The line disappeared into the distance, snaking down the corridor and outside into Royal-Texas Memorial stadium. This was a hot August afternoon in Austin, an autograph signing on Fan Appreciation Day. There had to be 10,000 people waiting, and as the hours passed, as the players dismissed themselves and slunk to the air conditioned bus, Mack Brown and Chris Simms stayed.

All that mattered to the people was that the two Longhorns with the biggest burdens stayed to sign, stayed to assure them that they were determined to do something about 63-14.

Brown and Simms wouldn't leave. They wouldn't stop signing. They wouldn't stop nodding when the big goofy fat guy with the horns on his hat wagged his finger and warned, "Y'all gotta turn that Oklahoma score upside down this year, right?" Yes, sir. They were going to turn it upside down. Sixty-three to 14 doesn't sit well in Texas, and it never sat well with the coach and quarterback.

"After the season was over, it still lingered," Simms said. "I think it is something that you couldn't forget if you tried."

	Mack Brown is 31-11 in his fourth year at Texas.

For the Longhorns, it isn't just the moment of national championship truth running through the Sooners on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl. It's redemption for a coach and quarterback whose fates are forever intertwined in Austin. Make no mistake: these two were delivered to Texas to win the Red River Shootout. Simms has been appointed to this state's most important office, quarterback of the Longhorns championship contender, the best chance for its first title since 1969. Brown is on the line with him, both promised the glory of victory or the scorn of defeat.

Oklahoma was the beginning of the end for Simms a season ago, a disturbing loss that prompted Brown to reinstate Major Applewhite as the starting quarterback. Simms represents so much for Brown. He was to be a return to glory for the Longhorns, the nation's No. 1 high school player picking Texas to complete a No. 1 national recruiting class. Suddenly, the stars were flooding back to Texas, and the biggest, blondest most famous of all, the son of the Super Bowl MVP, wasn't just Everyone's All-American, but Everyone's Lightning Rod.

The superstars have been a blessing and a curse for Mack Brown. All this talent, all these expectations. As Brown floundered with an unrelenting quarterback controversy a season ago, Sooners coach Bob Stoops rushed past him, completing his Oklahoma reclamation with a national championship.

Now, the No. 5 Longhorns are 4-0, Simms is constructing a serious Heisman Trophy candidacy, and the Sooners could be vulnerable. The way Texas is running and throwing the ball, the way No. 3 Oklahoma allowed 37 points to Kansas State a week ago, this is the time for the Longhorns. They swear they learned something a season ago after Oklahoma humiliated them. They're tougher now, Brown insists. They have won 10 of 11 since OU, and they understand the fight needed. Most of all, this is true of his quarterback.

"Chris has grown in confidence," Brown said. "His decision-making is better. Last year, he handled himself with class after the OU game. We called him into the office the next day, told him we were going to go with the older guy the next game. He told me he'd rather start, but that winning was more important."

Their fortunes and fates are intertwined, the charismatic recruiter and his golden boy passer. Brown has invested his good name in Simms, his belief that the junior, not Applewhite, is the quarterback to get the Longhorns a national championship. Unless they beat Oklahoma, though, nothing matters. Unless they beat Oklahoma, the references to Brown as "Mr. February" will grow louder. They'll wonder whether the prince of national signing day is forever the underachieving frog of Autumn.

They've stumped for three years, the coach and quarterback, two popular and perfect gentlemen who people want badly to see succeed. Back on that August afternoon, they didn't find Simms and Brown constantly checking their watches. They didn't find Simms and Brown peering past the people to the line's end, nor privately pleading for it to be over. They loved it. Everyone else was exhausted, but Simms and Brown loved it. This is the gift of the coach and quarterback, treating everyone they meet as though they're the most important people in the world.

"We'll be here all day," the university marketing man told the quarterback. "Just sign one item per person."

Yet, he signed everything for everybody. This is Simms' good-natured way, his instinct of never, ever wanting to disappoint.

Eventually, buses packed with players pulled out of the stadium parking lot, destined for an air-conditioned training table, but the fans who waited hours couldn't have cared less. The most popular player on the Longhorns was going the distance for the people, winning them over one by one, and they want so badly to believe in him. Through it all, his coach was standing at his side, staying with him.

So, summer's over now, and this is Oklahoma-Texas, the Red River Shootout, the moment of truth for the Longhorns. This is the time for Mack Brown and Chris Simms. They've been waiting to turn 63-14 upside down. They have no choice now.

Adrian Wojnarowski is a columnist for The Record (N.J.) and a regular contributor to ESPN.com.