Texas and Big 12 Capsules: Miller leads nation in sacks, chasing A&M record

COLLEGE STATION ��” About once� per week, Texas A&M junior sack specialist Von Miller checks in with the man who holds the record he’s chasing.

The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Miller leads the nation with 13½ sacks as the Aggies (5-3, 2-2 Big 12) head into Saturday’s game at Colorado (2-6, 1-3). He needs seven more sacks to pass the Texas A&M single-season mark of 20, set by defensive end Jacob Green in 1979.

Green now works for the school’s athletic fundraising foundation and has an office at Kyle Field. Miller’s father, also named Von, asked Green to mentor his son when he arrived at A&M in 2007, and Green happily obliged.

The two talk about football, school and life, and Miller tries to absorb every word from Green, who played 13 seasons in the NFL. Naturally, the record has been a topic of conversation lately, but Miller gets the feeling that Green wants him to break it as much as anyone.

"He’s pushing me a little bit," Miller said. "It feels good to have him on my team, instead of against me, I guess."

The Aggies have four games left in the regular season, and Green hopes he’s the first person to congratulate Miller when he sets a new mark.

"If anybody’s going to do it, I’d love to see Von do it," Green said. "It’s been a long time for that record. And if Von breaks that record, that means the Aggies are being successful and we all want that football team to be successful. That’s a big part of it."

Texas A&M is still a long way from the glory days of the "Wrecking Crew," the label earned by the program’s dominant defenses of the 1980s and ‘90s. This year’s Aggies rank last in the Big 12 in scoring defense (30 points per game) and total defense (401 yards per game).

But Miller has emerged as a standout from the "jack" position, a blend of defensive end and linebacker that allows him to roam along the line, attack from different angles and utilize his speed to break into the backfield.

"I really just react to what’s going on," Miller said. "I just line up and go."

Miller compiled 5½ sacks and 66 total tackles as a linebacker in his first two seasons. He told the coaching staff after last season that he was ready to do whatever was necessary to have a breakout year in 2009.

"He’s been a different person since last winter," defensive coordinator Joe Kines said. "He says, ‘Coach, I made a decision, I made a decision to get better.’ There’s a great lesson in life right there."

Miller focused on each day, each workout, and resisted the urge to look too far ahead, at records or the NFL dreams he started having in middle school.

"I just pushed myself to finish every rep, to finish every run," Miller said. "I knew that if I didn’t cut any corners, I could get a lot better in the offseason.

"I just didn’t want to be mediocre," he said. "Why practice, why train, why do all that running, if you’re not going to try to be the best? Why would you put in all that work if you’re just trying to be average?

Coach Mike Sherman said Miller went through a "growing-up period" in the spring and summer, and seemed transformed when he arrived at fall camp. It showed immediately ��” Miller recorded eight sacks in A&M’s first three games, leading the Aggies to easy victories.

"He’s come a long way from where he was a year ago," Sherman said. "That plays as much as anything in his development. Scheme is scheme. We try to utilize him and highlight his talent, but at the same time he’s taken hold of that and ran with it. If he hadn’t done that, then the scheme wouldn’t have mattered."

Miller has three sacks in the last two games, both victories. He has 15½ tackles for loss this season, which ranks fourth nationally.

Opponents have geared blocking schemes toward stopping him, and Miller doesn’t seem fazed.

"I’ve seen teams put a tackle and a guard on him, sometimes they put a tight end out there to help, just to chip him and throw him off," Green said. "He doesn’t seem bothered or doesn’t seem to realize it, because he’s just out there playing and he’s just working so hard to get in there."

Green said most of the NFL’s greatest pass rushers developed three isolated moves to get past linemen. He says Miller has two down pat ��” a speedy, outside rush and a quick inside maneuver. Green would like to see Miller add a spin move to his repertoire.

"I honestly don’t think he’s reached his full potential yet," Green said. "If he hangs around one more year, gets a little stronger, I don’t think there are too many guys in college football who’ll be able to block him."

