BCS Longhorns eager to end strong

Texas has to win out and hope the system doesn't work against it.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Welcome to November, when the Texas Longhorns annually inch toward a berth in the Bowl Championship Series only to see their hopes dashed.
Will this year be any different?
The Longhorns already are climbing back into the BCS scene. Ranked No. 6 in The Associated Press poll, the Longhorns moved from 10th to seventh in the BCS standings after losses by Miami and Florida State.
The trick for Texas is to avoid a loss of their own and hope the system doesn't work against them like it did last year when Kansas State's stunning upset of Oklahoma spoiled the Longhorns' BCS plans.
Where it starts
The Longhorns have three games remaining, starting with Saturday night's Big 12 matchup with Oklahoma State (6-2). Texas players say it's time to think about the Cowboys, not a potential bowl game.
"Coach [Mack Brown] told us to put it out of our minds," senior linebacker Derrick Johnson said. "You always want to be optimistic, but we still have to win all our games."
It sounds good, but that attitude didn't help Texas last year.
After losing to Oklahoma at midseason, the Longhorns won six straight and were ranked No. 6 in the BCS. An Oklahoma win over Kansas State in the Big 12 title game would have sent Texas to the Fiesta Bowl.
Instead, the Wildcats bumped off the Sooners. Kansas State grabbed the conference's automatic BCS berth and sent Texas tumbling all the way back to the Holiday Bowl where the dispirited Longhorns lost to Washington State.
After Oklahoma State, the Longhorns travel to Kansas before finishing the season at home against Texas A & amp;M. The Longhorns also need other teams in front of them to lose in order to move up the standings and solidify a BCS berth.
"You better win and then at the end hope somebody wants you to come and it fits the system," Brown said. "If it doesn't, it's just a tough time for you and maybe they'll make the system better."
Senior safety Phillip Geiggar said the Longhorns felt they were robbed of a BCS berth last season.
"When you think about last year and how we got played by the system, we throw it out of our heads," he said. "If we lose next weekend, it's not going to matter."
Geiggar said that even if Texas is disappointed again, he'll be ready for any bowl game the Longhorns play.
"We can go the Dirt Bowl," Geiggar said. "Put somebody on the other side of the line and I'll play."