Jerry Scarbrough's True Orange
The Newsletter for the True Texas Longhorn Faithful

Volume 12, No. 6, November 26, 2001

(Editor's Note - I'm sending this in four pieces today because it is a bigger
issue than usual due to the spring recruiting in basketball, track and
softball.)

Volume 12, No. 6, November 26, 2001

 Benson, Defense Stifle Ags; Huge Upsets Propel
Horns Into Big 12 Title Game Against Colorado

As Longhorn defensive coordinator Carl Reese noted, it was an old-fashioned,
rock-em, sock-em game in College Station before a state record football crowd
of 87,555 Friday, and Texas won it with a gritty defense and two late
touchdowns by outstanding freshman RB Cedric Benson.
After taking the 21-7 victory, head coach Mack Brown congratulated the team
on its fine 10-1 season and said he wasn't worried about the Bowl
Championship Series (BCS) "because we'll be in it."
I don't know if had a crystal ball, but immediately after the Longhorns'
expected victory, top-rated Nebraska was humiliated, 62-36, by Colorado, and
the next day No. 3 Oklahoma, a 27-point favorite lost at home to Oklahoma
State, 16-13. It was only the fifth time OSU has won at OU.
The good news is those games moved Texas up to the No. 3 spot in both major
polls and put the Longhorns back in control of their own destiny for the
first time since that 14-3 loss to OU back in October.
Texas plays Colorado Saturday at 7 p.m. in Irving's Texas Stadium for the Big
12 Championship and an automatic berth in one of the four BCS bowls, possibly
even the Rose Bowl in the national title game.
But the bad news is that a loss to the stampeding Buffaloes would knock the
Longhorns out of the BCS mix.
Brown and his players are tickled orange, however, at the chance to play for
the conference championship.
"The BCS isn't an issue today," Brown said Saturday after the huge upset in
Norman. "The Bowl game isn't an issue today."
"We said we needed to get to the championship game," he said, "but once you
get there, you need to win. After that, you just look up and try to figure
out where you are."
"People have been asking us about the BCS for five weeks," Brown said.
"Obviously we said we needed to wait until the end (of the season) and the
end's not even near where it should be."
"People haven't given us or Colorado a chance to be in this game for five
weeks. To our kids' credit and to Colorado's kids credit, they kept working
hard and now they are in this game."
The coaches and players have to forget the Aggie game and get ready for the
Buffaloes, but we can enjoy it just a little longer.
This was a game where the defenses weren't going to give up a lot, but the
Longhorns got an early special teams touchdown when CB Roderick Babers
blocked a punt and WR Tony Jeffery scooped it up and scored.
The Aggies tied it on a 27-yard drive after a fine punt return in the third
quarter when they had the benefit of the strong wind, which was around 15
miles per hour with frequent gusts to 25 or 30 miles per hour.
But Nathan Vasher made a couple of good punt returns and Texas started the
pivotal fourth quarter with the wind and a drive into Aggie territory that
changed the field position for the rest of the game.
After a short Aggie punt midway through the period, the Longhorns rode
Benson's strong legs to a touchdown, then they got another from the powerful
freshman after Everick Rawls' interception in the final two minutes.
Here, briefly, is how the game went
First Quarter
Texas won the toss and deferred. After each defense got a quick stop, the
Aggies were stymied a second time and Babers blocked the punt and Jeffery
returned it 23 yards for a Longhorn TD and a 7-0 lead with 7:44 left. Another
three-and-out by the Aggies, followed by a shanked punt, gave Texas
possession at the UT 47. The Horns made one first down and Dusty Mangum
missed a 49-yard field goal try. Defenses dominated the quarter.  A&M led in
first downs, 3-2, and in total yardage, 40-25.
Second Quarter
A shanked punt by UT's Brian Bradford set the Aggies up at the Longhorn 47.
A&M couldn't move, but punted the ball dead at the UT 7. The Longhorn
offense, which had done little with the stiff wind, couldn't move into it,
and Bradford's 30-yard punt, a good one into the wind, gave A&M possessiion
at the UT 39. The Aggies made a first  down at the 26 before stalling. Cody
Scates missed a 43-yard field goal attempt. An interception of a long pass at
the UT 5 by safety Ahmad Brooks with just under five minutes left in the half
finally pumped a little life into the Longhorn offense, which drove to
midfield and killed all but 50 seconds of the half before stalling. Texas had
a 7-5 lead in first downs and a 92-60 lead in total offense at intermission.
Third Quarter
Texas got the ball going into the wind to start the second half. The Horns
couldn't move and punted. A&M's Mickey Jones almost tied the game on the punt
return, starting right, then racing left and going down the sideline for 37
yards before being pushed out of bounds at the UT 27. The Aggies hit a pass
to the UT 8, then 220-pound RB Keith Joseph took over, powering to the left
to the 4, then taking a pitchout to the right for the TD to tie the game with
10:41 left. The Horns came right back with a good drive to midfield, sparked
by two passes from Simms to TE Bo Scaife. But, facing fourth down with an
inch or two needed, a lineman flinched and UT drew a 5-yard penalty and had
to punt.
Fourth Quarter
Benson, who had been stymied throughout the first three quarters, got 5 and
then 24 yards on his first two carries of the final period, getting the Horns
to the Aggie 45. But the UT offense stalled again and Bradford's punt was
killed at the Aggie 8. The Texas defense force a quick punt into the wind and
Vasher alertly ran up and caught the short punt at the A&M 40 and returned it
to the 35. Benson got loose for 12 to the 23, then got 5 and 2 to the 16. On
third and 3, Simms hit Scaife coming across the middle  to the A&M 5. Benson
powered through the right side for the TD on the next play. Mangum's kick put
UT on top, 14-7, with 7:22 left. Rawls interception at the A&M 27 and return
to the 12 with 1:59 left set up the final UT touchdown. Benson got 1, then
ran through a big hole and powered through two defenders for the TD and the
final 21-7 count.

