When No. 5 seed Texas takes on No. 4 seed Arizona State in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal on Wednesday, a Longhorns fan hailed on Reddit as a “legend” 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 13 years.
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.
“Since then I’ve been to, to my count, 110 Texas games,” he said. “I haven’t missed a home game since 2015.”
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 Hruška’s Bakery along the way.
“It’s just filled with Texas fans on Saturdays before the game,” he said.

Burns’ 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’t 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’t going to be cheap.
“I saw the ticket prices, as everybody else did, almost a thousand dollars for lower deck tickets, $700 to get in the door,” he said. “I was thinking this is going to be a tough game to get into.”
Burns turned to Facebook and ended up finding someone selling a ticket for $500. Even though he didn’t 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.
“I realized, 'Oh, I’m completely surrounded by the Corps. How did this happen?’” 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’t 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’t really hit him, though, until after the game when he walked by a family who said: “You’re famous!”
“And that was the first like, oh this is [a] pretty cool, kind of moment,” he said.
Burns said the first person he called after the game was his dad — 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.
“I think it was cool for him to see, like, ‘Oh, look at that, he’s getting recognized,’” he said. “It was pretty cool to have that moment with him.”
Burns’ dad will also be traveling with him to Wednesday's game at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. It’s an understatement to say he’s excited for the game.
“You’re only promised 12 [regular season games], so any extras I’m always happy to see,” he said.
The Peach Bowl begins at noon Central on Wednesday.