Miller is sticking with his day-to-day approach, trying his best to put Green’s record and the lure of the NFL out of his mind.

It’s all worked well for him so far, he says, so why change anything?

"If I perform to the best of my ability at every practice and on every play, I won’t look back and have any regrets," Miller said. "If I take it play by play, and I gave maximum effort on every play, I can live with that. If I play to my full potential, if I take advantage of every opportunity I have here in front of me, the outcome will be what I want it to be."

Calm Case leads the Cougars through dream season

HOUSTON ��” The Houston Cougars run a no-huddle offense, but they bunch up one time before each series and quarterback Case Keenum tells his offense all it needs to know.

"He looks us in the eyes and says: ‘We’re going to go score, but we’ve got to get this first, first down first,"’ receiver James Cleveland said.

That cool confidence is the best of Keenum’s many great qualities, and the biggest reason the No. 13 Cougars are off to their best start since 1990.

"I try to have that calm demeanor," Keenum said. "The quarterback needs to be the steady hand out here. Not too high when things are good and not too low when things are bad."

The junior leads the nation in five separate offensive categories and is coming off a career-high 559 yards passing in last weekend’s 50-43 win over Southern Miss. With that performance, he has the top two passing games in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season.

The victory put Houston (7-1) atop the Conference USA West division for the first time this season as it prepares for Saturday’s game at Tulsa.

The Southern Miss game highlighted Keenum’s calmn demeanor. The Golden Eagles tied it with 57 seconds left, and Keenum completed five straight passes capped by a 28-yard touchdown throw with 21 seconds remaining to give Houston its fourth straight win.

It was the second time in his career he’d thrown five touchdown passes in a game, putting him with Andre Ware and David Klingler as the only Cougars to achieve the feat. It was the fourth time in his career he’s led the Cougars to a win when they were tied or trailing in the last minute of a game.

"He gives our team a sense of calm, meaning that we’re never out of a game and we always have a chance to win with him playing quarterback," coach Kevin Sumlin said, "no matter how much time is left or what the situation is."

Sumlin never worries about how Keenum will handle pressure, and the Cougars run the no-huddle offense no matter what.

"He’s a leader on the field and there’s not a whole lot of looking back on the sidelines," Sumlin said. "A lot of no-huddle offenses will do that from time to time, but he has the ability to see things. Even when he makes mistakes he’ll come off the field and be able to explain what happened and doesn’t make the same mistake over and over again."

Sumlin, who is in his second year with the Cougars, has been impressed with Keenum’s development since he arrived in Houston.

"He got better over the course of last year as he really started to understand the offense," Sumlin said. "Over the course of the summer he really took a step from just being player and quarterback to player, quarterback and leader, and being able to teach other guys and help other people along."

Keenum has thrown for 3,293 yards with 25 touchdowns and five interceptions this season. He has gone for 300 yards 20 times in his career, and has at least one touchdown pass in a school-record 24 straight games.

His 411.6 yards passing per game are almost 77 more than second place Tyler Sheehan of Bowling Green. The margin between Keenum and second place in total offense is even greater: His 420.9 yards a game are 92.1 more than runner-up Jerrod Johnson of Texas A&M.

Pretty good for a player who got only one scholarship offer after a prep career at Abilene Wylie where he threw for 6,783 yards and 48 TDs and ran for 2,000 yards and 41 more scores.

"I don’t dwell on that," Keenum said. "I thank the Lord for giving me that opportunity and I thank (former Houston) coach (Art) Briles and the guys who were here at that time for giving me that opportunity, because I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them. Just to be given that chance to come play football and do it as a job really is a dream come true."

Polite and modest, Keenum doesn’t like talking about himself and deflects almost every question about his eye-popping numbers. He checks his statistics "a little bit," but instead of being impressed by them, he thinks of ways they could be better.

"I look at it every now and then, really it’s to be my biggest critic," he said. "I’ve got to be honest with myself looking at the film because there’s stuff that we leave out there and throws that I don’t make, and times where I could make it easier on the receiver."