Rose Bowl Road Full of Thorns

 If you still have some hope the Longhorns will be playing for the national
title in the Rose Bowl on January 3, here's what it would take:
1. A victory over Colorado Saturday.
2. A loss for either Florida or Miami and probably a loss for Oregon, too,
because the Ducks were ahead of Texas in the last BCS ratings. The Horns have
to be No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS ratings on December 9 to get to
Pasadena.
Miami plays at Virginia Tech Saturday, while Florida hosts Tennessee and
Oregon also is at home against Oregon State
If Florida beats Tennessee, the Gators would have to win the SEC title game
on December 8 against the winner of Saturday's game between Auburn and LSU.
Since that game is in Baton Rouge and Auburn's outstanding running back broke
his shoulder two weeks ago, LSU probably will be the Gators' Dec. 8 opponent.
It's asking a lot for two of those three teams to lose a game, but after the
games in Boulder and Norman last weekend, anything is possible.

Longhorn Notes

* Saturday's meeting between Texas and Colorado will be the sixth Big 12
Championship Game. Texas won the inaugural title game in 1996, Nebraska
triumphed in 1997 and 1999, Texas A&M won the title in 1998 and Oklahoma took
the crown in 2000. If Texas wins Saturday, the Longhorns will join Nebraska
as the only two-time champs.
* Since the Big 12 Championship Game counts in statistical manners, RB Cedric
Benson has a great chance to become the first Longhorn freshman to rush for
more than 1,000 yards in a season. He has 974 yards and ranks second among
Longhorn freshmen behind Ricky Williams, who rushed for 990 yards in 1995.
* Benson broke the UT freshman record for touchdowns with his pair of
fourth-quarter rushing scores. He has 12 touchdowns on the season  - 11
rushing and one on a shovel pass reception  -breaking the record of 10 set by
Roy Williams last year.
* Benson had only 12 yards on 14 carries after three quarters Friday in
College Station, but he finished strong, carrying 13 times for 67 yards and
scoring the Longhorns' only two offensive touchdowns in the final period. He
finished with 27 carries for 79 yards and two touchdowns.
* The UT defense is allowing 77.4 yards a game rushing, the fourth lowest
average in school history, trailing only teams from the old one-platoon days
when defense dominated and 7-0 games were the norm. The only lower season
averages were 57.5 in 1942, 65.9 in 1941 and 69.5 in 1943.
* This is Texas' first 10-win season since 1995, which was the last time
Texas won at Kyle Field. The Longhorns have had 15 teams with 10 or more wins
in a season, but this is just the third since 1983.
* Texas evened the series in College Station 21-21-2.UT leads the overall
series, 69-34-5
* The Texas defense has held its last eight opponents to less than 300 yards
of total offense. Texas A&M gained 165 yards, which was the fourth time Texas
has held its opponent to less than 200 yards in 2001.
* Sophomore WR B.J. Johnson extended his streak of consecutive games with a
catch to 23, a UT record to start a career and the third-longest in school
history. Mike Adams holds the school record of 26, which he set from 1995-96.
* Sophomore WR Roy Williams has caught a pass in 20 straight games. He had
eight receptions o move into sixth place on the UT career receptions list
