Incorporated into one of my tattoos is something that I heard from my father from the time I was born until he died in 1997 – “It gets greater later!” I’ve grown up with that sentiment and am trying to pass it on to my children.

My father believed Oscar Wilde was right when he penned, “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” The powers of redemption are great. If we grow from failure, develop our shortcomings and keep trying, later becomes greater.

Blake Gideon receoverd a fumble and intercepted a pass.

What a difference a year makes.

This time last year against No. 6 Texas Tech, Blake Gideon missed a game-saving interception, Curtis Brown missed a game-saving tackle and Earl Thomas missed a game-saving play and the No. 1 Longhorns lost for the first time that season and essentially lost the Big 12 Championship and a shot at the National Championship. While it is corrosive to any team concept and borderline shameful as a fan to isolate two plays as the reason for a team loss, it happened over and over and over.

While Texas was not ranked No. 1 going into the 2009 road game against Oklahoma State on Halloween night, it was No. 3 and every goal on the list was still in front of the Longhorns. Texas also did not have two freshmen at safety and a sophomore playing at corner. These three young men that were maligned as players in 2008 have done nothing but make plays in 2009.

On 3rd-and-2 in the second quarter with the ball in Texas territory, Brown picked off a Zac Robinson pass and returned it 77 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 17-0.

In the third quarter with Oklahoma State having the ball facing a 2nd-and-13, Thomas intercepted a Robinson pass and took it 31 yards for a touchdown to push the score to 33-7.

Gideon recovered a fumble in the second quarter. Later, with the Cowboys down 34-7 and trying to do anything to mount a drive, Gideon picked off Robinson near midfield and he returned it to the Cowboys’ 15-yard line. Three plays later, Cody Johnson took it in for a touchdown.

It is too simple and unappreciative to think that this game was completely about redemption. The pain of 2008 is in 2008. For Roy Miller, Brian Orakpo, Quan Cosby and the rest of that 2008 team, that loss at Texas Tech still stings. But for three young men who laid their hearts on the line for the Longhorns last fall on the South Plains but came up short, Saturday night had to feel pretty damn good.

Thomas is playing at an all-American level and has played his way into being a serious candidate for the Thorpe Award that goes to the nation’s top defensive back. Gideon and Brown are both playing at all-Big 12 levels. They are all underclassmen and will only get better from here.

People will tell you to forgive and forget. I challenge that and say that remembering last year and growing and developing from that tough night that changed the course of a football season is what has made these young men the players that they are today.

My father always said, “It gets greater later!”

Well for these young men, later is now and it feels good!