Jerry Scarbrough's True Orange Newsletter

Volume 11, No. 6, November 27, 2000

Longhorns Mangle Aggies, 43-17, with Huge Third Quarter; Await Word on Bowl
Matchup

After a listless offensive performance in the first half, the Longhorns
romped and stomped in the third quarter and wrecked the Aggies "Wrecking
Crew" defense en route to a 43-17 victory Friday in Austin.
The Longhorns had 492 offensive yards and averaged a whopping 8.3 yards per
play. But there was a huge difference in the way the Longhorns played to
start both halves.
Texas ran only 9 plays for just 13 yards in the first quarter, an average of
just under 1.5 yards per play. The Longhorns ran 18 plays for 303 yards in
the third quarter, an average of 16.8 yards per snap.
If not for safety Greg Brown's 10-yard scoring jaunt with an interception of
a Mark Farris' pass on the Aggies' first offensive play, the Longhorns
probably would have trailed at the half.
But that quick touchdown and an overall outstanding half by the Texas defense
allowed the Horns to go in at intermission with a 10-7 lead.
Everything changed in the third quarter. Chris Simms, starting because of a
knee injury to regular QB Major Applewhite, had been throwing east and west
for most of the first half.
But he came out throwing north and south to in the second half  and it
resulted in four touchdowns and 27 points in the third quarter to enable the
Longhorns to put the game out of reach.
Simms hit 16 of 24 passes for 383 yards and three touchdowns, and he was a
perfect 8-for-8 for 233 yards in that pivotal third quarter.
Simms is just a sophomore and he was throwing primarily to those three
tremendous true freshmen all day, and particularly in the third quarter.
B. J. Johnson, Roy Williams and Sloan Thomas combined for 12 catches for 346
yards and 3 TDs. The Horns also scored on their first two possessions in the
fourth quarter, making them 6-for-6 on finishing drives to start the second
half.
The Longhorns won their final six games after a rocky 3-2 start, and they
will land in a major bowl (see page 5 for more on the bowl picture).
Here, briefly, is how the game went:
FIRST QUARTER
Victor Ike ran the kickoff back to the 34, but the Horns went three and out.
Kris Stockton hammered a great punt that died at the Aggie 9. On the Aggies'
first play, QB Mark Farris threw into the left flat and Texas' safety Greg
Brown picked
it off and strolled into the end zone for a TD. Stockton's kick made it 7-0
with 12:46 left. But the Longhorn offense failed to make a single first down
in the quarter. The Aggies made only three first downs, but they came late in
the quarter and got the Ags to the Texas 22 as the quarter ended. Texas had
only nine plays and 13 total yards in the quarter. The Aggies had 18 plays
for 40 yards.
SECOND QUARTER
Aggie TB Richard Whitaker completed the drive when he broke off tackle and
scored from the 15 on third-and-10 for a 7-7 tie with 13:17 left. A short
kickoff gave Texas the ball at the UT 43. On the second play, Simms found
freshman WR B. J. Johnson coming across for 32 yards to the Aggie 23. On the
next play, Simms hit Johnson again for an apparent touchdown, but a rare
offensive pass interference penalty on Johnson negated it. The penalty set UT
back to the 33. Simms connected with TB Hodges Mitchell on an inside screen
to the A&M 17, but that was short of a first down because of the penalty.
Stockton's 34-yard field goal put UT ack on top, 10-7, with 10:43 left. The
Aggies got a 20-yard pass from Farris to WR Chris Taylor and 27 and 10-yard
runs by 260-pound RB Ja'Mar Toombs to get to the Texas 10. But Farris was hit
hard by DT Casey Hampton on an option and fumbled, with UT LB Tyrone Jones
recovering at the 9. Simms was sacked at the 3. Then the Horns were penalized
half the distance for illegal procedure. On second-and-17, Simms threw long
for freshman WR Roy Williams, who made a miraculous catch on his fingertips
at the 42. Mitchell picked up two first downs with tough, tackle-breaking
runs to get the A&M 37 with just under a minute left in the half. But Simms
was sacked twice in a row to take the team out of field goal range as the
half ended.
THIRD QUARTER
The Aggies took the wind, allowing Texas to receive to start both halves. It
worked in the first half, but it backfired big time in the third quarter. Ike
ran the kickooff back to the 29. Mitchell ran for 6 and 7 for a first down at
the 42. Simms hit a wide-open Johnson for 18 more to the Aggie 40. That made
it Roy Williams' time. The freshman phenom lined up wide left, came back on a
reverse and galloped 40 yards for the first UT offensive touchdown.
Stockton's kick gave Texas a 17-7 lead with 13:42 left. The Aggies couldn't
move and Texas, starting from its own 18, went 82 yards for a touchdown to go
on top, 24-7, with 7:32 left. The big plays were a 35-yard pass from Simms to
Johnson and than a 20-yard touchdown pass to Williams. But the Aggies came
back immediately, with Farris hitting WR Mickey Jones behind UT CB Roderick
Babers for 56 yards and a TD. The kick cut Texas' lead to 24-14 with 5:49
left.  Ivan Williams ran the kickoff back to the UT 44. A holding penalty
pushed the Horns back to the 34. Simms hit Williams for 10 yards, than
connected with the Longhorns' third true freshman WR, Sloan Thomas, on the
sideline and he broke a tackle and galloped 55 yards for another TD.
Stockton's kick gave Texas a 31-14 lead with 4:43 left. The Aggies drove deep
into UT territory again, but had to settle for a 40-yard field goal to cut
the deficit to 31-17 with 2:18 left. Starting from the 25, the Longhorns drew
a holding penalty to the 15, but Simms hit Williams for 15 to the 30, then
pump faked, allowing Johnson to break open and run under his long pass and
run untouched intothe end zone to complete a 70-yard scoring play. Stockton's
kick was blocked, but UT still had a 37-17 lead with 0:41 seconds left.
Longhorn CB Quentin Jammer intercepted Farris' pass at the Texas 48 on the
final play of the quarter. Simms was 8 for 8 for 234 yards and three TDs - to
three different true freshman wide receivers.
FOURTH QUARTER
After Jammer's interception, Simms hit Johnson again for 31 yards to set up a
31-yard Stockton field goal and a 40-17 lead with 12:30 left. UT CB Ahmad
Brooks forced a fumble on  the third play after the kickoff, with Babers
recovering at the A&M 33, setting up a 30-yard field goal by Stockton to
complete the scoring at 43-17 with 9:33 left. A&M drove to the Texas 8 in the
final minute of the game, but Farris' third-and-fourth-down passes fell
incomplete.

