SAN DIEGO -- Texas quarterback Major Applewhite has done the math. He's multiplied by 2.5, then by three, and going into the last game of his senior year, finally thinks he has it figured out.

The answerer? 2,735.5

No, it's not his career completions in practice and games combined. Nor is it the number of miles he's driven between Austin and his hometown of Baton Rouge.

Instead, it's the number of times he's been stopped on the street, in the mall, at a restaurant or in the classroom and asked one simple question: What's it like to hold 44 passing records for one of the most prestigious college football programs in the country and yet find yourself on the bench?

	QB Major Applewhite makes his final start for Texas in the Holiday Bowl.

Over time, Applewhite's answer has become just as predictable as the endless questions. He's had plenty of opportunity to perfect it, figuring he's been asked the question an average of three times each day for the past 2 ½ years.

"Sure, it hurts," Applewhite said. "But you don't want to be rude to people, so you have to develop a canned answer that you can spew out over and over again. At the same time, you have to try and make sure it's sincere. And that's the part that Chris (Simms) and I are good friends and that we both want to play a lot and be successful at this university."

Nobody said that sincere was sexy. It's true that Simms and Applewhite are friends. They share a hotel room on the road and often talk about the precarious situation they find themselves in.

The last three years, Applewhite threw for a school-record 7,974 yards. He was the 1999 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. This year, after being benched in favor of Simms, he's thrown for just 379. He's had every right to kick, scream, pout and complain about spending the final year of his college career on the bench. And yet you've barely heard a peep out of the freckle-faced red head.

And now it appears to have paid off. Call it sweet redemption. Call it the last laugh. Call it whatever you want. But in Friday's Holiday Bowl against Washington, in his final collegiate game, Applewhite will be Texas' starting quarterback.

He received the news just days after replacing an injured Simms in the Big 12 Championship game. Simms threw four first-half interceptions and left the game with Texas trailing 29-10. Under Applewhite, the Longhorns charged back, only to drop a narrow 39-37 decision.

"I understand it," Applewhite said, even though he admitted he was a bit surprised. "I was just looking more long term. Maybe they need to start Chris to get that game off his chest and get him back going into the spring."

But head coach Mack Brown, who was criticized for leaking the news about the change on the team's web site, isn't worried about next year. He wants to win 11 games. And at this point, he thinks Applewhite gives his team the best chance at doing that.

"I just felt like the success Major had in that game would carry a lot of momentum coming into the Holiday Bowl," he said. "You look at it, in some ways for the program, with Chris coming back next year, it might have been best to let him go ahead and play. But our focus is on having a chance to win and that's the reason we've made all the decisions at quarterback we have made since we've been here."

And just like that, Applewhite has been handed the pen to write the final chapter in what's been a challenging, emotional, often gut-wrenching saga with he and Simms.

It all started in 1999, when Simms, the nation's top-rated recruit and the son of NFL great Phil Simms, backed out of his commitment to Tennessee and signed with the Longhorns. That year, Applewhite, a sophomore, set school records for passing, touchdowns and total offense and was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

Yet everyone wondered when Simms would upstage Applewhite and take his job. As a freshman, Simms played sparingly. But last year, he started six games, including a Holiday Bowl loss to Oregon, which Applewhite missed with a knee injury.

After the season, Applewhite said he was told he would get a fair chance to compete for the starting job in spring. But in February, Simms was anointed the starter for 2001, without any competition. Applewhite, who says his knee was 100 percent at the time, doesn't think he was given an entirely fair shake.

"It was extremely tough. The last thing I want to do is lie about it," Applewhite said. "I wanted the chance to compete and it didn't seem like that happened. Coach Brown told me there would be a competition but I was a little uncertain because I was strictly working with the second team and (Chris) was strictly with the first team. I was confused about that. But they said they would deal with it fairly."

As the season wore on, Applewhite said the only time he was truly angry was when Simms threw four interceptions in a nationally televised loss against Oklahoma that hurt the Longhorns' chances at the national championship.

"I was angry and wanted to play," Applewhite said. "But the whole team was mad. Chris was mad, the coaches were mad. Everybody wanted to win that game."

Despite growing public sentiment for a change, Brown stuck with Simms in the OU loss, which made it all the more surprising when he anointed Applewhite the starter in the season finale against Washington.

Just like Applewhite has become accustomed to the endless questions, Brown has grown used to second-guessing in the Lone Star State.

"It's just part of what you live with at Texas," Brown said. "You live with opinion. We've got 20 million people who graduated in coaching in our state."

For Applewhite, who someday hopes to become a head coach of his own, just one game remains. He says he holds no bitterness for the way things worked out and is merely grateful for the opportunity to lead his team on the field one last time. He says the entire ordeal has helped him grow spiritually, physically as well as emotionally and despite the beliefs of many, he says he has nothing to prove against the Huskies.

"When you feel that you have something to prove, that's when you press way too much and cause yourself to make mistakes you wouldn't make," Applewhite said. "I'm not going to try to do anything too hastily. I just want to win the football game."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.