns was ready to take its place in the history books. But Crabtree found his way to the end zone with one second left in the game, resulting in a Tech victory.
"For young guys like that, I know it's hard for them," senior cornerback Ryan Palmer said. "You just gotta keep his head up. (Brown is) a young player, talented player. He had a rough outing, but we all had rough outings. You can't point one finger at Curtis. Can't point one finger at nobody. We all didn't play up to our potential."
Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp had many strategies in line to stop the Red Raider offense, but there was one thing he preferred not to do with Tech driving late in the game.
He said the array coverages came in an effort to prevent single coverage against Crabtree. The strategy was working to a certain degree, because for three quarters Crabtree did not find the end zone.
But all it took was one play.
With eight seconds left on the clock, Tech quarterback Graham Harrell had one shot to deny a Longhorn comeback win. It was up to the Texas defense to stop an offense it had trouble with for most of the game.
With his fear of leaving Crabtree guarded by one man, Muschamp said he covered him with a cornerback and safety in hopes of preventing the last-second score. The two covering Crabtree on the play were Brown and safety Earl Thomas.
While he could have been stopped short of the goal line with a tackle by Brown, Crabtree slipped away for the winning score and started a stadium-wide celebration.
"We didn't want to get in single coverage on Crabtree and we doubled him on the last play," Muschamp said. "Had some opportunities to deny the ball. When we got them in pressure situations in the first half, (Harrell) went immediately to (Crabtree) and (Crabtree) is a good player. We had to stay rolled up on him and keep him doubled and that's what we did. They made the plays when they had to."
Besides the last-second play, the Texas defensive backs had fits trying to stop the Tech offense. Harrell had 474 yards through the air Saturday while tacking on two touchdown passes.
With so much inexperience, Texas' defensive backs entered the season as the Achilles' heel of the defense. Palmer was the only senior in the starting four. Thomas is a redshirt freshman, while Brown is a sophomore listed as Palmer's backup on Texas' depth chart. Entering this game, the Texas secondary was 111th in the nation in pass defense. After Saturday's game, the Longhorns now rank 116th.
Texas coach Mack Brown is not letting a last-second play or the loss define the Longhorns' season.
He said Saturday's loss will not affect his team's mentality of chasing a national championship because the Longhorn's first goal this season was to win a Big 12 Conference title.
There are still games left to be played, which forces players to move on, he said.
"You have no choice," Mack Brown said. "Football's a tough game. It's a whole lot like life. On the good days, it makes you feel better than you should. On the bad days, you feel absolutely awful."
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