Brown Selects Simms as Starter

Texas Coach Mack Brown made it official Wednesday that Chris Simms will start at quarterback instead of Major Applewhite against Oregon on Friday night in the Culligan Holiday Bowl.

Applewhite still is recovering from a sprained knee.

Asked if he has plans to use Applewhite if needed, Brown said, “We don’t have any plans. We just plan to win.”

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Oregon running back Maurice Morris, who was 10th among rushers in the nation this season before a series of injuries slowed him for the final four regular-season games, has declared himself 100% fit.

Despite injuries to his ribs, shoulder and thumb, he still became the second-fastest Oregon running back to gain 1,000 yards in a season. He surpassed that in the 10th game.

“I’m looking forward to this,” he said of the Holiday Bowl. “I’m pretty sure anybody would look forward to going into a game pain free.”

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Texas’ 63-14 loss to Oklahoma was by no means a blessing. But Applewhite said the Longhorns have tried to make the best of it.

“It’s sort of like UCLA in 1997,” he said. “They lost their first two games, then came into Austin and beat us by 63 [66-3]. That started a 20-game winning streak. We’re trying to do the same thing.”

Texas has won six consecutive games since losing to the Sooners.

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Since arriving at Texas three years ago from North Carolina, Brown has become one of only two major college coaches to produce a 3,000-yard passer (Applewhite, 1999), a 2,000-yard rusher (Ricky Williams, ‘98) and a 1,000-yard receiver (Kwame Cavil, ‘99; Wane McGarrity, ‘98) in a season.

The other is John Robinson at USC. He had 3,000-yard passer Rob Johnson in ‘93, 2,000-yard rushers Marcus Allen (‘81) and Charles White (‘79) and 1,000-yard pass receivers Johnnie Morton (‘93) and Keyshawn Johnson (‘94, ‘95).