34 days until Texas Football: Analyzing Ricky Williams' record-setting run
All Ricky Williams needed was 11 yards to break what was then Tony Dorsett’s record for career rushing yardage. Facing a 1st-and-10 from the Horns’ own 40-yard-line in the final game of the 1998 regular season, Williams lined up behind Major Applewhite and Ricky Brown, trying to break a record that was part of the reason behind his return to Texas.
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The run wasn’t a walk-off winner or a go-ahead score late in the game. But it was one of the most consequential runs in Texas history, and it ended up being a needed score in a tight game with Texas A&M.
With the first quarter winding down and Texas only up 3-0, Applewhite takes the snap. Texas has two wide receivers on either side of the line, an attached tight end to the strong side of the field, and Brown at fullback between Applewhite and Williams.
Williams takes the handoff and is able to get to the hole before the unblocked weakside OLB in Mike Hankwitz‘s 3-4 defense makes a tackle. In front of Williams, arguably every other Aggie front seven defender has been walked back by the Texas offensive line. The picture A&M middle linebacker Dat Nguyen is attempting to read is muddied by his teammates being pushed into him. Things only get worse for Nguyen when Brown meets him in the hole, and Williams is able to get to speed at the second level.
From the moment the Aggie cornerback misses his tackle, it’s a footrace to the end zone. Wane McGarity lends support to Williams near the southeast corner of Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium. Williams needs it to dive into the end zone for the touchdown. It makes the game 9-0 Texas over the No. 6 Aggies. It breaks Dorsett’s record. It locks up the Heisman and a number of college football’s highest accolades.
But it did not lock up the game. The moment above often distracts from the fact that Williams did nearly as much to surrender the game to the Aggies as he did to win it. In addition to his 259 yards and historic touchdown, Williams fumbled the ball three times and surrendered possession twice.
Trailing by one late in the game, Texas mounted an 11-play, 70-yard drive where Applewhite was 7-of-8 for 55 yards plus an 8-yard rush to put Kris Stockton in position to kick a game winning field goal. Stockton converted the 24-yarder, upsetting the Aggies 26-24 and creating a storybook day for No. 34.
A few weeks later in New York City, Williams won Texas’ second Heisman Trophy in a landslide with 714 of the available 838 first-place votes.
His season-long performance was without a doubt Heisman worthy. His 60-yard run versus Texas A&M in the final home game of his career was his Heisman moment. As a result of his splendid career, Texas retired No. 34 in 2000, never to be worn by another Longhorn again.
