 "Photo: Andrew Rogers, Daily Texan Staff")
LAWRENCE, Kan. — As Mack Brown waited for a postgame television interview, he raised his arms and tried to pump up the remaining contingent of Texas fans that stuck through the frigid weather.
With quarterback Colt McCoy standing next to Brown and the game long over, the crowd was still yelling out chants of “Colt for Heisman.”
Even though it wasn’t pretty, McCoy looked every bit the Heisman part by throwing two touchdowns and running for another as the No. 4 Longhorns beat Kansas 35-7. After the win, McCoy tied Vince Young for the most wins by a Texas quarterback with 30 and the Longhorns recorded their eighth-straight season with more than 10 wins.
Still, McCoy’s Heisman hopes and the Longhorns’ chances for a trip to the Big 12 Championship are largely in the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners, who could upset the Red Raiders next Saturday in Norman. A Tech loss would put the three teams in a tie for the Big 12 standings, with the winner being selected by the Bowl Championship Series standings.
Despite the fact that the Longhorns could have used a lopsided score to move them up in the standings, Brown decided to throw in his second and third string players after Brandon Collins’ touchdown catch in the third quarter.
“If 35-7 against Kansas on the road is not a good enough win for somebody, then we’ll just go wherever they tell us to go,” Brown said. “I’m worried a little bit that people aren’t taking people out much in the fourth quarter and just trying to score so many points. I’m hoping we go back and really look at sportsmanship because I’m really concerned about that for our game.”
Texas’ defense shut down Kansas, forcing two fumbles and two turnovers on downs to hold the Jayhawks to seven points. Kansas’ only touchdown came after receiver Dezmon Briscoe wound up with a catch worthy of a highlight reel, and Texas came up with a huge fourth-down sack with less than two minutes left in the game.
“To play a 60-minute game and perform well at the end, I was pleased,” said defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. “We’ve given up a lot of points and yardage late in games, and those guys were determined not to let them score, and I was excited about that. But the physicality of the game was the most impressive thing to me. We laid down some pretty big licks today.”
Texas jumped out to a 14-0 halftime lead after runs by Vondrell McGee and McCoy. With temperatures in the 30s and a wind chill of 26 degrees at kickoff, the Longhorns tried to force the running game by handing the ball off to Fozzy Whittaker. It didn’t work at first.
“We tried to go with the run. Because of the cold and the wind, and it didn’t work,” Brown said. “Colt’s arm is strong enough that it doesn’t matter. When we started doing what we do, then it ended up working out.”
Chris Ogbonnaya scored another running touchdown at the start of the second half before Briscoe came up with the play that set up the Jayhawks’ only touchdown.
On the Jayhawks’ next drive, tailback Angus Quigley leveled safety Blake Gideon. Quigley slammed his helmet right onto Gideon’s and knocked the freshman’s head backward. Gideon spent a few minutes lying on the ground before walking off the field and being taken to the hospital for MRI tests. Gideon was released from the hospital that night and flew home with the team.
But on the next play, his replacement got payback. Freshman Christian Scott lowered his shoulders and flattened Quigley to stop him at a 7-yard gain.\
From that point on, the Jayhawks wouldn’t score again.
“At first, I was scared for Blake,” defensive end Henry Melton said. “It was a huge hit. [Muschamp] told us that we’re going to make that hit for Blake. And Christian was the one to do it.”
McCoy threw two touchdowns late in the third quarter, a 9-yard pass to Quan Cosby and a 36-yard toss to Brandon Collins. By that point, most of the Kansas fans started heading for the warmth of their homes.
And now, the Longhorns have a week to wait and watch what happens up in Norman.
