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| Thursday, October 5 OU-Texas rivalry back in the spotlight By Todd Cooper Special to ESPN.com | |||||
It's barely October but Saturday's Texas-Oklahoma showdown in Dallas has all the hallmarks of a New Year's Day bowl game.
A big sponsor, courtesy of Southwestern Bell.
Big hype, courtesy of mackbrown.com, which declared the Red River Shootout "one of the great games in college football history."
A big, neutral site and big television, courtesy of the Cotton Bowl and ABC.
All of that adds up to the most talked about Red River showdown since, well, the last Red River showdown. But after several forgettable years in the series, Saturday's showdown might actually live up to the Texas-sized hype surrounding it.
Texas Coach Mack Brown noted that both teams haven't been ranked this high going into the border war since 1984, when Texas was No. 1 and Oklahoma No. 2. This year, in the ESPN-USA Today coaches' poll, Texas is 10th and Oklahoma is 12th. In the AP poll, Oklahoma is 10th and Texas is 11th.
"It's a special rivalry," said Brown, who was Oklahoma's offensive coordinator in 1984. "This game is like a bowl game at midseason. You've got pep rallies, media attention and two states that treat this game like a national championship. Now that we're both rated on the national scene, it means a lot more this year than it has in a long, long time."
And it's been a long, long time since these powerhouses have approached this game in quite the same way.
Nebraska Since Bobby Newcombe switched from quarterback to wingback at the beginning of last season, everyone from fans to writers have called on coach Frank Solich to get the ball to Newcombe more. But after the senior broke free for a school-record 94-yard punt return Saturday, he got a high-profile plug. Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers, who watched Newcombe break his record, said from the sidelines Saturday that Solich needs to get the ball to Newcombe a "whole lot more." Newcombe, who has touched the ball about a handful of times a game, earned Big 12 special teams player of the week honors. ... Solich said he isn't bothered by his Huskers' slip to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll after beating Missouri 42-24. "You look at it from the standpoint, 'Is winning good enough?' " Solich said. "Sometimes it isn't, especially if you're trying to position yourself for the national championship. Right now, we're just trying to position ourselves to win our division." ... Solich said he's getting tired of waiting for Nebraska's inexperienced defense to grow up, especially after the Blackshirts gave up 492 yards to Missouri. Improvement "needs to show right now," he said. Iowa State After five years of getting creamed by Nebraska, Iowa State coach Dan McCarney said he has his best team going into Saturday's game at Ames. Still, he said, the Cyclones face the same obstacle they always do. "I hope we can line up and hang with Nebraska in the trenches," he said. "In the past, they've just physically overwhelmed us. If it's a mismatch in the trenches, you're in for a long day. And we've had five extremely long days." ... Tailback Ennis Haywood had an extremely long -- and busy -- day for the Cyclones in Saturday's 31-17 win over Baylor. Haywood was the Big 12's offensive player of the week for his career-high 241 yards on 39 rushes. In recruiting Haywood from powerhouse Carter High School in Dallas, he was among five college coaches standing on the sidelines. Only, none of the others were watching Haywood, McCarney said. "We felt like we stole one when we got Ennis," McCarney said. ... With Nebraska on the slate, McCarney said, his team hasn't given thought to the fact that they're 4-0 for the first time in 20 years and just two wins away from becoming eligible for a bowl. "This team has done a really good job at focusing on the job at hand," he said. Kansas As they prepare to play intrastate rival Kansas State, coach Terry Allen said he was encouraged by the explosiveness his offense showed in the first half against Oklahoma -- a spark that had the Jayhawks up for most of the first quarter. ... From the bureau of backhanded compliments, Allen said his team still has a lot of confidence in quarterback Dylen Smith, who had five interceptions against Oklahoma Saturday. "Take those turnovers away and he played a very good game," Allen said. ... To have any chance of winning, the Jayhawks must control the line of scrimmage against Kansas State's attacking front seven. Kansas gave up seven sacks along with its seven turnovers in the 34-16 loss to the Sooners. Kansas State With two devilish punt returners in Aaron Lockett and David Allen, it's no wonder coach Bill Snyder said the NCAA needs to consider stiffening the penalty for violating the two-yard halo on punt returns. After Lockett scampered 50 yards on the opening punt return in Kansas State's 44-21 win over the Buffs, Colorado began purposely violating the halo and taking the measly five-yard penalty. Snyder said the NCAA should consider stiffer penalties for purposely violating it. ... Speaking of Allen, Snyder said the senior could have played in a pinch last weekend and should be ready to play Saturday for the first time since injuring his ankle in the season opener. ... Snyder said there's no secret to the success of quarterback Jonathan Beasley, the nation's most efficient passer. Snyder said the senior is far more consistent this year because he's more experienced. "By and large, it's just the experience of doing it," he said. "That extra 12 games and that extra 500 practices have benefited him a great deal." Missouri As Missouri prepares to play host to Oklahoma State, Missouri coach Larry Smith said he doesn't know what the term "snake bit" means. Smith needn't look any farther than his training room for the definition. During the Tiger's 42-24 loss to Nebraska, wide receiver John Dausman was lost for the season after tearing his anterior cruciate and medial cruciate ligaments. Dausman sat out last season after tearing his ACL. Quarterback Kirk Farmer, who suffered a severe fracture of his leg last year, broke his collarbone Saturday and is out for four weeks. "This year is the year we're struggling with the injury bug," Smith said. ... Redshirt freshman Darius Outlaw will step in for Farmer. Smith said he's hesitant to move former quarterback Justin Gage from receiver