(102). He also moved into second place on UT's single-season list with 62
receptions.
* Junior QB Chris Simms passed for 138 yards, giving him 2,473 yards on the
season and placing him second on the UT single-season chart. Major Applewhite
holds the UT record with 3,357 yards in 1999.
* Senior LB D.D. Lewis tied the UT record with his 49th straight start. He
now shares the record with Dan Neil (1993-96).
* Freshman WR Tony Jeffery scored his second career touchdown when he
returned Rod Babers' blocked punt 23 yards in the first quarter. His first
score came against Houston when he had a 17-yard touchdown reception. Texas
has returned two blocked punts for touchdowns in 2001 - the first was by
sophomore safety Phillip Geiggar against New Mexico State.
* Junior CB Rod Babers blocked a punt for the second straight game. It was
his second blocked kick of the season and the fifth for Texas as a team.
Texas has blocked seven kicks overall this season.
* Friday's victory marked UT's eighth straight road victory and 12th in its
last 14 games.
* Texas has produced seven defensive or special teams scores in 2001,
including four in the last three games.
* The Texas defense has had an interception in six straight games and eight
of 11 games this season.
* Texas is 28-1 when scoring first, 34-5 when leading at halftime and 33-0
when outrushing its opponent during the Mack Brown era. The Horns are 4-12
when they are outrushed during the Brown era.

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Texas, the BCS and the Bowl Situation

Forget calculating the Longhorns' BCS standings and their chances of getting
into a BCS bowl.
It all got simplified when Nebraska and Oklahoma both lost last weekend.
Now, two improbable division winners - Texas in the South and Colorado in the
North - will meet Saturday for the Big 12 Championship and the automatic BCS
berth that goes with it.
It would take another big round of upsets for Texas to make it to the
National Championship Game in the Rose Bowl, but a second victory over the
Buffs Saturday would guarantee the Horns a BCS bowl bid.
It could be the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, which normally gets the Big 12
champion if the Big 12 champ isn't in the national title game.
But the BCS bowls can trade things around, and the Rose Bowl, normally the
meeting place for the Big 10 and Pac 10 champs, won't have a team from either
of those conferences in it unless Oregon gets lucky.
So, some Fiesta Bowl folks would like to turn their bowl into "Rose Bowl II"
by inviting the Big 10 and Pac 10 champs.
They reportedly have been talking to the Sugar Bowl folks about switching
teams, and the New Orleans folks reportedly would love to have the Longhorns,
assuming they take care of business Saturday in Texas Stadium.
There also is an outside chance the Orange Bowl will get in on the swapping,
so the Horns could wind up there.
And what if Colorado pulls another big upset Saturday? Then we hope all of
you love the Cotton Bowl, because that is where Texas will be when the new
year begins.
The new BCS standings will be issued Monday, but, for the first time since
that all started, it really won't matter where Texas stands because a win
Saturday will guarantee a BCS bowl berth and a loss will guarantee there
won't be a BCS bowl berth for Texas.