SOUTHWEST ROUNDUP : Defense Is the Key for Texas in 41-22 Victory

Texas has the best defense in the Southwest Conference and the Longhorns showed why Saturday against Texas Tech.

The No. 14 Longhorns limited Texas Tech to 41 yards rushing and returned two interceptions for touchdowns in a 41-22 SWC victory at Lubbock, Tex.

Lance Gunn and Boone Powell returned interceptions for touchdowns for the Longhorns, who improved to 6-1 and 4-0 in the SWC.

Texas Tech is 2-7 and 1-5.

“Every week we talk about the defense scoring,” Gunn said. “We see our job as shutting the other team down, trying to create turnovers, trying to make something happen. It doesn’t matter who scores, the offense or the defense. It says ‘Texas’ on the board.”

Powell intercepted a pass by Robert Hall at the Raiders’ 26 early in the fourth quarter and ran untouched into the end zone to give the Longhorns a 27-10 lead.

On Tech’s next possession, Gunn returned an errant Hall pass 23 yards for a score.

Peter Gardere completed 14 of 27 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown without an interception and led Texas on touchdown drives of 43, 46 and 49 yards. Michael Pollak kicked field goals of 42 and 23 yards.

Freshman running back Butch Hadnot, who made a verbal commitment to play for Texas Tech before enrolling at Texas, scored the Longhorns’ final touchdown on a five-yard run. Hadnot led all rushers with 95 yards.

Shane Dronett thwarted any hopes of a Tech comeback by blocking a 41-yard field goal attempt by Lin Elliott early in the fourth quarter.

Texas A&M; 38, SMU 17--Darren Lewis scored four touchdowns and posted a Southwest Conference career record for games with 200 yards rushing as the Aggies (6-2-1, 3-1-1) beat Southern Methodist (1-7, 0-5) in an SWC game at Dallas.

Lewis, the SWC’s all-time career rusher, gained 207 yards in 31 carries for his fifth 200-yard game.

The four touchdowns gave Lewis a school-record 38, eclipsing the record set by George Woodard.

Lewis scored three times on runs of four yards and went one yard for another. He teamed with quarterback Bucky Richardson for 387 yards, a school record by two players in one game.

Richardson had 180 yards rushing in 13 carries.

The Aggies complied 555 yards rushing in 70 carries for the fourth-best one game rushing total in SWC history.

Rice 19, Arkansas 11--Trevor Cobb rushed for 153 yards in 39 carries and became the first Rice player to gain more than a 1,000 yards in a season as the Owls (4-5, 2-4) beat Arkansas (2-6, 0-5) at Little Rock, Ark. for their first SWC victory over the Razorbacks since 1980.

Cobb, who has rushed for 1,123 yards, carried eight times for 54 yards during a 59-yard scoring drive in the first quarter.

Arkansas, which has lost five consecutive games, did not penetrate the Rice 40 until late in the third quarter.