…largely thanks to the Longhorns defense holding Oklahoma to a mere 48 yards on the ground, today’s 45-35 victory at the Cotton Bowl arguably representing UT’s most imporant win of the post-Vince Young era. Aside from dominating the line of scrimmage against what many had presumed to be a superior Sooners squad, Texas’ special teams were stellar (foiling a fake punt, Jordan Shipley running back a kick for a 92 yard TD) and QB Colt McCoy —outglitzed but not necessarily outplayed by Sam Bradford — played a turnover free game. While some of the numbers from the 103rd edition of the Red River Shootout are eye-popping (399 combined all purpose yards from Shipley and Quan Crosby, 125 yards rushing for RB Chris Ogbonnaya in just his 2nd start, one hugely ineffective pep talk from Lou Holtz), ’tis hard to look towards Texas’ encounters with Missouri and Texas Tech without trepedition. Next Saturday night’s visit from Missiouri could well be a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, and given the way Bradford eviscerated the Longhorns secondary for much of the afternoon, stopping Chase Daniels is hardly a sure thing.
As for no. 7 Tech and their gunslinging Graham Harrell, Nebraska gave the hosts all they could handle today, but Jamal Wall picked off a desperation pass from the Cornhuskers’ Joe Wall to preserve a 37-31 OT win. Losing to unranked Nebraska would’ve put a dent in Mike Leach’s plans to attend the Boston Spaceships’ Southwestern swing this week, and thankfully (for a few days, anyway), art can come first.
A 13-10 home loss to Toledo earlier today dropped Michigan to 2-4, the Wolverines’ worst start to a season in more than four decades. Not to say the people of West Virginia are a vengeful, petty lot, but I suspect the latest embarrassment in The Big House will provoke just as much if not more celebration in Morgantown than the Mountaineers’ 17-6 defeat of lowly Syracuse.