Part 2

Scouting Oklahoma State
The Longhorns open defense of their Big 12 South championship Saturday at 11
a.m. against Oklahoma State in a game that will be televised by ABC.
The Cowboys opened their season with a 36-26 win over Tulsa, then blanked
Southwest Texas, 23-0, before suffering their first loss at the hands of
nationally ranked Southern Mississipp, 28-6, Saturday.
The Cowboys have one of the most balanced offenses in college football,
averaging 191 yards rushing and 178 passing.
The Longhorns, on the other hand, have lived and died by the pass this
season. However, they ran the ball better last week and hope to be able to
test the Cowboy's defense, which is No. 1 nationally against the run.
QB Tony Lindsay has always played well against Texas, but he has had injury
problems throughout his career and he was knocked out of the loss to Southern
Mississippi with a shoulder injury in the third quarter.
RB Reggie White, a 230-pounder with good speed, has been the go-to guy on the
ground for the Cowboys.
White could pose a problem for the Longhorns because their normally stout
middle defense has been weakened by injuries to DTs Shawn Rogers (knee),
Stevie Lee (foot) and Ryan Haywood (shoulder).
It is doubtful that Rogers, an All-Big 12 selection, will be able to play
Saturday. Redshirt freshman Marcus Tubbs played well against Houston after
Rogers was hurt, but depth will be a problem unless Lee can return. He and
Tubbs were the second-team tackles.
Defensively, the Cowboys are led by an outstanding front four, headed by ends
Zac Warner and Juqua Thomas, who had 13 sacks each last year to lead the team.
The Cowboys are inexperienced in the secondary, but it won't matter if Warner
and Thomas can get to the UT quarterbacks before they throw.
The Horns should win this one, but it could be close.
Here's how the teams compare statistically (national rank in parenthesis):
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Texas                     Oklahoma State
Offense
(106) 65.3       Rushing Avg.       (21) 191
(5) 328.7        Passing Avg.       (30) 178
(39) 394        Total Off. Avg.     (57) 369    (8) 41.3         Scoring Avg
(75) 21.7
Defense
(4) 47               Rushing Avg.        (1) 30.3
(67) 207.7       Passing Avg.             (92) 245
(12) 254.7      Total Def. Avg.        (20) 275.3   (13) 12.3    Opp. Scoring
Avg             (38) 18
(52) 35.5       Net Punting          (91) 31.6

Big 12 Roundup
Texas Tech visits Texas A&M and Kansas State travels to Colorado in the
headliners of the Big 12 Conference's first week of league play.
Tech and A&M are two of the contenders for the Big 12 South crown, and their
early showdown will help determine the pecking order.
Colorado is winless, but the Buffaloes have lost by narrow margins to three
very good teams and they are always tough in Boulder, so K-State probably
will have all it can handle after playing four patsies in a row to open the
season.
BIG 12 STANDINGS
SOUTHERN DIVISION
Conference        Season
W   L  PF    PA     Pct.      W   L    PF     PA     Pct.
Texas Tech  0    0  000   000    .000     4    0   101     26     1.000
Oklahoma    0    0  000   000    .000     3    0   142     35     1.000
Texas       0    0  000   000    .000     2    1   124     37       .667
Texas A&M   0    0   000  000    .000     2    1   106     44       .667
Baylor      0    0  000   000    .000     2    1     57     54       .667
Oklahoma State  0    0  000   000    .000     2    1    65      54       .667
NORTHERN DIVISION
Conference        Season
W   L  PF     PA      Pct.      W    L   PF    PA     Pct.
Kansas State    0    0  000   000      .000     4     0  212     27   1.000
Nebraska        0    0  000   000      .000     3     0  118      50   1.000
Iowa State  0    0  000   000      .000     3     0    86     51   1.000
Kansas      0    0  000   000      .000     2     1    82      51    .667
Missouri        0    0  000   000      .000     1     2    69     95     .333
Colorado        0    0  000   000      .000     0     3    52      62    .000
Last Week's Results
Texas 48, Houston 0
Oklahoma 42, Rice 14
Baylor 28, South Florida 13
Southern Mississippi 28, Oklahoma State 6
Kansas State 55, North Texas 10
Nebraska 42, Iowa 13
Kansas 42, Southern Illinois 0
This Week's Games
Oklahoma State at Texas, 11 a.m. (ABC)
Texas Tech at Texas A&M, 11:30 a.m. (FOX Synd)
Kansas at Oklahoma, 2 p.m.
Kansas State at Colorado, 2:30 p.m. (ABC)
Iowa State at Baylor, 6 p.m.
Missouri at Nebraska, 6 p.m. (FOX Sports Net)
2000 Longhorn Schedule, Record (2-1)
Texas  Opp.
Sept. 9     Louisiana-Lafayette   52    10
Sept 16    at Stanford        24    27
Sept 23    Houston            48      0
Sept 18    Rice
Sept 30    Oklahoma State
Oct. 7       Oklahoma (Dallas)
Oct. 14    at Colorado
Oct. 21    Missouri
Oct. 28    Baylor
Nov. 4      at Texas Tech
Nov. 11    at Kansas
Nov. 24    Texas A&M