Longhorn Notes . .

* The Longhorns racked up 303 of their 492 yards total offense that torrid
27-point third quarter, and sophomore QB Chris Simms and true freshman WRs B.
J. Johnson, Roy Williams and Sloan Thomas accounted for 274 yards of it.
Simms completed 8 of 8 passes for 234 yards, and Johnson grabbed three of
them for 123 yards and a touchdown, Thomas caught one for 55 yards and a TD
and Williams had three catches for 45 yards and a touchdown. Williams also
went 40 yards to score on an end around.
* Texas is one of only eight teams to win at least nine games during each of
the last three seasons. The others are Florida State, Florida, Miami,
Nebraska, Kansas State, Tennessee and Virginia Tech. The last time Texas had
three consecutive nine-win seasons was from 1981 through 1983.

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Coach's Corner

Coach Mack Brown said Sunday he is "really excited about the way we finished
the season with six straight wins in three road games and three home games."
He said the Big 12 "is so hard, with four teams in the top 10 in the Sagarin
ratings (Oklahoma, Kansas State, Nebraska and Texas), and a lot of other very
good teams."
"A lot of people gave up on this team," he said after the game Saturday.
"They played like a top 10 team today. I'm very proud of them."
"Our freshmen receivers are unbelievable," he said. "They really helped us
today. This was a great win for us, especially against a team as good as
Texas A&M."
He said the good kickoff returns by Victor Ike and Ivan Williams in the third
quarter gave Texas good field position and helped launch two of the four
third-quarter touchdowns that broke the game open.
"This is a young football team with some great seniors," he said. "We'll have
another good recruiting year and the future is bright."
"We've won nine games three years in a row and we've won four of the last six
against A&M. I was so disappointed when we lost over there last year because
of a poor second half, and we wanted to play a great second half this year."
While he said the Longhorns played like a top 10 team, he said getting there
is just the start. "I want us to finish in the top 10," he said. "We can do
that if we win our bowl game."
Brown said he doesn't know where the Longhorns are likely to wind up in the
bowl derby, but said he expects it to be a good enough bowl "that we will
have a really tough opponent."
"They've got to understand now how to handle a bowl game because we'll
probably be playing a very good team," he said.
Brown also said he is "very proud of Chris Simms. This is a hard place to be
a quarterback.  There are a lot of opinions about the head coach, the
quarterback and the offensive coordinator each day"
He said Simms' situation to start this season was a lot like the team's
situation. "More expectations were put on this team than it deserved," he
said, "and more expectations were put on Chris, too."
Brown said the Longhorn assistant coaches "will go out recruiting
immediately. That's our top priority right now. We won't know our schedule
until we know the timing of our bowl game."
He said he will meet Monday with the members of his staff who are not on the
road recruiting to decide whether to have any practices this week.
Asked to name some players who have exceeded expectations this season, he
said, "The three freshman receivers (Roy Williams, B. J. Johnson and Sloan
Thomas). We knew they were great prospects, but there was no way we could
have anticipated they would play they way they have."
He also said true freshman DE Kalen Thorn-ton, redshirt freshman S Dakarai
Pearson, redshirt freshman DT Marcus Tubbs, sophomore FB Matt Trissel ("he
had 14 knockdowns at Kansas"), and Simms have all played extremely well down
the stretch.

