Mack Brown Playing Quotations

When you're a football player at the University of Texas and you're playing in the national championship game the players understand the scrutiny is going to be a little more than usual. I think we'll handle it.

Since the first of the year, people been talking about the possibility of this game. It's exciting. It's been a fun year. We're 12-0, No. 2 in the country, playing for the national championship. It doesn't get any better than this.

We're playing what some argue is the best team in college football history.

He is so hard on himself because he's such a great competitor. But I think he has a chance. If he just keeps playing with the attitude that he is right now, he'll be a great pro player.

Our fans have been able to enjoy a national title game again. ... Now, they'll want to enjoy one every year, and that's OK. We expect to be at the Fiesta Bowl playing for the national title next year.

We have an opportunity to beat the team that's been the best in college football. That's a goal that we set a year ago. We felt like we'd be back in this game, and we felt like we'd be playing SC in this game, and all of that has happened now.

We're the only two teams playing out of 119. It's the only two undefeated teams in the country. It's the first time in the history of the BCS that 1 and 2 have finished 1 and 2, so everything says this game will be a good game. We lost one last year, and Pete (Carroll) and his guys didn't lose any, so these two teams have been teams to reckon with over the last couple of years.

We were one game away from playing Miami for the national championship.

The thing that I liked best about our team tonight is that they just kept playing and they never got discouraged and they never gave up.

Coach Royal and I have talked about this from the beginning. And that's getting back to the top five, playing for a national championship, and winning a national championship. Young people come to Texas and USC to play in these games.

It was really surreal when we were sitting in the fourth quarter and we were down by two scores, and you think you're going to win. You're playing a team that has won 34 straight games, and momentum is turning, and your defense is struggling. But we never thought we would lose the ballgame.

It's been a fun year so far. We just want to keep it going. One thing I've learned at Texas, we've been playing football for 112 years and there were expectations 112 years ago. It hasn't changed.

The obvious question is the quarterback position, and right now we would plan on playing both of them. We feel like we would need both of them, because we don't have any experience at quarterback. One of them may struggle. One could get hurt. So we have to prepare both to play.

The best thing about today was that we played a more complete game. We've been playing halves or three quarters, but today we came out and dominated for three quarters, and then our other guys took over and we were still able to make plays.

They did not have Bobby Reid the last two weeks, and we think they'll have him back. He can make a lot of plays. Turnovers have killed them the last three weeks. When you're playing a team like that it scares you. If they fix their turnover problems, it puts you in a tough spot in a tight game on the road.

They are the team in college football right now. We understand that we have an opportunity, because we're playing so well, to beat the team that's been the best. That's the goal we set a year ago. We felt like we'd be playing SC in this game. And all of that has happened.

He's not an athlete playing quarterback. He's a quarterback who happens to be a great athlete. He reads defenses as well as any quarterback in the country. You never hear about that part of his game.