Texas, Oklahoma Set Up a Showdown

The Texas Longhorns said they weren’t looking past Oklahoma State to their matchup with rival Oklahoma.

Right.

Second-ranked Texas will have a hard time getting anyone to believe that after Saturday’s 17-15 victory at Austin, Texas, over the Cowboys that took cornerback Rod Babers’ defensive stop on a two-point conversion and a drive-killing interception in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Meanwhile, at Columbia, Mo., No. 3 Oklahoma almost got caught looking ahead too.

The Sooners needed a touchdown on a fake field goal with 6:33 left to escape with a 31-24 victory over Missouri.

The victories set up next Saturday’s showdown at Norman, Okla., with the winner taking the inside track in the Big 12 Conference’s South division.

“It was a good, hard fight,” said Texas quarterback Chris Simms, who passed for 267 yards and a touchdown and also ran for one. “I think it’s really good we got a good hard test like this.”

Entering next week’s game against Oklahoma, Texas is 5-0 for the first time since 1983. The Longhorns went undefeated in the regular season that year.

Leading 17-9 in the fourth, Texas pinned Oklahoma State (2-3, 0-1) on its own one-yard line after a punt. Josh Fields then passed to Rashaun Woods for a 25-yard completion, and a 25-yard run by Seymore Shaw quickly moved the ball to midfield for the Cowboys.

Facing third and 23 from the Texas 33, Fields threw a prayer to John Lewis, who came down with the ball just inside the goal line for the touchdown.

On the two-point try, Fields found Woods at the goal line, but his back was turned to the end zone and Babers stopped him before he could get across.

Texas tailback Cedric Benson ran for 117 yards in 27 carries. Simms was 24 of 46 with one interception.

Brad Smith, Missouri’s redshirt freshman quarterback, also made Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0) earn its victory.

Smith had the Sooners on the run all game. He carried 26 times for 213 yards--a record for Missouri quarterbacks--and two touchdowns. He also threw for 178 yards and a score, accounting for 391 of the Tigers’ 449 yards.

“As a team and as a head coach, I feel very fortunate--lucky--to have been able to have fought through this and won,” Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops said.

The winning touchdown was a stunner. Holder Matt McCoy took the snap, waited a moment, then threw a perfect lob to freshman tight end Chris Chester, who went up and caught the ball between two defenders for his first career reception. Nate Hybl’s two-point conversion pass to Curtis Fagan made it 31-24.

The Tigers (3-2, 0-1) had the ball at their 23 with 1:39 left and drove to the Oklahoma 35, but Smith was sacked on fourth down with five seconds left.

Texas Tech 48, No. 23 Texas A&M; 47--Kliff Kingsbury threw his fifth touchdown pass in overtime and Robert Treece followed with the extra point as the Red Raiders (4-2, 1-0) rallied from an 18-point deficit to defeat the Aggies (3-2, 0-1) at College Station, Texas.

The Aggie loss spoiled a stellar performance by quarterback Dustin Long, who threw seven touchdown passes to set a conference record, and completed 21 of 37 passes for 367 yards. His last touchdown was a three-yard pass to Terrence Thomas in overtime that put Texas A&M; ahead 47-41. But John Pierson missed the extra point--his second one of the game--to leave the door open for the Red Raiders.

Kingsbury completed 49 of 59 passes for 474 yards and passed to Nehemiah Glover for a 10-yard touchdown on Tech’s overtime possession. Treece followed with the winning extra point. Earlier he kicked two 42-yard field goals, the second of which forced overtime.

Baylor 35, Kansas 32--Daniel Andino kicked a 33-yard field goal with a half-second left, ending four years of Big 12 misery for the Bears as they defeated the Jayhawks at Waco, Texas, to end a 29-game conference losing streak.

Baylor (3-2, 1-0) blew an early 14-0 lead but scored 11 points in the last 1:18 to defeat Kansas (2-4, 0-2). Baylor also defeated Kansas for its last Big 12 win in 1998.

Nebraska 38, McNeese State 14--Jammal Lord set Nebraska records for total yards and rushing yards by a quarterback as the Cornhuskers (4-2) bounced back from consecutive losses with a victory over the Division I-AA Cowboys (4-1) at Lincoln, Neb.

Lord ran 17 times for 218 yards and three touchdowns, breaking the school’s single-game rushing mark of 199 yards, set by Tommie Frazier in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl against Florida. Lord also completed 12 of 18 passes for 151 yards with a touchdown and an interception.