Horns 12th in Both Polls

Texas is ranked 12th in both the Associated Press poll and the USA Today/ESPN
poll.
Three other Big 12 teams are in the AP top 25 ) No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 8 Kansas
State and No. 10 Nebraska.

Injury Update

Coach Mack Brown said Sunday QB Major Applewhite might be ready to play in
the Longhorns' bowl game because he will have several weeks to rest his
injured knee.
But he said sophomore QB Chris Simms has played extremely well in the last
two games. "We have two quarterbacks who are good enough to give us a chance
to win against anybody," he said.
Brown said safety Lee Jackson (leg injury) WR Artie Ellis (shin) and TE Brock
Edwards (leg) probably will be able to play in the bowl game.
Edwards' injury left the Horns with converted FB Chad Stevens as the only
healthy scholarship TE.
OG Antwan Kirk-Hughes has been having problems with a shoulder, and it
bothered him during the A&M game, but he is expected to be able to play in
the bowl game.

Longhorns Win Honors

Senior OT Leonard Davis made the Football Writers Association's first-team
All-America squad, and he and senior DT Casey Hampton made the Walter Camp
All American team and were on the Football News All-America second team.
Kicker Kris Stockton made the Football News third team.
WR Roy Williams and DE Kalen Thornton made the Rivals.com freshman
All-America first team and Williams was chosen as the top offensive freshman
player.
Davis, senior RB Hodges Mitchell, Hampton, and junior CB Quentin Jammer on
the first-team of the All-Big 12 Team selected by the league's coaches.
Hampton was chosen as the league Defensive Player of the Year and Williams,
who made the third team, was chosen as the Freshman of the Year. Stockton
made the second team and Williams and junior LB De'Andre Lewis made the third
team.
Junior OT Mike Williams, sophomore DE Cory Redding and senior DB Greg Brown
were Longhorns who got honorable mention.
Kansas State had six first-team players, leading in that category, but O
klahoma had five first-teamers, headed by Offensive Player of the Year
QB Josh Heupel, plus six second-teamers and five third-teamers.
Kansas State had 13 players on the three teams, followed by Nebraska with 9,
Texas and Iowa State with 7, Texas Tech with 6, Texas A&M and Kansas with 5
each, Oklahoma State with 4, Missouri and Colorado with 3 each and Baylor
with 2.

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Game Quotes . .

"Giving them an easy touchdown to start the game is not what you want, but we
settled down and moved the ball well in the first half. We then had a chance
to take the lead, but fumbled close to the goal line. In the third quarter,
they hit some big plays, including the reverse, which broke our momentum and
got things going for them."
) Texas A&M head coach R. C. Slocum
* * * *
"We felt like we'd played the first half a little close to the vest and we
wanted to loosen things up a little in the second half. Chris Simms did a
really great job of thowing the ball into the wind in the third quarter."
) UT offensive coordinator Greg Davis, explaining how the Longhorns scored
four touchdowns going into the wind in the third quarter after making only
four first downs in the first half
* * * *
"I thought our guys did a great job of battling in the first half. We gave up
some plays in the second half, but our offense really took off. Anytime you
are a defensive coach and your offense starts playing like that, it's a real
good thing."
) Texas defensive coordinator Carl Reese
* * * *
"It's unbelievable, isn't it? I focused on it a lot all week. I just wanted
to play smart and not make any mistakes. I've made mistakes throughout the
year - interceptions that were run back for touchdowns. It seemed like I was
doing that religiously. It sure felt good today."
) UT QB Chris Simms, when asked about how it felt to play well and not throw
any interceptions
* * * *
"They played a different coverage than we have seen them play. I just didn't
see Greg Brown and he made a huge play for them."
) Aggie QB Mark Farris, discussing his first pass being intercepted and run
back for a touchdown by UT safety Greg Brown
* * * *
"My receiver ran out to block a cornerback and I just got in the lane. The
ball took forever to get there. It just seemed to hang up there, but it
finally came down and I made sure I caught it because I had a clear path to
the end zone."
) UT senior safety Greg Brown, also discussing his early interception and
touchdown
* * * *
"Sloan had one and Roy had two, so I thought I had to get one, too. We were
really up for this one. If you can't get up for Texas A&M, you really
shouldn't be playing for the University of Texas."
) UT true freshman WR B. J. Johnson, talking about his fellow freshmen Roy
Williams and Sloan Thomas and their touchdowns
* * * *
"It was great to go out there and beat A&M and win my last home game.
) UT senior DT Shaun Rogers

