Texas Football is Risen!
Easter weekend was more than fitting for this year’s University of Texas Orange-White spring football game.
Since the 2005 National Championship win and the 2010 loss, the Texas football program that people knew and loved passed away. But on April 15 it came back to life.
Many football fans in the Bible Belt celebrate football as much as they celebrate Jesus, so what better than to have a weekend to celebrate both Jesus and Texas football rising from the grave.
Friday night lights are pretty similar to Sunday morning churches if you think about it.
Thousands congregate together one night a week praising their beloved team. Friday it’s team football. Sunday it’s team Jesus.
University of Texas senior, Macy Shepard’s family loves football and thought it would be a fun activity to do together before Easter.
Like disciples, recruits are invited to join the team and devote their time to something they believe in.
Recruit Grayson Yeager was invited to the spring game and is hoping for an offer to join the team.
“It was great getting to see a preview of what will be an awesome season this year,” Yeager said.
Like the church choir, cheerleaders with bright white smiles and burnt orange pom-poms offer praise and encouragement to the players throughout the game.
And many have put their hope in sophomore quarterback Shane Buechele or new coach Tom Herman to save them.
Buechele finished the scrimmage 22 of 39 for 369 yards. He threw one interception, connected with Collin Johnson for two touchdowns and ran one yard for a third.
In the end, even the biggest of fans, like UT alumni Tyler Potance, know it’s just a game.
“I came for Tom Herman,” Potance said. “There hasn't been this much buzz with UT football but this past six months has changed the spirit of the program. He has brought a new energy of tradition, bringing in alumni and student appreciation. It seems like he's really trying to change the atmosphere and current standard surrounding the football program. It was the first spring game I have attended.”
Herman said it wasn’t intentional to have the game on Easter weekend. They try to stick to the same schedule every year. Easter is a rotating holiday, so about every four years it will fall on Easter weekend.
The Shepards think it’s good and bad to have the game on Easter weekend.
“Your family is already all together and it is a fun family activity to do together,” Shephard said, “but then you have the students that have to leave town for Easter who don't get to go! It is a tough situation.”
Potance and Shepard think the spring game should not be on Easter weekend and there might be a bigger turn out if they had it on a different weekend.
Texas fans weren’t the only ones wishing their spring game was not on Easter weekend. These are tweets from Louisville, Mizzou and Oklahoma State fans.
Whether you were celebrating Jesus or Texas football this Easter weekend, neither of them could let you down.
Texas couldn’t lose the game. Like a lot of times in life, Texas was in a battle against itself in the spring game. With this game’s scoring system, you could win points and lose points, but the players gave it their all knowing the game was already won.
This year the defense beat the offense 52-51.
Like Jesus on Easter, Texas football came back to life and offered hope for Longhorns everywhere.
