HOUSTON — All right, all right, all right in New Orleans turned into good bye, good bye, good bye.
A talented and accomplished Texas Longhorns football team showed up at the Sugar Bowl last Monday night to play the University of Washington in the College Football Playoff semifinals accompanied by its usual large contingent of loyal and rabid orange-clad characters, which included Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey.
This man who's made many memorable movies, including the college football-minded "We Are Marshall," was a stylish figure striding down the Longhorns sideline as a high-profile fan wearing an orange-shaded leather jacket, blue jeans and a brown cowboy hat and boots during the Huskies' 37-31 victory.
However, McConaughey, 54, didn't look particularly pleased with what happened at the Superdome, especially when he was captured in a Skylar Lin photo for Inside the Huskies with his hands thrust deep into his coat pockets while getting a close-up look at Longhorns cornerback Terrence Brooks argue a pass-interference call to no avail that was signaled when he tried to guard Huskies wide receiver Rome Odunze in an overzealous manner.
McConaughey was one of several thousand Texas fans who traveled to Louisiana and packed into the Superdome, filling up maybe two-thirds of the seating, and saw the Longhorns' season end abruptly not far from all of the fun-filled activity just up the street in the French Quarter and on Bourbon Street.
Texas had to settle for a 12-2 record after beating Alabama and capturing the Big 12 championship but going no farther against the Huskies, forced by Kalen DeBoer's 14-0 UW football team to head back to Austin without fulfilling the emotional goal of bringing home a national title on Texas soil in Houston.
Maybe McConaughey, one of UT's most famous alums, should have slipped into his portrayal of Marshall coach Jack Lengyel, a quirky character and someone who in real life was entrusted with a highly difficult task — that of rebuilding the Thundering Herd football program after nearly all of its players and coaches were killed in a 1970 plane crash coming back from a game and on final approach to Huntington, West Virginia.
Yet more Longhorns fans seem to identify with McConaughey through his young stoner character in one of his earliest films, "Dazed and Confused," in which he uttered his now famous catchphrase.
If you were in downtown New Orleans over the weekend, it was hard to miss all of those Texas followers wandering the streets and wearing their custom orange T-shirts made up with a while Longhorns logo and the words "All Right, All Right, All Right" plastered across the front.
Check out Skylar Lin's accompanying Sugar Bowl gallery for a closer look at McConaughey and other poignant moments captured between the lines of the Huskies' CFP victory.
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