Texas and Big 12 Football Capsules: Texas' choice: win like ‘05 or crater like ‘06

AUSTIN — Texas coach Mack Brown has given his team a choice.

Finish the season like 2005, when the Longhorns won the national championship, or crater down the stretch like they did in 2006. That team lost its last two games and didn’t even get to play for a Big 12 title.

The No. 3 Longhorns (10-0, 6-0 Big 12) can wrap up the Big 12 South with a win Saturday night at home against Kansas (5-5, 1-5). Texas hasn’t won the division since 2005.

Brown has shown his team video highlights and lowlights of those seasons. In 2005, Texas walloped Kansas 66-14, beat Texas A&M 40-29 and crushed Colorado 70-3 in the Big 12 title game.

In 2006, the Longhorns needed to win only one of its final two games to win the Big 12 South. They lost 45-42 at unranked Kansas State and 12-7 at home to unranked Texas A&M.

Instead of the Big 12 and a BCS bowl, Texas tumbled into the Alamo Bowl.

"We’re in the exact same position," Brown said Monday. "They can talk about being a great team, but you’ve got to finish. You have to earn the right to be the best team."

Quarterback Colt McCoy and a handful of other fifth-year seniors were on the scout team when Texas won the 2005 national championship. They have not won any hardware of their own, on any level.

"Coach told us (Sunday) that no player here has won a national championship on the field," center Chris Hall said.

The 2006 season fell apart when McCoy got hurt early against Kansas State. A pinched nerve in his neck on a hard tackle sent him to the bench and Kansas State jumped out to a big lead.

The Longhorns rallied behind backup Jevan Snead but still lost. The defeat knocked Texas out of the national championship picture but not out of the Big 12. That came two weeks later when McCoy, still sore, had one of his worst games and Texas lost to the rival Aggies.

Last season, it was the BCS computers that did Texas in. Stuck in a three-way tie for the South, the league tiebreaker depended on the highest BCS ranking. That went to Oklahoma, a team Texas beat on the field.

Texas players believe that if they remain undefeated — which would mean division and league championships — they will play for the national crown.

"I’ve never won a championship in my life," senior defensive tackle Lamarr Houston said. "I would like to win one."

If Texas beats Kansas, McCoy would set an NCAA record for wins by a starting quarterback. He and former Georgia quarterback David Greene are tied at 42.

Vince Young led Texas to the 2005 title. McCoy’s resume, although impressive, includes the late-season collapses and near misses.

"My goal is to win a championship," McCoy said.

Brown also said that suspended kick returner D.J. Monroe will practice with the team but remains suspended indefinitely after his drunken driving arrest south of Austin early Sunday.

Brown said Monroe twice told Texas coaches and staff between 11 p.m. and midnight that he was in his room, but that he later went out.

"He was out past curfew," Brown said. "We’ve told them all: You stay in, you act right, you do the things you’re supposed to or you’re held accountable."

Big 12

Notebook: Gundy says violent hits becoming the norm

OMAHA, Neb. — Big hits are nothing new in college football, but Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy says he’s seeing a lot more of them these days.

Texas Tech safety Jamar Wall delivered the latest wallop, laying out OSU quarterback Zac Robinson, and himself, late in the Cowboys’ 24-17 win last week.

"I cringe at the hits that take place in these games now," Gundy said Monday on the Big 12 coaches’ call. "There are three or four a game compared to years ago when there would only be three or four in a season."

Robinson and Wall were sprawled on the field for several minutes after their collision. They were woozy, but neither is expected to be held out of their games this week.

Coaches say defenders are tackling ball carriers higher now, rather than wrapping them up around the legs and rolling to get them down.

"These guys now are taking shots from the waist up," Gundy said. "It’s happening all over the country. They put it on highlights, they see it on ‘big hits of the week,’ and I think it encourages more players to try to tackle high."

There is no shortage of online videos glorifying the game’s violent crashes.

There’s Florida safety Major Wright hammering Oklahoma’s Manny Johnson along the sidelines in last season’s national-championship game, Maryland’s Kevin Barnes hitting California’s Jahvid Best so hard that the running back was left crawling on the field on his hands and knees, or Boise State’s Jeron Johnson laying out Idaho State quarterback Russell Hill.

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said a defender who tries for the up-high tackle sacrifices the advantages of the larger target area and better leverage he would get from aiming lower.

"I think the fundamentals of tackling have gone downhill," Leach said.

Defenders are getting a bigger running start on ball carriers because spread offenses have created more open-field situations.

The evolution of the game and the increasing size and speed of players are producing predictable and bone-rattling results.

"It’s the law of physics," Gundy said.

PELINI VS. SNYDER

The Big 12 North title is on the line Saturday when Kansas State visits Nebraska.

Coaches Bo Pelini and Bill Snyder parted on rather unfriendly terms the last time they saw each other at Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. That was back in 2003, when Pelini was the Cornhuskers’ defensive coordinator and Snyder was in his first run as Kansas State’s head coach.

The Wildcats put a 38-9 beating on the Huskers, scoring a touchdown with under 2 minutes left on a 37-yard pass play.

Pelini went looking for Snyder after the game, giving him an obscenity-laced earful about how he didn’t appreciate K-State’s starters still being in the game against Nebraska’s defensive reserves.

Six years later, Snyder said, "I don’t think it’s an issue, at least on my part it’s not. I hope it’s not with Bo. I think it was kind of a heat-of-the-moment thing. Competitive people respond competitively. I’d like to think it’s beyond us."

HAPPY HAWKINS

Colorado coach Dan Hawkins didn’t sound like a coach on the hot seat when asked about his recent communications with athletic director Mike Bohn and chancellor Philip DiStefano.

