As Jim Tressel and Mack Brown stood chatting before the 2005 Ohio State-Texas game in Columbus, the conversation centered on what it was like coaching identical programs.
“We agreed that Texas and Ohio State are the same place,” Brown said Sept. 9 while waiting to board a flight from his summer home in North Carolina to Austin, where he will be stationed when the Longhorns and Buckeyes face off Sept. 12 in a top-5 nonconference showdown at Texas Memorial Stadium.
“My place is just warmer,” Brown continued, chuckling. “They’re both state capitals, both have passionate fan bases. They’re both great jobs, but difficult jobs. They’re national jobs, not regional jobs, and when someone talks to you, you better be smart and correct with your answer.”
Brown, who coached Texas from 1998-2013, explained how being a smart aleck, instead of just plain smart, backfired on him a few times.
“I’d cut up with the [media] guys and [my wife] Sally would say later, ‘Did you really say that?’ I’d tell her ‘I was just kidding,’ and she would say, ‘Well, they missed it.’ ”
Buckeyes-Longhorns fans expect perfection every game
Both Brown and Tressel agreed that Texas and Ohio State fans demand perfection and allow no margin for error.
“If you win all your games they’re going to gripe,” Brown said. "If you lose any you’re fired."
A slight exaggeration, but point taken. Coaching the Buckeyes and Longhorns requires thick skin and a strong stomach.
“People were all over Ryan [Day] for losing to Michigan,” Brown said. “He wins a national championship and some still don’t like him.”
Brown knows the feeling. He won the BCS national title at Texas in 2005 and was gone eight years later, resigning under pressure following an 8-5 season in 2013.
The national championship was only the Longhorns' second since sharing poll titles with Nebraska in 1970. They have not won one since.
In that way, Texas and Ohio State are different. The Buckeyes are one of six teams to win three national titles since 1970. They also played for three more in the 2000s; Texas played for one, losing to Alabama in 2010.
The Longhorns have long been an underachieving enigma, a blueblood football factory belching disappointment onto one of the largest college fan bases in America. Texas should be more dominating, given its recruiting base, financial resources – UT’s athletic budget tops all schools, followed by Ohio State – and tradition.
“They love sports so much,” Brown said of Texas fans. “There will be 102,000 there on Saturday night. It will be packed.”
Will more heartbreak ensue? Texas won the 2005 game at Ohio Stadium, leaning on quarterback Vince Young for a 25-22 win that catapulted the Horns to a 13-0 season culminating with a wild 41-38 win over USC in the national championship game at the Rose Bowl.
Ohio State got payback a year later in Austin, winning 24-7. The Longhorns won the next meeting, 24-21, at the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, but the Buckeyes collected the sweetest win (or most bitter, if burnt orange is your color of choice) at the 2025 Cotton Bowl when Jack Sawyer’s scoop-and-score secured a 28-14 win in a playoff semifinal. Ohio State went on to win the national championship, and eight months later won again, 14-7, in the 2025 season opener.
Ohio State has experienced its fair share of heartbreak, as well; some might even claim the Buckeyes have underachieved since 1970, if national titles are the measuring stick. Regardless, OSU and Texas stand as two of the biggest brands in college football.
But are they exactly alike?
“I’m close to Urban [Meyer], and he and I agree Ohio State and Texas are the same job,” Brown said. “Both have the funds to have great rosters, and both have two of the best coaching staffs in the country, maybe ever.”
Drill down, however, and it becomes clear that OSU has advantages Texas does not, including a lack of intrastate competitive pressure.
“I like to call it pride, not pressure,” Brown said.
Ohio State-Texas: brothers from a different mother?
Tuh-may-toe, tuh-mah-toe. No matter what you call it, the forces pressing upon the two programs are different. It’s probably more accurate to label Ohio State and Texas as fraternal twins than identical.
“We had Urban on our [“Stampede”] podcast this morning [Sept. 9] and he said when he was at Florida he had a difficult time with the media,” Brown said. “There was Miami and Florida State and some were for you and some against. At Ohio State, he loved the writers, because everybody loves Ohio State. You are it.”
In Texas, the Longhorns are only the most popular of a handful of competitive power 4 programs, including Texas A&M, SMU, Houston, TCU and Texas Tech.
“Some of them not only love their place, but hate you,” Brown said. “And all are rivals, plus Oklahoma. Recruiting Texas is difficult, because you’re playing against everybody who hates you, because you turned them down for a scholarship. There were 375 [Division I] players in Texas and we could take 25, so the other 350 are mad at you.”
By comparison, Ohio State is the top dog in Ohio, where Cincinnati is the only other school in a power 4 conference. Of course, being everything, everywhere, all at once comes with its own set of expectations. Namely, all eyes are on you. One misstep and BOOM, Buckeye Nation lets you have it. Full force.
Texas isn’t far behind. Remember that when the scoreboard clock hits 0:00 Saturday night. Legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal once said, “Don’t matter what they throw at us, only angry people win football games.”
Just as true? Only angry people get football coaches fired. Day and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian don’t have to worry about that – yet – but patience is not a virtue in the Buckeye and Lone Star states.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Texas, Ohio State football look alike until you check the trophy cases | Oller