Texas-Texas A&M Statistics

Scoring Summary
Texas            7        3         27       6  )    43
Texas A&M        0        7         10       0  )    17

UT - Brown 10 interception return (Stockton kick) 12:46 1Q
A&M - Whitaker 15 run (Kitchens kick) 13:17 2Q (49 yds, 12 plays)
UT - Stockton 34 FG 10:43 2Q (40 yds, 7 plays)
UT - R. Williams 40 run (Stockton kick) 13:42 3Q (71 yds, 4 plays)
UT - R. Williams 20 pass from Simms (Stockton kick) 7:32 3Q (81 yds, 8 plays)
A&M - M. Jones 56 pass from Farris (Kitchens kick) 5:49 3Q (73 yds, 6 plays)
UT - Thomas 55 pass from Simms (Stockton kick) 4:43 3Q (56 yds, 3 plays)
A&M - Kitchens 40 FG 2:18 3Q (51 yds, 7 plays)
UT - Johnson 70 pass from Simms (kick blocked) 0:41 3Q (75 yds, 3 plays)
UT - Stockton 31 FG 12:30 4Q (38 yds, 7 plays)
UT - Stockton 30 FG 9:33 4Q (20 yds, 5 plays)

Official Attendance: 84,012

Team Statistics

Texas         Texas A&M
First Downs                     16           18
Rushing                             6              7
Passing                         10           10
Penalty                         0              1
Rushing Attempts, Net Yards        35-109          28-81
Net Yards Passing                   383        290
Passes Comp., Att., Int.               16-24-0         25-43-2
Total Plays, Offense                 59-492      71-371
Avg. Gain per Play                      8.3        5.2
Fumbles Lost                            0 of  1      2 of 2
Penalties, Yards                        6-47         3-20
Punts, Avg.                         4-37          4-44.2
Time of Possession              28:10        31:50
Third-Down Conversions              5 of 13      8 of 17
Fourth-Down Conversions         0 of  1      2 of 3
Sacks by Team, Yds Lost         1-7       3-19

Individual Statistics

Texas
Rushing -  Mitchell 25-89; R. Williams 1-40, 1 TD; Johnson 1-1; Team 2-minus
2; Simms 6-19.
Passing -  Simms 16-24, 383 yds, 3 TD, 01 Int.
Receiving - Johnson  6-187, 1 TD; Williams 4-85, 1 TD; Thomas 2-74, 1 TD;
Mitchell 3-26; Healy 1-11.

Texas A&M
Rushing -  Toombs 13-53; Whitaker 8-32, 1 TD; Weber 1-0-; Goynes 1-minus 1;
Fafrris 5-minus 3.
Passing -Farris 25-43, 290 yds, 1 TD, 2 Int.
Receiving - Taylor 6-72; M. Jones 4-67, 1 TD; Johnson 4-34; Weber 2-34;
Porter 3-24; Goynes 1-24; Whitaker 3-16; Toombs 1-15; Madison 1-4.

Tackles by Texas Players, Unasst., Asst., Total
Brooks 8-1-9; Lewis 5-3-8; Brown 4-4-8; Rogers 3-2-5; Jammer 2-3-5; Pearson
4-0-4; Babers 3-1-4; Hampton 2-2-4; T. Jones 0o-4-4; Trahan 3-0-3; Boyd
2-1-3; Thornton 1-2-3; Radwls 1-2-3; Redding 2-0-2; Tubbs 1-0-1; Ungar 1-0-1;
Vasher 1-0-1; Geiggar 1-0-1; Pittman 0-1-1.

Tackles for Losses: Brown 1-minus 8; Rogers 2-minus 5; Lewis 2-minus 4;
Hampton 2-minus 4; Rawls 1-minus 1; Brooks 1-minus 1; Pearson 1-minus 1.

Sacks: Vasher 1-minus 7.