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While surveying the wreckage of his first losing season in 20 years, Texas coach Mack Brown hunkered down on the family couch and turned on the TV.
His punishment for the failure of a 5-7 finish in 2010 was to watch his rivals play a bowl game while his Texas Longhorns stayed home.
A program on cruise control for 10 or 11 wins every season had veered out of control and crashed, forcing Brown to re-evaluate everything: His staff, his players and his personal approach to the team.
The question now is whether Brown made the right moves to get the Longhorns back on track to being Big 12 and national title contenders.
Given the number of unknowns - on offense, defense and in the coaching meetings - Texas fans may have to lower their expectations for another year. Nothing is a given this season. Not wins, certainly not titles and not even that home field advantage that imploded with five losses at Royal-Memorial Stadium last season.
Brown won't put a ceiling on how he thinks this team will finish.
''Last year, none of us were proud of what happened to us on the field,'' Brown said. ''We're not going to talk about the end. We've lost that right.''
With 20 years of winning and a national championship behind him, Brown could have stubbornly insisted everything was OK within his program. Instead, he made big moves to shake things up.
Brown rebuilt his staff behind young, aggressive coordinators (Bryan Harsin and Major Applewhite on offense and Manny Diaz on defense) and sprinkled it with veteran assistants to back them up. Seven new assistants will be on the sideline to help Brown prevent the losing from becoming a trend.
''Last year wasn't fun, but reorganizing the staff was,'' Brown said. ''These guys have great ideas and are on the cutting edge.''
Brown challenged his team by throwing open every position, from quarterback to safety. No job was safe.
''The guys have to compete harder to get a job,'' Brown said. ''They're on edge a little bit.''
No position is under more pressure than quarterback. Vince Young won 20 games in a row as a starter and Colt McCoy went 45-8 over four years. Garrett Gilbert followed that last season with 17 interceptions and just 10 touchdown passes in one of the lowest-scoring offenses in the Big 12.
Gilbert, a high school All-American who was supposed to be the next great Texas quarterback, is now locked in a four-way battle to start with sophomore Case McCoy (Colt's younger brother), redshirt freshman Connor Wood and true freshman David Ash. Brown has kept all of them away from the media and closed practices to let them duke it out in private.
McCoy threw only one pass last season as Gilbert's backup, but arguably played better in the spring game when everyone was still learning Harsin's offense. Brown and his assistants have given few hints as to who they expect will emerge as the starter.
''The biggest thing is leadership,'' Brown said. ''You've got to have great leadership at that position. You have got to protect the ball and you have got to be able to put the ball in the end zone.''
On offense, the Longhorns find themselves thin at wide receiver after senior Malcolm Williams chose not to return this season for personal reasons. Junior Marquise Goodwin announced over the summer he would skip this season to concentrate on his long jump career in track with hopes of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.
The projected starting offensive line has just 36 career starts, with 19 of those coming from senior center David Snow.
On defense, Texas must shore up the interior of a line that got pushed around in the second half of losses to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor and Texas A&M, and plug holes in a secondary that will replace two starting cornerbacks. And senior safety Christian Scott, who started 10 games last season, was suspended indefinitely after a misdemeanor assault arrest.
''Everyone knows they have to work to earn their spot,'' said senior safety Blake Gideon. ''Nothing carries over from last year.''
Texas opens the season Sept. 3 at home against Rice, a team the Longhorns have beaten in 38 of the last 39 meetings. BYU comes to Austin a week later.
Then the Longhorns play at UCLA, the team that got all that losing started last season with a stunning 34-12 beating of Texas in Austin.
Texas went just 2-5 at home last season and in the new 10-team Big 12 will be on the road against four teams that beat the Longhorns last season. Texas is picked to finish in the middle or toward the bottom of the league.
The USA Today coaches' poll put the Longhorns at No. 24 to start the season, a position even Brown seemed to think was generous. Unlike previous seasons when the Longhorns were in the mix for a national title run from the start, winning just seven or eight games would be an improvement.
''If you ask me if I'd rather have this or the expectations to win the national championships, I'd say I'd rather have the expectation to win the national championship because it means we're supposed to be really good,'' Brown said.
