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Longhorns

Texas did what it had to do by beating Kansas, 35-7, but  UT is not in control of its future.

"It's really out of our hands, besides the fact of winning," said receiver Quan Cosby, who had six catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.

Brown faced postgame questions about style points and how the game might be interpreted. Kansas became another way to measure the three Big 12 South contenders: It lost to Tech by 42, to Oklahoma by 14 and to Texas by 28.

"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.

Texas defensive tackle Roy Miller accused Kansas of taking cheap shots during the game on Saturday. Miller said that he was misquoted and it seems the Jayhawks took it the wrong way.

Before Texas played Texas Tech, Miller had been asked whether the Longhorns should be concerned about a Tech team that had just beaten Kansas 63-21. "We're not Kansas," Miller said at the time, and his comments made it all the way to Lawrence.

"Thanks for the misquote," Miller told reporters after Saturday's game. "It propelled my knees to be injury-prone."

[Note by dimecoverage, 11/17/08 6:57 AM PST- This misquote was linked to and published in BDR after the article came out. I highly doubt the Kansas team visits this site religiously, but just in case we were the culprit of the Jayhawks reading of the misprint, apologies to Roy Miller. We want his knees intact.] 

Texas backup safety Christian Scott replaced injured Blake Gideon and made quite an impact.

Kansas was out-matched up front and that made all the difference.

"The teams that we’ve struggled with on offense, it definitely starts with the defensive line," said Kansas quarterback Todd  Reesing, who was sacked four times. "Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, that was the strength of their defenses. When you have teams that are really good up front, it comes down to the O-line play."

Of all the one-loss teams, Texas seems to have the worst scenario.

It seems that the BCS chase comes down to style points, racking up scores to pad the final outcome.

Mack Brown said he was "really concerned ... that people are just trying to score so many points" in pursuit of poll votes — a practice he thinks will go unrewarded in the final coaches’ poll, which is part of the BCS formula.

Dennis Dodd writes a great article about Mack Brown's class act over the cutthroat tactics of other coaches.

Note to the American Football Coaches Association Division I-A voting members:

When you open your sports section, check the Internet or watch Saturday's highlights, remember that fellow voter Mack Brown played it straight here on Saturday. He was a gentleman, coached the game the way it should be coached. The score says 35-7, Texas over Kansas. Maybe not overly impressive in stark agate of the Sunday paper, but it could have been worse. Much worse.

ESPN's Tim Griffin believes Texas has come full circle this season. UT started completely under-rated and now we are in danger of being overlooked.

Can a blowout of A&M help, plus several other pressing questions from the Statesman.

AP Photo, oklahomastate.scout.com

The Big 12

Chase Dani el threw for 328 yards and two touchdowns in Missouri's 52-10 win over Iowa State. Missouri is now the Big 12 North champion. Now they wait to see who wins the South division.

"We have a long way to go. There's a lot still out there," said Daniel, who completed his first 16 passes and finished 32-for-40 for 328 yards and two touchdowns. "We want to keep going on. We've got a week off, then we have to focus on Kansas and then whoever comes up in the Big 12 South."

Baylor's win on Saturday ends Texas A&M's hopes for a bowl appearance. The Bear's middle linebacker Joe Pawelek was a major factor in the victory.

Mike Gundy has taken over play-calling this season. When his defense takes the field, Gundy is over on the bench huddling with his quarterback.

Gundy is doing a fantastic job as offense coordinator, but the time will come when the Cowboys need a head coach.

Football games usually run themselves, floating down the river without fork or storm. But then arrives a situation when a decision must be made. Punt or go for it on fourth down? Long field goal or pooch punt? Onside kick or kick it deep?

Those are head coach decisions, not offensive coordinator decisions. Those are decisions that must be made with a feel for the game, with a mind and an eye that has taken in all the twists and turns.

Gundy has able assistants, but all have the perspective of their own responsibilites. None have the job requirement of a total team view.

Oklahoma State quarterback Zac Robinson has been waiting four years for the Colorado game.

"It was great to play in front of a lot of family and friends. And to play in this stadium that I grew up watching so many games in," Robinson said. "It was fun. It was kind of an ugly win, but as long as we got it done, that's all that matters."

Playing in his home state for the first time since high school, Robinson threw for 217 yards and a touchdown and ran for another as the Cowboys (9-2, 5-2 Big 12) tuned up for their showdown with archrival Oklahoma in two weeks.

Joe Gantz scored two touchdowns in the air and two on the ground to lead Nebraska to a 56-28 win over Kansas State.

Wonder where Leach's fascination with pirates originated? Now you know.

"He was willing to pay dues," said Hal Mumme, who hit it off immediately with Leach, thanks to their common loves for throwing the football, history and Jimmy Buffet.

One January, Leach and Mumme escaped the Midwest cold by taking a recruiting trip to Key West, Fla.

"We flew into Orlando and drove to Key West to recruit this kicker and listened to Jimmy Buffet the whole way," Mumme said. "Buffet was always singing about pirates; that’s where the pirate thing comes from."

MIke Leach, future head coach at OU?

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

MIchael Crabtree is adjusting to being the "it" guy at Tech.

Dr. Saturday wonders about the Aggie faithful's patience with Mike Sherman and has video of a Texas fan responding to a classless Jayhawk.

No Big 12 tie-breaker would please everyone in college football.

FoxSports' Mike Flutak thinks the Sooners may have a second chance at the BCS title.

'Round The Blogs

Barking Carnival's Scipio Tex has a Kansas Post-Mortem and talks about our running game. EyesOfTX also has a game recap. As always, great reading.

I Am The 12th Man has post-game reactions to the Baylor game. This is a very short read.

RockMNation has the story behind the Missouri-Kansas rivalry. Part One.

DoubleTNation has the evolution of the Tech program into national prominence. It is not a "Cinderella" story.

The Clone Chronicles loves ISU wrestling.

The BCSGuru looks at the resumes of the nation's top teams.

No. 3 Texas - The Longhorns were one second away from a perfect record and probably an unanimous No. 1 ranking. Texas has played by far the toughest schedule of anyone and has beaten three teams in the top 14 - all in consecutive weeks. And its only loss is to the second-ranked team, on the road, in the last second. By all means, should either of the two unbeaten BCS teams slip up, Texas should get right back into the title picture. But the reality is that it might not even get into the Big 12 championship game.

Basketball

In case you didn't know: Longhorns win opener with Stetson.

OU and OSU work to fill seats this season. OU students get a $130 refund if they attend at least 16 games.

The Business of Sports

A playoff seems to be on President-Elect Barak Obama's agenda.

Syracuse coach Greg Robinson has been fired. UConn head coach Randy Edsall may be the front-runner.

Now the barn has a a little green and gold.

Other Stuff

Just like the Aggie football program, the infamous Aggie barn has been defaced. On top of the building's usual maroon and white there is green and gold. 

The annual rivalry game with A&M is in less than two weeks, but there is another A&M-Texas battle off the field. Alumni from each school are competing to raise the most money online. All donations go directly to each school. So far, A&M is in the lead. 

And speaking of the Aggies... As I skimmed their student newspaper for articles on the Baylor game, I found this. It has nothing to do with sports, but it is entertaining. Aggie jokes just write themselves, don't they?

Love to tailgate? ForbesAutos.com has rated vehicles for green-themed tailgating.

Defensive tackle Roy Miller, a graduate of Shoemaker High in Killeen, sends a letter to his alma mater. Shoemaker is in the state plaoffs for the first time in their school history.