Scoring by Quarters
Texas          9      48      31         36 -  124
Opponents     16       7       7      7 -    37

Recruiting Roundup
Texas has 16 commitments now after getting a pledge last week from Tyler CB
Aaron Ross, 6-1, 182, 4.42.
Ross, an outstanding man-for-man defender, said he had scholarship offers
from Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and others, but said
he committed to Texas "because I've always been a Longhorn fan, and I really
like the Texas coaches."
He said Darryl Drake and Everett Withers were the two Texas coaches who
recruited him, and he said Withers, the Texas secondary coach, came to see
him play in his second game this season.
He is a big, fast corner with long arms, but don't look for him to get many
picks this year because he doesn't get many passes thrown his way because he
is so good at tight man-for-man coverage.
I went to Waco Friday night to see the Lions play Tyler Lee. Waco LB Derrick
Johnson scored one touchdown on an 11-yard interception return and just
generally wreaked havoc on Lee's efforts to make a game of it.
Waco won, 34-9, and Johnson is as good a linebacker as I have seen in Texas
recently. He is 6-3 or 6-4, weighs around 205 and he can really run. He has
the frame to carry 230 pounds without losing any speed.
He says Texas is his No. 1 choice, but he also says he probably will take all
five official visits before making a decision.
Other schools in contention are A&M, FSU, Oklahoma and UCLA, but he says,
"I'd like to play pretty close to home so my friends and family could see me
play."
His teammate, DT Sharod McGowan, is listed in the program as being 6-2 and
260. He doesn't look that heavy, but he is a dominating player, too, on
occasion.
McGowan is very quick and might be better suited to playing DE at the college
level.He doesn't play with the same intensity as Johnson, but he can dominate
a game when he plays all out.
FB James Buchanon of Sarasota, Fla.,  and DL Kaelen Jakes of Valencia HS in
Placentia, Cal., both took their official visits to Texas last weekend, and
their families said both had great times.
Buchanon was heading home Sunday night, but Jakes wasn't going back to
California until Monday morning.
Neither had committed as of Sunday night.
DE Eric Hall of Clarksville, Tenn., is the only other recruit who has taken
an official visit to Texas so far this year.
Other recruits who attended Saturday's game were OL William Winston of
Houston Madison, safeties Dewayne Brandon of Temple and Rufus Harris of La
Porte, and two top recruits who have already committed to Texas ) super OL
Jonathan Scott of Dallas Carter and DB/WR Brian Carter of The Woodlands. They
were on unofficial visits.

