Scouting Texas Tech

Texas travels to Lubbock Saturday to take on dangerous Texas Tech in a 6 p.m.
game that will be televised by the Fox Network.
The Red Raiders are 6-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12, with losses to
Nebraska, Kansas State and Texas A&M.
Tech, under new coach Mike Leach, opened the season with a 24-3 win over New
Mexico, then whipped Utah State, 38-16, and North Texas, 13-7, before
wrapping up the non-conference slate with a 26-0 shutout of
Lousiana-Lafayette.
The Raiders fell at Texas A&M, 33-15, to open league play. Then they
whitewashed Baylor, 28-0, before getting hammered by Nebraska, 56-3. Then
they scared Kansas State in Manhattan before falling, 28-23.
They outscored Kansas, 45-39, Saturday in Lawrence, with sophomore QB Kliff
Kingsbury hitting WR Derek Dorris for four touchdowns.
Leach is the guy who found Josh Heupel and lured him to Oklahoma last season
when he was the Sooners' offensive coordinator.
The Sooners' offensive success last year propeled him to the head job at
Texas Tech and his offense is a pass first, pass second and pass third
offense, just like the one the Sooners use.
The difference, however, is that there is only one Heupel. But Kingsbury is
very good. He's a sophomore who has thrown a nation's leading 431 passes this
year and who has hit 60.1% of them.
He is No. 8 in the nation in total offense, averaging 285.6 yards per game.
One scary statistic is Texas Tech's lofty No. 2 ranking in pass defense. The
Raiders are giving up only 146.2 yards per game passing and they have
intercepted 10 passes.
If the Longhorns don't run any better than they have been running, they will
have to have some success throwing to have a chance to win.
One other worrisome thing is that Texas Tech is the second best team the
Longhorns have played to this point. Oklahoma, with a 7-0 record, is the only
other team the Horns have played with a winning record right now.
To win in Lubbock, the Longhorns have to pressure Kingsbury and the offense
and defense both have to remember to show up in the first quarter.

Here's how the teams compare statistically (national rank in parenthesis):

Texas                             Texas Tech
Offense
(90)   107.8         Rushing Avg.        (111)   68.1
(10)   302.4         Passing Avg.          (11) 300.6
(32)   410.2        Total Off. Avg.        (63) 368.7
(11)    37.8         Scoring Avg            (70)   23.9
Defense
(20)   101.4         Rushing Avg.          (66) 159.9
(10)   168.0         Passing Avg.            (2) 146.2
(7)   269.4       Total Def. Avg.        (20) 302.1
(23)     18.4    Opp. Scoring Avg          (36)   20.2

Big 12 Roundup

The conference races have narrowed down to three teams in each division and
the Northern Division will come down to just two teams after this week
because Iowa State travels to Kansas State in an elimination game.
Two huge games are on tap next week when Oklahoma visits Texas A&M and
Nebraska travels to Kansas State. If the Sooners and Huskers both win, the
races are as good as over and you can count on them meeting again in Kansas
City on December 2.

BIG 12 STANDINGS
SOUTHERN DIVISION
Conference              Season
W   L   PF    PA        Pct.      W   L    PF     PA     Pct.
Oklahoma        4    0  169     75   1.000     7    0   311   110    1.000
Texas           4    1  178   110     .800     6    2   302   147      .750
Texas A&M       4    1  132     58     .800     6    2   248   102      .750
Texas Tech  2    3  114   156     .400     6    3   215   182      .667
Okla State      0    4    64   136     .000     2    5  129   190      .286
Baylor          0    5    31   190     .000     2    6     88    244     .250

NORTHERN DIVISION
Conference                  Season
W   L   PF     PA      Pct.     W    L   PF     PA     Pct.
Nebraska        4    1  220     85      .800     7     1   338  135     .875
Kansas State    3    2  165   124      .600     7     2   377   151     .778
Iowa State      3    2  137   142      .600     6     2   218   193     .750
Kansas          2    3  129   153      .400     4     4   209   180     .500
Colorado        2    3  113   135      .400     2     6  165    197     .143
Missouri        1    4    97   175      .200     2     6  166      270
.250

Last Week's Results
Texas 48, Baylor 14
Texas A&M 26, Kansas State 10
Oklahoma 31, Nebraska 14
Texas Tech 45, Kansas 39
Colorado 37, Oklahoma State 21
Iowa State 39, Missouri 20

This Week's Games
Texas at Texas Tech, 6 p.m. (Fox)
Colorado at Missouri, noon
Oklahoma at Baylor, 1 p.m.
Texas A&M at Oklahoma State, 1 p.m.
Iowa State at Kansas State, 1 p.m.
Kansas at Nebraska, 2:30 p.m.

