Colorado Dreads Texas, Benson

This looks awfully familiar to Texas.

A running back churns out yards, scores touchdowns and flashes a healthy head of dreadlocks when he takes off his helmet.

Ricky Williams? Not quite.

Try Cedric Benson, the freshman whose punishing, straight-ahead running style has added a new element to the Longhorns’ offense the last two weeks.

Benson rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns in 23 carries, and No. 9 Texas cruised past No. 14 Colorado, 41-7, Saturday at Austin, Texas.

The victory kept alive Texas’ bowl championship series bid hopes and ended Colorado’s five-game winning streak.

“We have to make a statement every game to prove that we are a good football team,” Texas Coach Mack Brown said. “We not only won, but we dominated.”

Benson, one of the greatest runners in Texas high school history, was the most anticipated recruit in this year’s freshman class.

He got his first start a week ago and gained 131 yards against Oklahoma State, becoming the first Texas freshman to gain 100 yards since Williams in 1995.

Against Colorado, Benson scored in the first half on runs of 12 and four yards, and Texas (6-1, 3-1 in the Big 12) built a 24-7 lead after two quarters.

“He’s becoming a dominant back,” Texas senior offensive tackle Mike Williams said. “He’s going to be spectacular.”

Colorado (5-2, 3-1) started Bobby Pesavento at quarterback in place of Craig Ochs, who earlier in the week had recurring symptoms of a concussion suffered a month ago. Pesavento was 15 of 27 for 165 yards and an interception.

“That was [a] meltdown,” said Colorado Coach Gary Barnett, who interviewed for the Texas job in 1997. “It’s been a while since nothing went right.”

Texas A&M; 31, Kansas State 24--Mark Farris threw two first-half touchdown passes and the Aggies scored 17 points in the final three minutes of the third quarter at Manhattan, Kan.

Jarrod Penright returned a fumble 17 yards for a touchdown for Texas A&M;(6-1, 3-1), which won despite making only one first down in the second half. The Aggies capitalized on three turnovers, two by quarterback Ell Roberson, in their third-quarter surge.

Kansas State (2-4, 0-4), ranked No. 11 before its skid began, mounted a fourth-quarter comeback but saw its losing streak reach four games for the first time since 1992.

The Wildcats also lost consecutive home games for the first time since 1989, when they finished 1-10 in Bill Snyder’s first season as coach.

Aaron Lockett, who became Kansas State’s career leader in all-purpose yardage, returned a punt 52 yards to the Aggies’ 23 with less than three minutes remaining. Marc Dunn’s two-yard keeper on fourth and one gave the Wildcats a first down at A&M;’s 12 with one minute remaining, but safety Terrence Kiel stopped Josh Scobey for a two-yard gain on fourth and three from the five with 46 seconds left.

Lockett had 128 all-purpose yards, giving him 3,558 for his career. Andre Coleman had 3,443 from 1990-93.

Iowa State 28, Oklahoma State 14--Innis Haywood ran for 196 yards and three touchdowns for the Cyclones at Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State has won eight of nine games dating to last season, the best record since the team was 9-0-1 from Nov. 13, 1937, to Nov. 12, 1938.

Haywood, who carried the ball 39 times, scored on runs of one, one and four yards. Seneca Wallace scored the other touchdown on a quarterback sneak for the Cyclones (5-1, 3-1).

Wallace completed 16 of 19 passes for 150 yards and rushed for 68 yards in 10 carries, with most of the yardage on scrambles when his receivers were covered.

Aso Pogi passed for both touchdowns for the Cowboys (2-5, 0-4), hitting Mike Denard on a one-yard pass with just under two minutes left in the first half.

Missouri 38, Kansas 34--Kirk Farmer threw three touchdown passes, including the go-ahead 14-yard strike to Dwayne Blakely at Lawrence, Kan.

The Tigers (3-3, 2-2) beat Kansas on the road for the first time in 10 years.

Kansas (2-4, 1-3) took a short-lived 34-31 lead on Reggie Duncan’s 15-yard run with 12:35 left.

Blakely’s touchdown catch capped a 79-yard drive for the Tigers.

The victory put Missouri ahead 51-50-10 in the series.