Texas-Sized Second Half Is a Boost for Longhorns

The second half has been good for Texas, both in its season and Saturday night’s game against Oklahoma State.

Cedric Benson ran for 180 yards and a touchdown and Roy Williams caught six passes for 162 yards and a touchdown in the No. 11-ranked Longhorns’ 55-16 victory over the No. 21 Cowboys at Stillwater, Okla.

Texas, 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12, kept alive its hopes for getting in a BCS bowl berth with its sixth consecutive victory over Oklahoma State (7-3, 3-3) and its fourth consecutive lopsided win since a 65-13 loss to No. 1 Oklahoma.

Quarterback Vince Young had a 23-yard touchdown run and Benson scored on a one-yard run as the Longhorns took control with 27 unanswered points in the third quarter.

“The guys played as good a third quarter as I have ever seen,” Texas Coach Mack Brown said.

“I think the thing they understand is that this is a football team that can keep getting better.”

Young ran for 92 yards in 13 carries and completed nine of 13 passes for 195 yards. Benson followed his 174-yard performance in last weekend’s 31-7 victory over Nebraska by averaging 6.7 yards per carry in 27 rushes. Fullback Will Matthews also scored the first three touchdowns of his career.

Texas had 502 total yards to Oklahoma State’s 309.

No. 19 Nebraska 24, Kansas 3 -- Judd Davies scored two touchdowns at Lawrence, Kan., and the Cornhuskers (8-2, 4-2) posted their 35th consecutive victory over the Jayhawks (5-5, 2-4).

Kansas was in good position to tie the score at 10-10 in the second quarter. But on second and five at the Nebraska 7, freshman quarterback Adam Barmann threw the ball to the Cornhuskers’ Daniel Bullocks near the goal line.

In the third quarter, Barmann had a pass bounce off a receiver’s hands to Nebraska safety Josh Bullocks, who made his NCAA-leading ninth interception at the Kansas 38. Four plays later, Davis’ three-yard touchdown run gave the Cornhuskers a 17-3 lead.

Kansas State 45, Iowa State 0 -- Darren Sproles ran for a career-high 201 yards and three touchdowns and the Wildcats (8-3, 4-2) pulled away by scoring three touchdowns in the first 5:42 of the second half at Ames, Iowa. The loss the was the seventh in a row for Iowa State (2-7, 0-5)

Sproles sprinted 70 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the half, and also had scoring runs of 23 and 32 yards. He carried 19 times in topping his previous best of 175 yards against Cal in the season opener.

Colorado 21, No. 22 Missouri 16 -- Joel Klatt threw two touchdown passes at Boulder, Colo., and the Buffaloes (4-6, 2-4) won for the first time in four games.

Missouri (6-3, 2-3) had a 447-276 advantage in total yards. But quarterback Brad Smith, who accounted for 380 total yards and threw for two touchdowns, lost two fumbles and had a pass intercepted with 1:58 left in the game.