2000 Longhorn Schedule, Record (6-2)

Texas  Opp.
Sept. 9     Louisiana-Lafayette     52  10
Sept 16    at Stanford              24  27
Sept 23    Houston                  48    0
Sept 30    Oklahoma State           42    7
Oct. 7       Oklahoma (Dallas)      14  63
Oct. 14    at Colorado              28  14
Oct. 21    Missouri                 46  12
Oct. 28    Baylor                   48  14
Nov. 4      at Texas Tech
Nov. 11    at Kansas
Nov. 24    Texas A&M

Scoring by Quarters
Texas         25    110   66    101 -  302
Opponents     40      51        35      21  -  147

Recruiting Roundup

The Longhorns are still at 19 commitments and are headed toward another
national top 10 class, and possibly a top five class if things break right at
the end.
* * * *
Longhorn prize recruit Cedric Benson had 27 carries for 313 yards and all
three touchdowns on runs of 4, 22 and 82 yards to lead Midland Lee past
arch-rival Odessa Permian, 19-0. It was his sixth career 300-yard game.
Benson has rushed for 7,121 yards, the 10th highest total ever for a Texas
high school player and the best ever for one in the state's highest
classification.
He won't have the awesome stats he had last year (3,500 yds, 51 TDs) because
he is one of two offensive starters left from Lee's great back-to-back state
championship teams, but he looks even bigger and faster this year than he was
last year.
T. J. Mills, Permian's coach, said, "My kids hit him and hit him and hit him,
but he's a load. If you don't get a lot of hats on him on every play, he'll
hurt you."
Don Shows, the highly successful coach at West Monroe, La., had much the same
thing to say after his team mauled Lee, 38-6, in an early-season game.
Lee's lone TD came on a 78-yard run by Benson, and it came on the third play
of the game. Shows, whose teams are 89-3 since 1995, said, "We don't usually
give up runs like that, and we stopped him pretty good most of the time. But
our game plan was to have a lot of people on him on every play, and even
then, he made some tough, tough yardage. He's a hard back to stop, especially
if he gets a little room."
* * * *
Not much has changed in the last week. The Longhorns are still waiting on
several key players to make their decisions.
They will sign six to seven more players, and several of the remaining
scholarships are likely to go to  S Dewayne Brandon of Temple, LB Derrick
Johnson of Waco, DL Kaelen Jakes of Valencia, Cal., and DE Jonathan Jackson
and TE James Moses, both of Galena Park North Shore.
They fill the key requirements: they like the Horns and the Horns like them.
The most important recruit remaining is super DT Tommie Harris of Killeen
Ellison, and others still considering Texas are  Athletes Quan Cosby of Mart
and Joseph Addai of Houston Sharpstown and OLs William Winston of Houston
Madison and Jami Hightower of Jacksonville.
Super DT Paul Broussard of Blinn JC is still a possibility, but he has some
academic hurdles.
The Longhorns have as good a chance as anyone with Harris, but he says he is
still considering six or seven schools and says he is wide open.
Harris said he came to the Missouri game Oct. 21 but got there late and
didn't get to visit with the other recruits. Harris said he had a good time
and said Texas remains one of his top choices.

RECRUITING NOTES: Fullback James Buchanon of Sarasota, Fla., picked Florida
State over Texas and Boston College. . . One top UT recruit, OL Mike Garcia
of Galena Park, is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL, but he
says he will be ready for two-a-days next August in Austin.

Here's a list of the Horns' 19 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

Quarterback (1)
Matt Nordgren, 6-5, 225, 4.6, Dallas B. Lynch

Running Back (2)
Cedric Benson, 5-11, 200, 4.5, Midland Lee
Anthony Johnson, 5-11, 195, 4.4, Jefferson

Defensive End (1)
Eric Hall, 6-2, 240, 4.5, Clarksville, Tenn.

