NO. 7 TEXAS 28 NO. 14 OKLAHOMA 10
Poised McCoy carries Texas over Oklahoma
Peterson?s mistake on lateral hurts Sooners
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Jaime Aron
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas center Lyle Sendlein gives quarterback Colt McCoy a boost after McCoy passed for a touchdown in the third quarter.
DALLAS ? Colt McCoy probably doesn?t realize how quickly things have changed in the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry.
Not long ago, the No. 7 Longhorns were the ones getting outhustled, outcoached and flat-out beaten.
Now, it?s the No. 14 Sooners who are finding ways to lose ? like having their best player give up on a loose ball near his end zone with the game still on the line in the fourth quarter.
Adrian Peterson thought the ball bouncing off his hands meant an incomplete pass, not a fumbled lateral. Texas cornerback Aaron Ross wasn?t sure but scooped it up and scored just in case, and wound up with the touchdown that sealed a 28-10 Big 12 win yesterday in the 101 st edition of the Red River rivalry.
"I?m just sitting there like, ?What the, you know, is going on?? " Peterson said after the game, still puzzled by what happened.
Replay officials ruled the play was a lateral. The ball was "thrown at the 12 and landed at the 12. By rule, that?s a backwards pass."
Such confusion was typical for the Longhorns (5-1, 2-0) from 2000 to 2004 in their annual meeting with the Sooners. Between blowout losses and tight finishes, Oklahoma (3-2, 0-1) always made all the right moves.
Vince Young turned things around for Texas last year. McCoy kept it going this year.
A redshirt freshman who watched Young from the sideline last year, McCoy overcame a slow start by throwing two perfect touchdown passes in the third quarter to turn a 10-7 halftime deficit into a 21-10 lead. Ross did the rest, following his heads-up play with two interceptions that ended the Sooners? final two drives.
McCoy?s numbers were mediocre ? 11-of-18 passing for 108 yards, plus 11 more rushing ? but his poise was off the charts. He overcame an awful second quarter and never turned the ball over.
"When we?ve come out of this game with a huge deficit, it?s usually been because of turnovers," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "Today, they lost five and we lost none. And that?s why the game got to where it is."
During the five-game losing streak to Oklahoma, Brown was labeled as being outsmarted by Sooners coach Bob Stoops. He didn?t even get all the credit last year because Young soaked it all up.
This time, Brown made his mark by making sure the Longhorns didn?t let one rough patch overwhelm them.
Texas let an early 7-0 lead slip away by giving up a touchdown and a field goal on Oklahoma?s final two drives of the first half
Brown thought offensive coordinator Greg Davis was being too conservative with McCoy, so he told him at halftime to let the kid loose. McCoy responded with his longest play yet on his first snap of the third quarter and built from there. He lobbed a blitz-beating 33-yard touchdown to Limas Sweed two plays later, putting Texas ahead. He took the Longhorns 79 yards on the next series, running three times for 23 yards and capping it with a 7-yard pass to Jordan Shipley near the back of the end zone.