Scaife, White Veterans of OU-Texas

AUSTIN, Texas -- Bo Scaife has been playing for Texas so long that he remembers beating Oklahoma.

He remembers when the fans in the burnt-orange half of the Cotton Bowl actually stayed instead of leaving in the third quarter. He remembers hearing the ``Eyes of Texas'' blaring in the tunnel to the locker room, not the shrill mockery of ``Boomer Sooner'' pounding in his ears.

Scaife remembers all the way back to 1999, when he was a freshman tight end in the Longhorns' 38-28 victory. Leaving with a win, coach Mack Brown & Co. believed they could beat their border rival every year. Instead, they were relishing their last win for a while.

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``It was a long time ago,'' said Scaife, a sixth-year senior hoping for one last chance to walk out of the Red River Shootout a victor. ``It's time again.''

Scaife and Oklahoma quarterback Jason White are the only holdovers from '99 still in uniform for Saturday's game between the No. 5 Longhorns (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) and No. 2 Sooners (4-0, 1-0).

When Texas last won this game, Bill Clinton was president and Bob Stoops was a rookie head coach at Oklahoma. With a three-game winning streak, Longhorns fans were more concerned about Y2K mayhem than Sooner domination.

Scaife says he was on the field for about 20 plays as the Longhorns rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit to post the biggest comeback in the program's history.

``The rally made it special,'' Scaife said. ``These last couple of years haven't been so lucky for us.''

White, who had played in the first two games that season, was banged up with back and ankle injuries and didn't play. He sat among the crimson-clad Sooners fans as the game turned from upset-in-the-making into a loss.

``I just remember how hard everybody worked throughout the week. They gave it their best shot and they came up short,' White said. ``Everybody was feeling afterward like they kind of failed. That's really the only thing that I remember.''

There's no reason to dwell on bad memories. The Sooners have plenty more to be happy about over the past four years.

White prefers to talk about 2000, when the Sooners used a 63-14 win as a springboard to the national title.

``Without that win, without a lot of other wins, they wouldn't be national champions,'' he said.

For the Longhorns, the last four years have been like the Dark Ages. The OU losses have not only dashed their hopes for conference and national titles but humiliated them as well.

With each win in Dallas, the Sooners have made an annual celebration of sending the Sooner Schooner around the field and posing for a team picture with the scoreboard in the background.

``The last couple of years they've been that mountain we haven't been able to get over,'' Scaife said.

Scaife and White have each had a long and painful road from 1999. Multiple knee injuries threatened both their careers.

One of Texas' top recruits with quarterback Chris Simms in 1999, Scaife missed the 2000 and 2002 seasons. Every time he's come back it's been with the promise of a big target with good speed and hands. In his final season, he has eight catches for 96 yards and two touchdowns.

White's ability to persevere has been more remarkable.

In 2001, he played a key role in a 14-3 win over Texas then tore a knee ligament later in the season. In 2002, he suffered another knee injury in the second game and was lost for the season.

Finally healthy, White returned last season and turned in a Heisman Trophy winning performance in leading the Sooners to the Sugar Bowl and a crack at the BCS national championship. One of the Sooners' victories was a 65-13 rout of Texas.

Asked what it would take to turn the tide, Scaife answered ``poise.''

He gives much of the credit for the 1999 win to former quarterback and current Texas graduate assistant coach Major Applewhite. He gave the Longhorns a presence similar to what the Sooners have had under center the last four years.

``You've got to have a leader at quarterback. We had Major and this year we've got Vince (Young),'' Scaife said. ``You can see it in his eyes.''

Now if only Scaife could hear the ``Eyes of Texas'' in Dallas just once more.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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