When No. 5 seed Texas takes on No. 4 seed Arizona State in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal on Wednesday, a Longhorns fan will be in the stands.
A video of Ruslan Burns, 18, went viral after the cameras cut to him during the Thanksgiving weekend matchup between UT and its longtime rival Texas A&M. Burns was a beacon of burnt orange stoicism marooned in a sea of swaying Aggies at the Nov. 30 game, which marked the first time the teams had played each other in .
How did Burns end up stranded with Aggie fans at Kyle Field? Totally by chance.
Burns, who lives in Houston, is a lifelong Texas fan. His dad, who studied engineering at UT Austin, has season tickets and started bringing Burns to football games when he was 4.
鈥淪ince then I鈥檝e been to, to my count, 110 Texas games,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 missed a home game since 2015.鈥�
Burns said when he and his dad make the drive from Houston to Austin for games, he sees familiar faces, especially when stopping at gas stations like Hru拧ka鈥檚 Bakery along the way.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just filled with Texas fans on Saturdays before the game,鈥� he said.
Burns鈥� fandom has actually taken him all over Texas and throughout the U.S. to places such as Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Burns said he knew he couldn鈥檛 miss out on the return of the historic Thanksgiving game between UT and A&M, now that both were part of the Southeastern Conference. But getting a ticket was a challenge, and it wasn鈥檛 going to be cheap.
鈥淚 saw the ticket prices, as everybody else did, almost a thousand dollars for lower deck tickets, $700 to get in the door,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was thinking this is going to be a tough game to get into.鈥�
Burns turned to Facebook and ended up finding someone selling a ticket for $500. Even though he didn鈥檛 know where the seat was in the stadium, he snapped the ticket up. When the gates opened on game day, Burns made his way to his seat. As people started to file in, he noticed he was surrounded by members of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets.
鈥淚 realized, 'Oh, I鈥檓 completely surrounded by the Corps. How did this happen?鈥欌�� he said.
But members of the Corps were respectful of his fandom, and he had what he called a "unique" experience.
Burns said cell service wasn鈥檛 great in the stadium, but when it got better his phone started blowing up with messages from family and friends who had seen him on TV. He said it didn鈥檛 really hit him, though, until after the game when he walked by a family who said: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e famous!鈥�
鈥淎nd that was the first like, oh this is [a] pretty cool, kind of moment,鈥� he said.
Burns said the first person he called after the game was his dad 鈥� the person who made him a Texas fan. His dad got to see his fame firsthand earlier this month when they went to the College Football Playoff First Round game at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium where the Longhorns defeated Clemson 38-24.
鈥淚 think it was cool for him to see, like, 鈥極h, look at that, he鈥檚 getting recognized,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淚t was pretty cool to have that moment with him.鈥�
Burns鈥� dad will also be traveling with him to Wednesday's game at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. It鈥檚 an understatement to say he鈥檚 excited for the game.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e only promised 12 [regular season games], so any extras I鈥檓 always happy to see,鈥� he said.
The Peach Bowl begins at noon Central on Wednesday.
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