Houston is gaining the most yards in the country with more than 563 a game, and its 41.63 points are second only to the 41.75 that No. 2 Texas is scoring. The Cougars still lament their mistakes and setbacks, namely their stunning loss to UTEP.

"We can always get better," Keenum said. "We’re striving for that perfect game and the perfect play, the perfect drive, and you don’t always get it, but that’s what we’re striving for every week."

Keenum remains in the Heisman Trophy conversation, but the loss to UTEP certainly didn’t help his chances. Of course, his coaches and teammates think he should at least be invited to New York as one of the finalists for the award.

"His level of play is as good as there is in the country," Sumlin said.

Added Cleveland: "The numbers speak for themselves, both his stats and his wins.

If Keenum’s thinking about the Heisman, he won’t acknowledge it.

"That sort of stuff just takes care of itself when you go out and compete and have fun," he said. "A lot of different people make it about a lot of different stuff. The most important thing is making it about those 60 minutes on Saturday."

-- Kristie Rieken

Ready for another bowl game?

DALLAS ��” The replacement for the Cotton Bowl game has been lined up.

Dallas city leaders say the Dallas Football Classic is planned for New Year’s Day 2011. The plan calls for using teams from the Big Ten to play teams from Conference USA and the Big 12 on a rotating basis.

The first game will pit the seventh-ranked team from the Big 12 against the sixth-ranked team from the Big Ten. Then on New Year’s Day 2012, it will be the Big Ten vs. Conference USA, with the order repeated in 2013 and 2014 under a plan revealed by bowl organizers this week.

The plan needs NCAA approval.

Should an at-large selection be required, Conference USA would provide a backup team in 2011 or 2013, and the Big 12 in 2012 and 2014.

The Cotton Bowl game is moving to the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington this season. That prompted officials to come up with a replacement game for the 77-year-old Fair Park venue.

OSU’s Cox a semifinalist for Thorpe Award

STILLWATER, Okla.� ��” Oklahoma State cornerback Perrish Cox has been named one of 12 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award.

The award is named for Oklahoma native Jim Thorpe and is given each year to the top college defensive back.

Other Big 12 players named semifinalists are Darrell Stuckey of Kansas and Earl Thomas of Texas.

The semifinalists will be cut to three finalists on Nov. 23 and the winner will be announced Dec. 10.

A formal banquet and official award presentation will be Feb. 9 in Oklahoma City.

Big 12

Neb., OU defensive lines set for ‘battle of best’

LINCOLN, Neb. ��” Nebraska and Oklahoma have been laying it on the line all season. That would be the defensive line.

The Cornhuskers’ Ndamukong Suh and the 20th-ranked Sooners’ Gerald McCoy are the best known of the men in the middle, but they’ve gotten plenty of help as their teams’ defenses have developed into a couple of the nation’s best.

No doubt, the boys up front will be a focal point when the teams meet Saturday night.

"It’s the battle of the best," Suh said. "We want to prove we’re the best."

The Huskers (5-3, 2-2 Big 12) have their strongest defensive front since All-Americans Jason Peter and Grant Wistrom were winning national championships in the 1990s. The Sooners (5-3, 3-1) have a line comparable to those headed up by All-American Tommie Harris and Dusty Dvoracek earlier this decade.

The central figure at Nebraska is Suh, who has 13 tackles for loss, five sacks, 14 quarterback hurries and a team-leading seven pass breakups.

McCoy, a fellow Lombardi Award semifinalist and Outland Trophy candidate, hasn’t put up the same numbers as Suh, but he can be just as disruptive. Twelve of his 19 tackles have been behind the line of scrimmage, and he leads the Sooners with eight hurries.

Suh and McCoy are projected to be top 10 picks in next spring’s NFL draft, and they’ve been treated as such by opposing offenses that double-team them. All that’s done is provide opportunities for others.

Last week, Suh’s linemate, Jared Crick, recorded a school-record five sacks and a career-high 13 tackles in the Huskers’ 20-10 win at Baylor. Suh wasn’t exactly quiet: He had five tackles and a sack.

