In the past, any celebration of moral victories for the Texas Longhorns would be met with a syrupy "bless your heart," in Austin, dripping with the kind of disdain generally reserved for a newly arrived Californian who complains about the heat.
Not at Texas, the program with the fourth-most victories -- and not the moral kind -- in college football history.
But a funny thing happened on Saturday, after a 20-19 loss to No. 1 Alabama in Game 14 of the Steve Sarkisian era. The burnt orange faithful were imbued with the rarest of gifts: perspective.