In fact, judging from his upbeat tone Monday, one would never know the Buffaloes are 3-7 and Hawkins is 16-31 in four seasons, or that CU has lost 10 straight true road games after its 17-10 defeat at Iowa State.

"They’ve been great. They’ve been awesome," he said of his bosses. "They’ve both been very supportive about the whole deal. Very good."

Hawkins, who took over a program rocked by scandal in 2006, cut off a reporter who asked if he felt his job was in jeopardy.

"No, not at all," he said. "They (Bohn and DiStefano) understand the nature and scope of the position we have here and all the things that go on and have gone on. Everybody wants to win more games. In terms of helping get this place back on track after what it went through, I think we’ve had to take on a number of tasks and have done a great job with that."

EXTRA POINTS

Jordan Shipley is replacing D.J. Monroe as Texas’ top kick return man. Monroe was indefinitely suspended after being arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated early Sunday. Monroe was averaging 36 yards on 14 returns and has returned two for touchdowns. ... Missouri’s Danario Alexander is offensive player of the week after catching 10 balls for 200 yards and a school-record three touchdowns against Kansas State. Oklahoma State’s Perrish Cox won the defensive honor for intercepting two passes and breaking up three more against Texas Tech. The special teams award went to K-State’s Josh Cherry, who kicked a career-high four field goals. ... Iowa State is 11th in the league in total defense, but there’s a silver lining to coach Paul Rhoads. The Cyclones have held three Big 12 opponents to 10 points or less, marking the first time since 1965 that ISU has accomplished the feat in conference play.

-- Eric Olson

ISU not looking ahead to possible bowl

AMES, Iowa — The Big 12 bowl picture is a tangled mess that could sort itself out in any number of ways over the next few weeks.

Iowa State’s just happy to be a part of the clutter.

The Cyclones (6-5, 3-4 Big 12) made themselves bowl eligible for the first time since 2005 with a 17-10 win over Colorado on Saturday. Still, Iowa State can’t clinch a bowl bid unless it beats Missouri (6-4, 2-4) in this weekend’s regular-season finale.

The Big 12 has agreements with eight bowls, and only Colorado has been eliminated from bowl contention so far. Iowa State is one of five league teams with six wins — though Kansas State won’t go bowling unless it beats Nebraska on Saturday — and most Big 12 teams still have two games left to play, so the bowl lineup likely won’t be known for a few weeks.

The only destiny Iowa State can control is its own, which is why the Cyclones are more focused on beating Missouri than where they’ll end up in December.

"I haven’t taken any time to figure that" out," Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said. "We got enough with our hands full preparing for a very good Missouri football team."

One of the biggest reasons Iowa State knows it can’t look past the Tigers is Danario Alexander, the Tigers’ outstanding receiver.

The 6-foot-5 Alexander was named the Big 12’s offensive player of the week after he caught 10 passes for 200 yards and tied a school record with three touchdown receptions in a 38-12 win against Kansas State.

Alexander leads the Big 12 with 123.8 yards receiving per game and he is tied for third in the nation with 11 TD catches. What truly worries Rhoads, though, is Alexander’s size.

Cyclones cornerbacks Kennard Banks and Leonard Johnson are 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-10, respectively, and standout free safety James Smith is just 5-foot-8.

"He’s got great height. Versus a smaller secondary, that scares you. He catches everything thrown his way," Rhoads said.

The Cyclones have been a pleasant surprise on defense for most of the season. That trend continued against the Buffaloes, when the Cyclones bounced back from allowing 69 points against Texas A&M and Oklahoma State by making key plays in the red zone.

Iowa State allowed 390 yards of offense, but they forced Colorado into three turnovers inside Iowa State’s 10-yard line and stripped Rodney Stewart for a fumble recovery in the red zone early in the fourth quarter.

The performance was a microcosm of Iowa State’s season. The Cyclones rank just 92nd in the nation in yards allowed, but they’re 36th in points allowed at 21.6 per game.

"It’s just the defense’s mentality," Iowa State linebacker Jessie Smith said. "You go out there and execute no matter what happens. You know, if the offense goes down and scores, great. We’re going to go out there and try to get a stop. If they go there, they don’t score, they turn the ball over, it’s that mentality of ‘Who cares?"’

Since the Cyclones haven’t won more than four games in four years, the prospect of playing in a bowl is an exciting one — even though they’re doing their best to focus only on Missouri.

"It’s hard not to even pay attention to it, but that’s what we’re trying to do," James Smith said.

-- Luke Meredith

Missouri wide receiver has broken leg

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri wide receiver Jared Perry will miss the rest of the season with a fractured right leg.

Perry, a senior, was hurt on an end around for a 5-yard gain in the second quarter of Saturday's 38-12 victory at Kansas State. The school said the fracture is slight and is hopeful Perry could return to play in a bowl game if the Tigers (6-4, 2-4 Big 12) get an invitation.

Coach Gary Pinkel said Perry would be out four to six weeks. He expects Jerrel Jackson and Wes Kemp, both sophomores, to step up in the meantime.

"We have a lot of different ways we can go," Pinkel said. "He's certainly one of our big play receivers, and it's unfortunate."

Perry is second on the team with 46 receptions for 696 yards and six touchdowns. He's seventh on the school career list with 13 receiving touchdowns, eighth with 1,844 career yards receiving and ninth with 137 receptions.

"It was a bad blow," Perry said. "But I'd rather take four to six weeks than four to six months. I'm just going to rehab, be there for my teammates, and come back strong."

Jackson has 24 catches with a 10.1-yard average and one touchdown and Kemp has 19 catches, a 17.6-yard average and three TDs.

Pelini: Nebraska must work through fatigue