Crick earned two national defensive player-of-the-week awards for his performance against Baylor, just as Suh did for his dominating showing against Missouri a month ago.

"We were hoping throughout the season that if you double-team Suh, I’m going to go at it and try and make plays," Crick said. "After the last game, I would hope that teams would kind of start shading my way more and let Suh have the opportunity to make plays."

Defensive ends Pierre Allen and Barry Turner also have done their part. Allen has three sacks and nine tackles behind the line and Turner two sacks and seven tackles for loss.

"It’s going to be a huge battle up front," OU offensive lineman Stephen Good said. "Two big guys and the D-ends are pretty big, too. We’re just going to have to come off the ball and move our feet."

Nebraska’s offensive line will get its biggest test of the season going against McCoy, Adrian Taylor and ends Jeremy Beal and Auston English.

"They’re very aggressive up front," Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said. "Obviously, to play good offense you have to have some control of the line of scrimmage. To me, that’s where it starts. If we’re able to do that we’ll be able to have some success."

Taylor, who has 2.5 sacks and 18 tackles, has clogged the middle for Oklahoma along with McCoy and, according to his coaches and teammates, has been playing some of the best football of his career in recent weeks.

Beal has come on strong this season and earned the nickname "Sackmaster" from his teammates. He has at least one sack in five of the last six games and leads the team with 8.5. He made a career-high 12 stops in a loss to Texas.

Beal and English each have 18 career sacks and share the No. 10 spot on Oklahoma’s all-time chart.

Beal said if opponents focus too much on McCoy and Taylor, he and English and the OU linebackers will make them pay.

"Not taking away from them, they’re two outstanding players," Beal said. "But we work as a unit and we do things as a unit. That’s how it is.

"If one guy is taking on a double-team, it’s easy for the rest of the D-line. You can’t double-team everybody. If you get a one-on-one, it makes it that much easier for everybody else."

-- Eric Olson

Gundy’s gambles based on careful preparation

STILLWATER, Okla. ��” In a pivotal game on Oklahoma State’s schedule, coach Mike Gundy showed he wasn’t afraid to gamble.

With the Cowboys facing fourth-and-1 on their very first drive against the nation’s stingiest rush defense, Gundy made a quick decision ��” so fast that he seemed to catch Texas off guard ��” and told his offense to go for it.

Zac Robinson kept the ball on a quarterback sneak, picking up 2 yards and extending a drive that appeared destined to be a three-and-out.

"We knew possessions were going to be key, and we didn’t want to turn it over if there was a gettable fourth down or we felt like we had a play loaded up that would fit," offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer said. "We wanted to play fast."

And they did. Even though Robinson threw a career-high four interceptions in the 41-14 loss to Texas on Saturday, there was no mistaking that speed.

What seems like a snap decision as the No. 18 Cowboys (6-2, 3-1 Big 12) rush up to the line is actually an involved thought process that starts early in the week. Gundy said he’d already decided before the Texas game that OSU would be aggressive on fourth downs in short or medium yardage.

The plays that will be called are already on a script.

The Cowboys ended up going for it on fourth down three times in the first half, converting twice. Robinson also completed a 7-yard pass to Justin Blackmon on fourth-and-4 and Hubert Anyiam dropped a potential 32-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-8.

"At least we gave ourselves a chance to play a team that was extremely talented and we had a chance ��” if we’d have executed ��” to do exactly what we wanted to do," Brewer said.

On the season, Oklahoma State has converted eight of its 14 fourth-down attempts to rank right in the middle of the Big 12 in both success rate and attempts.

"Personally, I always want to go for it ��” no matter where we’re at," redshirt freshman guard Lane Taylor said. "I think the fourth downs, it’s really good to keep the momentum going."

Of course, players also realize that the coaches are sticking their necks out when they make those gambles.

"If we convert it, they’re heroes. It’s a good call," offensive tackle Brady Bond said. "It’s their decision, and it’s our job to execute it."

