We'll have to work through it. But this is a good character team, and I think they'll do it. Slocum said any effort by coaches or fans to use the Bonfire tragedy as a rallying point for a football victory would be insensitive and possibly counterproductive. It goes without saying that they're going to want to play as well as they can play. Our biggest concern is the strain of dealing with this from now until Friday.
Emotional strain is worse than physical strain to deal with.
And it isn't going to go away. The pain of the Bonfire accident also was felt in Austin, where the 9-2 Longhorns already have qualified for the Dec. 4 Big 12 title game against either Nebraska or Kansas State. But we need to keep trying to help the families who have been touched by this tragedy and not just quit after three or four days. We need to help them long after the immediacy wears off. The surgery was successful.