Winston, who dominated Aldine's fine DE Lawrence Hooper when their two teams
met earlier this season, said, "He told me last year I was the best offensive
lineman he faced all year, and I wanted to be sure he didn't change his mind."
Winston said he enjoyed the game and getting to meet the Texas players and
coaches. "They have a classy operation with classy people," he said, adding
that UT, A&M, UCLA, Tennessee and LSU are his top five schools right now.
Here's a list of the Horns' 16 early commitments:
Offensive Line (7)
Jonathan Scott, 6-7, 290, 4.9, Dallas Carter
Abe Robinson, 6-6, 270, 4.9, Jersey Village
Alfio Randall, 6-6, 300, 5.1, Blinn JC
Mike Garcia, 6-5, 280, 5.2, Galena Park
Will Allen, 6-5, 300, 5.2, Cypress Falls
Roman Reeves, 6-6, 295, 5.2, Livingston
Terrance Young, 6-6, 340, 5.5, Longview
Running Back (2)
Cedric Benson, 5-11, 200, 4.5, Midland Lee
Anthony Johnson, 5-11, 195, 4.4, Jefferson
Linebacker (2)
Yamil LeBron, 6-2, 240, 4.7, Killeen Ellison
Lance McFarland, 6-1, 225, 4.6, Jefferson
Defensive Back (5)
Cedric Griffin, 6-1, 180, 4.4, San Antonio Holmes
Aaron Ross, 6-1, 182, 4.42, Tyler
Kendal Briles, 5-10, 175, 4.5, Wolfforth Frenship
Braden Johnson, 6-2, 200, 4.5, Euless Trinity
Brian Carter, 5-11, 180, 4.5, The Woodlands
* * * *
RECRUITING NOTES: QB Matt Nordgren of Dallas Bishop Lynch is not blessed with
great receivers this year, but his team is 4-0 and it defeated defending
private school state champion Houston St. Pius, 22-12 Saturday night, with
Nordgren running 14 yards for one TD and hitting a 13-yard pass for another.
He completed six of nine passes for 70 yards and ran four times for 21 yards.
He says he will visit LSU and Kentucky the next two weekends, and probably
will be ready to commit to Texas by Oct. 15. . . Brent Rawls of Shreveport
Evangel, the other top QB Texas is pursuing, had an awesome game Thursday in
a battle between Louisiana powers Evangel and and Shreveport Byrd. Rawls
completed 22 of 37 passes for 477 yards and three TDs and ran for 42 yards
and two more scores to lead Evangel to a 49-45 comeback victory. He visited
Purdue last weekend and will visit Florida State the Oct. 14 weekend. He also
is considering LSU . . Midland Lee, which had won back-to-back state titles
in Texas, picked the wrong year to tangle with Louisiana powerhouse West
Monroe. Lee hung with West Monroe for a half before falling, 36-8. Benson,
who is running behind all all new offensive line (he is one of only two
starters back on offense), scored Lee's only TD when he broke loose for 78
yards on his third carry. He wound up with 151 yards on 23 carries and also
caught a 17-yard pass to account for most of the Rebels' yardage.

Softball Team Gets Big Pledge
Cat Osterman, a super 6-1 left-handed pitcher from Houston Cypress Springs,
has committed to play for the Longhorn women's softball team.
She said she will sign with Texas during the early signing period that begins
in November.
In adding to pitching for her high school, she was the ace pitcher last
summer for the Katy Cruisers team that won the national title for the ASA
18-and-under Gold Division, which was the top national group.
At the ASA National Tournament in St. Louis, she struck out 106 in 53 innings
and pitched one perfect game and one no-hitter while going 7-1 against the
top high school seniors and college freshmen in the country.
Osterman pitched against the U. S. Olympic team last summer while playing for
the Katy Cruisers and struck out 11 of the 16 batters she faced while
allowing just one hit in five innings.
The Cruisers were the only team to take the Olympic team to extra innings,
losing 1-0 in eight innings.
The only other pitchers who struck out more Olympians were professional team
pitchers who went seven full innings, and none of them struck out more than
12.
Carol Adcock, Osterman's coach at Cypress Springs, said, "She could have gone
anywhere she wanted. Every top softball program in the nation wanted her."
Adcock said Osterman compares favorably with former Longhorn All-American and
current Olympian Christa Williams at a comparable stage in their careers.
"Cat doesn't throw quite as hard as Christa did in high school," Adcock said,
"but she has more movement on her pitches. She is as dominating as any high
school pitcher I have seen."
Osterman had a 16-4 record last season at Cy Springs. She gave up only one
earned run during the season and had an ERA that looks like a misprint at
0.08.
Adcock said she struck out 377 in 169 innings last season, averaging 15.6
strikeouts per 7-inning game.
Adcock said, "Her best pitch is a rise ball. It's great, but she also has a
very good drop ball and a great curve."
UT softball coach Connie Clark can't comment on recruits until they sign, but
Osterman is clearly the kind of dominating pitcher she has been looking for
since Williams skipped her senior season to play on the Olympic team.
Osterman's final five schools were Texas, Stanford, Washington, Oklahoma and
UCLA.
She also is an outstanding student who ranks in the top 10% in her class. She
is dedicated, too. She was pitching to her dad in the family driveway when I
called her Sunday at 6:30 p.m. to confirm her commitment.

Top Pitcher Commits to UT
Luis Cortez, 5-11, 180, a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher with outstanding
control, has announced he will sign a baseball scholarship with the Longhorns.
Cortez had a 0.82 ERA at Sinton last year and he played with a top AAU team,
the Ohio Thunder, this summer and went 4-0 with one save and a 0.91 ERA.
He was the youngest player on the Ohio Thunder and was one of only three
players on the team with remaining high school eligibility.
His best pitches are a slider and a fast ball that has been clocked as high
as 92 miles per hour, but is consistent in the 88-89 mph area. He also has a
good curve and a changeup.
He averaged two strikeouts per inning at Sinton last season.
Cortez also is an outstanding student. He makes straight A's and is fifth in
his class.

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