AUSTIN, TEXAS (AP) - The audacity of the final score was staggering: UCLA 66, Texas 3.
In 1997, the Bruins romped over the Longhorns in one of the biggest routs since Davey Crockett and the boys got whipped at the Alamo.
Texas fans fumed. Some cried. Most were gone by halftime.
The humiliation lasted until November. One season after winning the Big 12, “Rout 66” drove the Longhorns into a complete collapse and a 4-7 season that ended with the firing of coach John Mackovic.
On Saturday, the Bruins (1-2) come back to Austin. The current Longhorns (3-0) were hardly in grade school in 1997, but fans and former players will always remember the day UCLA jammed a big ol’ stick right into the eyes of Texas.
Most would like to just forget it.
“Nooooooo! Not that game!” former wide receiver Wane McGarity responded when contacted by e-mail to discuss the game.
“Dang, I never saw us look so (bad),” said Texas mega-booster Joe Jamail, a billionaire trial lawyer from Houston. “Hopefully we can return the favor.”
Just that season Texas had named the field at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after Jamail, a colorful character who peppers his language with curse words.
“I had made a very large contribution to the university, I don’t know how many millions, and they decided to stick my name on the field. I was proud and pleased,” Jamail said.
But after the game, when only a few die-hard fans had stayed to sing “The Eyes of Texas,” Jamail saw athletic director DeLoss Dodds and asked him a hard question. He didn’t hold back the cussing: “Deloss, how much … money will it take to get my name off that … field?”
The score reverberated throughout the country.
In Chapel Hill, N.C., then-Tar Heels coach Mack Brown was in the fourth quarter of a tough game against Stanford when the Texas score was announced.
“Bad night to be in Austin, Texas,” Brown thought to himself.
Texas entered the 1997 season expecting great things.
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