back to quarterback because the Tigers sorely need pass catchers. That means true freshman Brock Harvey will have to step into the backup quarterback spot. ... Smith said there's two ways to view Nebraska's slip in the polls after Saturday's game -- as a credit to Missouri's performance or as an insult to the Tigers' program. "It hurts people who go out and play their tails off like we did and then have somebody say (Nebraska) didn't beat them enough. It's an insult to the program." ... Smith said running back Zack Abron, whose fumble Saturday led to a Husker score, must hold onto the football or he won't hold onto his starting spot. Abron has fumbled in every one of the Tigers' losses. "I'm not worried about protecting his confidence. He's got to protect the ball," Smith said. "Unless he hangs onto the ball, he won't play. It's just the cold, hard fact." Oklahoma State It's hard to believe a team that loses 42-7 could pin the loss on one play. But the Cowboys say the key play in their loss to Texas came when the Cowboys were down 10-7 with nine minutes left in the third quarter. OSU pinned the Longhorns on third and 14 from their own 4-yard-line. Major Applewhite then hit Roy Williams for a 96-yard touchdown pass and the rout was on. "You can't make a mistake like that against a good team," Oklahoma State coach Bob Simmons said. ... While tailback Reggie White had another 100-yard effort, Oklahoma State quarterback Tony Lindsay continued to play sporadically. Lindsay hit just 7 of 21 passes for 73 yards. "Tony has been a little bit inconsistent," Simmons said. "(But) we feel like he has the ability to win games for us." ... Simmons said his defense didn't tackle well or use good technique in letting normally paltry Texas rush for more than 200 yards. Colorado At 0-4, coach Gary Barnett said his team is in disarray. After a 44-21 pounding to Kansas State, the second-year coach sharply questioned his team's toughness. Barnett said he will never go through another preseason camp like the Buffs had in August, in which several running backs, tight ends and other position players were held out because of nagging injuries. "What I tell them is, we're not going to play like that anymore," he said of Saturday's loss. "And I'm not going to play the guys who played like that. I'm taking responsibility for this thing. We were too soft on them in camp." ... Barnett said he was baffled as to why the Buffs defenders played without emotion against a team as good as Kansas State. There's an easy solution, he said. "What we're going to do is play the guys who are serious about it and play the guys who will sell out and not play the guys who won't. So I don't know how many guys we'll bring down there (to A&M)." ... Freshman Craig Ochs, who earned the praise of Kansas State defensive coaches in his performance in relief of Bobby Pesavento, will start Saturday, Barnett said. Texas A&M For all of Barnett's harsh words for Colorado, Aggie coach R.C. Slocum said he believes the 0-4 Buffs will be "a dangerous team" Saturday at Kyle Field, especially with Ochs at quarterback. ... Slocum said A&M's newfound passing fancy is a product of quarterback Mark Farris' maturity and a shuffling that Slocum engineered on his coaching staff. In the offseason, Larry Kirksey, a former San Francisco 49ers coach, was hired as assistant head coach and wide receivers coach and former Iowa State offensive coordinator Pete Hoener to coach the running backs. Add in offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe, who also coaches quarterbacks and the three have used their creativity to develop great passing schemes, Slocum said. ... Slocum was overjoyed with his defense's performance against Tech's explosive passing attack. The Red Raiders managed just 15 points even though quarterback Kliff Kingsbury threw for 291 yards. Slocum said he was especially pleased with the play of the young secondary against the Red Raiders. Baylor If Kevin Steele were scoring, the 2-2 Bears would have 2.5 wins and 1.5 losses this year. Steele noted that Baylor "won" the second half of Saturday's 31-17 loss to Iowa State. Baylor trailed 31-3 at halftime. "There was a point in time where it wouldn't have been 31-17, it would have been 55-3," Steele said. "Still, that's no consolation prize because there are no such things in this business." ... Steele said he is seeing improvement as the Bears are 2-2 after a 1-0 season last year. Steele rattled off all the coaches who have gone 1-10 in their first season or couple of seasons -- Barry Alvarez, Mack Brown, Frank Beamer, Bill McCartney. "The list goes on and on," he said. "But in all of those instances, you will see that internally, there was some improvement." Texas Tech As they prepare to play Baylor Saturday, Tech coach Mike Leach said the Red Raiders need to cash in on more scoring opportunities. Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury completed 28 of 50 passes for 291 yards but the Red Raiders scored just 15 points in the 33-15 loss to A&M. "I thought we played really hard," he said. "We just made some kind of boneheaded mistakes." ... The biggest came when Tech cut A&M's lead to 19-15 and Anthony Terrell recovered a fumble at the A&M 19. Terrell then proceed to taunt A&M and was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct that pushed Tech back. Despite the penalty, the Red Raiders had a chance to take the lead on that drive, when Kingsbury threw a perfect pass on fourth down to Carlos Francis, who dropped the sure touchdown. ... Leach said Tech will look at Shaud Williams some more at running back along with Ricky Williams, who has struggled. Ricky Williams gained only 27 yards rushing on 12 carries and is still rusty after sitting out last year with a knee injury, Leach said. | ALSO SEE Big East notebook Big West notebook MAC notebook WAC notebook AUDIO/VIDEO   Major Applewhite hits an open Artie Ellis for a 21-yard TD.avi: 1491 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Roy Williams sets up the Texas TD with an over-the-shoulder catch.avi: 896 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Jonathan Beasley hits Aaron Lockett for the TD.avi: 1341 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 The Buffs' Javon Green hauls in Bobby Pesavento's pass with just one hand. (Courtesy ABC)avi: 1465 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | ||||
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