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

Punter (1)
Brian Bradford, 6-1, 205, Trinity Valley JC

Basketball Team Adds 2 Walk-ons

Two walk-ons, including a former scholarship player at North Texas State,
have been added to the UT basketball team, coach Rick Barnes announced last
week.
They are  6-6 junior guard/forward Deginald Erskin and 6-1 freshman point
guard Drew Gressett.
Erskin, a cousin of former Longhorn Kris Clack, is from Gonzales. He played
at North Texas State for two years, averaging 12.3 points as a freshman and
18.9 points as a sophomore.
He will have to sit out this year, but can practice with the team.
Gressett was an All-District guard at Austin Westlake last season, averaging
15 points and 6 assists per game.ranking, they get beat.
Unbeaten List Down to 3
Two of the five unbeaten teams in Division 1 fell Saturday, with No. 1
Nebraska falling to No. 3 (now No. 1) Oklahoma and No. 5 Clemson getting beat
by Georgia Tech.
The -teams left with perfect records are OU (7-0), No. 2 Virginia Tech (8-0),
and No. 9 TCU (7-0).

Whites Win UT Fall Series

The White team won the Longhorns' annual Fall World Series last week, taking
the first two games before losing the finale, behind some strong performances
by the highly rated recruiting class.
The White team won the opening game, 9-1, Wednesday, behind the pitching of
Ryan France, who allowed only one run over five innings while getting three
strikeouts.
A seven-run second innings for the Whites broke the game open. Freshman Eric
Sultemeier of New Braunfels had a pair of doubles for the White team.
Sophomore Ray Clark took the loss for the Orange team.
The White team won a 12-8 slugfest Thursday in the second game. Sultemeier
had a three-run homer for the Whites, and fellow freshman Tim Moss of
Lancaster went 2-for-3, with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Jeff
Ontiveros, the team's leading power hitter last year, also had a home run for
the White team.
Freshman Kasey Baker of Houston Langham Creek homered for the Orange team and
freshman Jake Duncan of Marshall had an inside-the-park homer.
Sophomore Brantley Jordan, a transfer from Texarkana JC, picked up the win,
going five innings and allowing four earned runs.
Fellow sophomore starter Ben King, a transfer from Alabama, took the loss.
The Orange squad  broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth inning with a
three-run rally  en route to a 5-2 win over the White club in the final game
Friday.
Derek Denman, a tranfer from Grayson JC, got the victory, scattering three
hits and giving up two runs in five innings. Freshman Justin Simmsons of
Duncanville, pitched two innings of one-hit relief.
The Orange offense was led by Baker and Duncan, who each collected two hits
and combined  for three runs on the day.
Freshman shortstop Omar Quintanilla of El Paso Socorro paced the White
attack, going 2-for-2 and scoring two runs.

UT Women Picked Fourth

The Texas women's basketball team is picked to finish fourth in the Big 12
Conference basketball race behind defending champion Iowa State, Oklahoma and
Texas Tech.
The Longhorns had their annual Orange-White game Thursday and the White team
won, 82-68, behind 22 points from 5-9 freshman guard Kaira White.
More good news for the Horns were the strong showings by two tall newcomers.
Annissa Hastings, a 6-2 freshman forward, had 19 points and 10 rebounds for
the Orange squad, and Stacy Stephens, a 6-1 freshman forward, had 12 points,
8 rebounds and 2 blocks for the White.
Texas will host an All-Star Russian team Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Erwin
Center.

Texas No. 20, Favored by 10

Texas is No. 20 this week in both the Associated Press and coaches' football
polls and the Longhorns are favored over Texas Tech by 10 points for their
Saturday night game in Lubbock.

Horns Picked 5th in Basketball

The Longhorns were picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 basketball race in a
pre-season vote by the basketball coaches.
Kansas was a a unanimous choice to win the title, followed by Oklahoma,
Missouri, defending champion Iowa State and then Texas.
Longhorn junior guard/forward Maurice Evans was tabbed as the league's
Newcomer of the Year.
Evans, 6-5, a transfer from Wichita State who sat out last season, was ninth
in Division I scoring with a 22.6 average during his sophomore season at
Wichita.
The Longhorns did not have a player on the pre-season All-Conference team.
Junior center/forward Chris Owens received some votes for the team. He
averaged 9.4 points and 5.6 rebounds last season.
Texas will open the exhibition season with the Orange-White scrimmage
Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Gregory Gym.
The Longhorns open the regular season with a home game against Navy at 7 p.m.
on Monday, November 13, in the opening game of the pre-season NIT.

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