Texas Football: With Realignment in Rear View, Familar Name Leads Big 12 Charge

For now, the realignment worries are behind the Big 12 Conference.

It's tough to focus on the games ahead when there is speculation of losing rival teams to the Pac-12 or SEC and scrambling to find a future for yourself. 

Now that the Big 12 appears stabilized for the time being and in search for a 10th team, Texas and all its lore can focus on Iowa State and the other eight Big 12 games this year.

Not far from an uncharacteristic 5-7 record a season ago where they went 2-6 in the Big 12, Texas and  head coach Mack Brown are in position to reassert themselves into power in the conference. 

Texas is now 3-0 and and has reached No. 19 in the rankings after returning the favor to UCLA with a 29-point win. Already a good sign for a Texas team that lost by 22 to UCLA a year ago.

After Garrett Gilbert's uninspiring career with 13 touchdowns to 23 interceptions, he is now out for the rest of the season. It was tough last year under Gilbert and he didn't look like he grew by leaps and bounds over the offseason with his early showing. 

Texas didn't waste any time finding a replacement, and one with a familiar name. 

Colt McCoy became the NCAA's all-time leader in career wins at Texas and now his younger brother, Case McCoy, is getting his shot to do some damage for the Longhorns.

The new McCoy, a sophomore, got the start and lead Texas to the win over UCLA and has completed 76 percent of his passes on his young season. 

It has got to feel good for Mack Brown to give the reigns to another McCoy and see immediate success.

In his brief tenure under center, McCoy has already led his team to a comeback win against BYU in his first action before the win over UCLA . It's tough to foresee when the bumps and bruises will come for a young quarterback, but it seems there will be far less than there were a year ago. 

With the Big 12 implosion at a standstill, Texas can focus on what they're good at, football, and it seems they have found their guy in Case McCoy.

McCoy is young and surely won't keep up his stellar efficiency come conference play, but he always has a valuable resource who knows everything he's going through in his brother Colt. Maybe a change was needed for this team to truly transform.

After the three non-conference wins, Texas is in a position to exude its force on a very tough slate of Big 12 games. 

Texas is one of four ranked teams from the Big 12 right now, including No. 1-ranked Oklahoma. 

The Longhorns will have to figure out Oklahoma State's explosive offense, Baylor's exciting dual-threat quarterback Robert Griffin III, and Texas A&M's balanced offense and intimidating defense, not to mention the loaded Oklahoma Sooners.  

It will be a tough task for Texas to make a major splash in the national picture this year and maybe even the stout Big 12, but if they have found another reliable McCoy they are better off than before.