Texas Can’t Solve Kingsbury

Texas had no answer for Kliff Kingsbury, and now there’s no chance for a Big 12 or national title.

Kingsbury completed 38 of 60 passes for 473 yards and six touchdowns against one of the nation’s top defenses and Texas Tech upset the fourth-ranked Longhorns, 42-38, on Saturday.

“We tried everything and he whipped everything we tried,” Texas Coach Mack Brown said. “We’re really disappointed, but give them credit.”

While Kingsbury ended Texas’ title hopes, he also lifted Texas Tech (8-4 overall, 5-2 in the conference) into the Big 12 South race.

The Red Raiders visit Oklahoma (9-1, 5-1) next Saturday, with the winner taking the division and advancing to the Big 12 title game Dec. 7.

“We just have to do the same like we did today” to beat Oklahoma, Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach said. “We need to get a lot of first downs, make good punts and complete passes.”

The defeat was another tough blow for Texas (9-2, 5-2).

A loss to Oklahoma last month all but eliminated the Longhorns from the conference race, but they still had an outside chance of reaching the bowl championship series’ national title game in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3.

“They all hurt anytime you lose,” said Texas quarterback Chris Simms, who threw for 345 yards and four touchdowns. “This one hurts a lot. To be so close and have things fall the way they did, it’s tough.”

Texas Tech went ahead, 42-38, on a 25-yard pass from Kingsbury to Taurean Henderson with 5:41 left.

Simms tried to lead Texas back, but Texas Tech safety Ryan Aycock intercepted a pass intended for B.J. Johnson with 5:21 left to seal the win.

“I was just trying to go in the middle, and I got bumped by a linebacker,” Johnson said. “By the time I got turned around in there, Chris had already thrown the ball. The rest is history.”

With no timeouts left for Texas, Tech kept the ball on the ground and got three first downs to run out the clock.

Texas is the highest-ranked team Texas Tech has ever beaten.

Although Texas’ defense began the game ranked fifth nationally, giving up only 261 yards per game, Texas Tech had 306 yards by halftime and finished with 606.

Texas’ defensive coordinator Carl Reese gave Kingsbury credit for picking apart his schemes.

“We played hard, but we didn’t quite do it,” Reese said. “We were up against a hot quarterback, and my hat’s off to him.”

With the score tied, 21-21, at halftime, Kingsbury opened the third quarter with eight straight completions, among them a five-yard scoring pass to Wes Welker, who had 247 all-purpose yards.

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Getting Hooked

Texas came into Saturday’s game ranked third nationally in pass defense but was torched by Red Raider quarterback Kliff Kingsbury in a 42-38 loss:

*--* Texas vs. Pass in First 10 Games Texas vs. Kingsbury (Per-Game Avg.) Saturday 11.7 Comp 38 26.7 Att 60 438 Pct 633 125.1 Yards 473 1.8 Int 0 0.8 TDs 6

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