That was never more the case than on that first try against the Longhorns. The ball was spotted at the Cowboys’ 28-yard line, and Texas would have taken over in field goal range with a stop.

"I guess they trust us quite a bit," Bond said.

One of the secrets to success is simply that speed, capitalizing on a time when their opponent is unsure whether to send out their punt team or leave the defense on the field.

"I think any time you can make a quick decision at the tempo that we play at, whether it’s fourth down, first down or second down, it really doesn’t matter anytime you have a play loaded up that’s ready to go," Brewer said. "Especially on fourth down, because they’re wondering whether you’re going to go for it or not."

The variables in Oklahoma State’s game plan will change for Saturday’s game at Iowa State (5-4, 2-3). Against a Texas team leading the nation in scoring, Gundy felt OSU needed to get the most out of every possession.

While two of the three attempts on fourth down were successful, none actually netted the Cowboys any points. Dan Bailey missed a 45-yard field goal to end the first possession, and the drive including Blackmon’s conversion ended with the first of Robinson’s interceptions.

"Every game we approach differently. We felt like the last game, if we had a fourth down situation, we’d like to look at it," Bond said. "That’s just part of our offense. We have the option to get up there and see what they’re going to give us, and if we feel like we have a good opportunity to convert, we’ll go ahead and run the play."

-- Jeff Latzke

Smith is Missouri’s sack-happy freshman

COLUMBIA, Mo. ��” The Big 12 has plenty of elite defensive linemen ��” Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh and Jared Crick and Texas’ Sergio Kindle to name a few. It may be time to add Missouri freshman Aldon Smith to the list.

Smith’s three sacks of Colorado’s Tyler Hansen in the Tigers’ 36-17 win last week gave the Raytown, Mo., native eight for the season ��” the most in the nation for a freshman and just three shy of Justin Smith’s (no relation) single-season Missouri record.

Smith has four regular-season games remaining to try and get the record, starting Saturday when the Tigers (5-3, 1-3 Big 12) host Baylor (3-5, 0-4).

He also leads all freshmen with 13 tackles for loss. He’s third overall among Big 12 defensive linemen with 43 tackles, trailing only Crick and Suh.

Those are impressive numbers for a player who began the season second on the depth chart at defensive end. It wasn’t long before he moved into the starting role.

Teammates and coaches have been impressed.

"He’s one of the best players around that I’ve seen at Mizzou," senior captain linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said. "He doesn’t know how good he can be, but he’ll find out soon that the sky’s the limit."

Smith’s effort has drawn high praise from coach Gary Pinkel, who compared Smith’s ability to adapt to those of two standout offensive players from the recent past.

"He could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and end up where the ball was supposed to be, somehow, someway," Pinkel said. "Brad Smith and J-Mac (Jeremy Maclin) could do that."

Even in the Tigers’ 41-7 loss to Texas, Smith managed to turn heads with 11 tackles, four for loss, and two sacks.

At 6-5 and 255 pounds, Smith is the tallest player on the Missouri defense and his unique type of rangy athleticism makes him a menace for opposing offensive lines.

"He’s very physically gifted," defensive coordinator Dave Steckel said. "He can run, he’s strong, he can change direction. He’s the whole package."

Smith has also developed a nose for the big play.

"Earlier in the season I was kind of relying on my athleticism but now I’m actually starting to understand the game a little bit better and starting to have a feel for it," he said. "I’ve just been watching a lot more film and focusing a lot more on technique."

Coaches have taken note of Smith’s strong work ethic.

"All of our players are very hard working," Steckel said. "I think that’s why Aldon is growing and maturing as a player, because he’s working hard, taking coaching, he’s growing each day as he gets better."

With all the hype beginning to surround him, Pinkel spoke to the importance of keeping Smith levelheaded and ready to play each and every week.

"What I always tell players, kids that are starting to get that notoriety that they could be really good is to immerse themselves in the team," he said. "When you immerse yourself in your team, you’re constantly doing things for the team, getting better for the team, and it keeps you grounded."

-- Harry Plumer