College Football Capsules: Texas Tech takes control in BCS standings

NEW YORK - No scoreboard watching necessary for Texas Tech.

Less than 24 hours after the Red Raiders gave the national championship race a makeover by defeating then-No. 1 Texas, they received more good news when the BCS standings were released Sunday.

Texas Tech was in second place, behind Alabama and just ahead of third-place Penn State.

If the undefeated Red Raiders of the Big 12 and undefeated Crimson Tide of the Southeastern Conference win out, they will likely meet in the BCS national championship game Jan. 8 in Miami.

The unbeaten Nittany Lions still need help in the form of an Alabama or Texas Tech loss to reach the title game.

The computer rankings made the difference for the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech was a close No. 3 behind the Nittany Lions in the USA Today coaches' poll and the Harris Poll. Alabama was a solid No. 1 in each poll.

However, the Red Raiders were tied with Alabama for first in the computer ratings, while Penn State was rated fourth in the compilation of six computer ratings the Bowl Championship Series uses.

Alabama had a BCS average of .9747. Texas Tech was at .9372 and Penn State .9286.

With Texas Tech facing ninth-place Oklahoma State and sixth-place Oklahoma in its next two games, plus a possible Big 12 title game down the road, the Red Raiders should be in position to expand their lead over Penn State if they can keep winning.

Though one of the teams ahead of the Nittany Lions has changed (Texas Tech instead of Texas), their problem remains the same: a so-so schedule.

Penn State from the Big Ten plays at Iowa (5-4) next week, then finishes the season at home against Indiana (3-6) and Michigan State, 18th in the BCS standings. The only team the Nittany Lions have beaten that is currently ranked is Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions also better watch their backs. Fourth-place Texas (.8531), fifth-place Florida (.8268) and sixth-place Oklahoma (.8220), all have one loss but will ultimately face tougher schedules than Penn State.

Southern California (.7551) is seventh, followed by Utah (.6972).

The Utes are in position to earn a bid to the Bowl Championship Series from the Mountain West Conference for the second time since 2004 if they can get through the toughest part of their conference slate. One team from the five conferences without an automatic spot can earn a bid to a BCS game by finishing the season in the top 12 of the standings.

Utah hosts TCU, which is 12th in the BCS standings, on Thursday night. The Utes also play rival BYU to finish the regular season.

Boise State is sandwiched between Utah and TCU in 10th place. The Broncos from the Western Athletic Conference need to root for Utah and hope their unbeaten record keeps them ahead of the Horned Frogs, whose only loss is to Oklahoma.

If two or more teams from non-automatic qualifying conferences finish in the top 12 of the BCS, only the highest rated gets an automatic bid.

Alabama next up at No. 1 in Top 25

NEW YORK - Next up at No. 1, Alabama.

The Crimson Tide became the fifth team this season to sit atop the AP Top 25, moving up a spot Sunday after previously top-ranked Texas was toppled by Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders, who scored a touchdown with a second left at home to beat the Longhorns 39-33 Saturday night, jumped four spots and past No. 3 Penn State to No. 2. The unbeaten Nittany Lions were idle.

No. 4 Florida moved up one place after its 49-10 rout of Georgia and Texas dropped four spots to No. 5.

The Crimson Tide, which beat Arkansas State 35-0, received 46 of a possible 65 first-place votes from the media panel and 1,600 points. Texas Tech got 12 first-place votes and 1,528 points and Penn State had six and 1,525. The Gators received the other No. 1 vote.

The top spot in the poll hasn't been held by this many teams since 1990, when Miami, Notre Dame, Colorado, Michigan and Virginia all had a turn at No 1.

Georgia started this season No. 1 and was replaced by Southern California after the opening week.

USC lasted four weeks before being upset by Oregon State and Oklahoma took the top spot. The Sooners were No. 1 for two weeks, then lost to Texas, which held the top spot for three weeks.

Now it's Alabama's turn.

The Crimson Tide hasn't been No. 1 since finishing that way after the 1992 season, when coach Gene Stallings, quarterback Jay Barker and a ferocious defense won the last of the Tide's six AP national championships.

Alabama's first game as a No. 1 team since October, 27, 1980, will be Saturday at LSU, a date that was one of the most anticipated in the Southeastern Conference even before this season.

Tide coach Nick Saban will be coaching in Baton Rouge, La., for the first time since he left the Tigers for the NFL after the 2004 season. Saban led LSU to a BCS national title in 2003.

So the Tide, with its new lofty status, will face a stiff test immediately. Same goes for Texas Tech, which had never been ranked higher than No. 5. The Red Raiders host No. 8 Oklahoma State on Saturday, then have a week off before a road trip to No. 6 Oklahoma.

Penn State next plays at Iowa.

Seven ranked teams lost last weekend, most from the lower half of the rankings, so the back end of the Top 25 got a shake-up, too.

Southern California is No. 7, and the final two spots in the top 10 are held by potential BCS Busters - No. 9 Boise State of the Western Athletic Conference and No. 10 Utah, which hosts Mountain West Conference rival and No. 11 TCU in a Thursday night game that could decide the league title.

Ohio State is No. 12, followed by Missouri, Georgia and LSU.

No. 16 Ball State is the lowest ranked of the six remaining unbeaten major college teams in the country. The Cardinals of the Mid-American Conference play Wednesday night against Northern Illinois.

No. 17 BYU, Michigan State, North Carolina and West Virginia, back in the rankings after falling out in mid-September, complete the top 20.

No. 21 California, No. 22 Georgia Tech and No. 25 Pittsburgh re-entered the rankings.

Maryland is No. 23 and No. 24 Florida State dropped eight spots after losing at Georgia Tech.

Falling out of the Top 25 were Minnesota, Tulsa, Oregon and South Florida.

-- Ralph D. Russo

No. 2 Red Raiders pull out a squeaker over UT

LUBBOCK - Texas Tech appeared well on its way to not just beating, but knocking around the nation's top team.

Then the Red Raiders let Texas off the hook. Down by 19 at halftime, the Longhorns scored three touchdowns by early in the fourth quarter to pull within 29-26.

And when Colt McCoy engineered an 80-yard scoring drive late in the final quarter to give the Longhorns their first lead, 33-32, with 89 seconds remaining, Texas Tech's moment appeared to have slipped away. The Red Raiders were staring at a sixth straight loss to Texas and another wasted chance to remake their reputation as a good but not great team.

"All we did was score too quickly," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "We should have taken more time off the clock at the end."

Indeed.

With a throw by Graham Harrell and a catch and run by Michael Crabtree that will go down in Texas Tech history, the Red Raiders rearranged the pecking order of the Big 12 and became a serious entry in the national title race.

"It's a big statement for our program," said running back Baron Batch after Crabtree's 28-yard touchdown reception with a second left gave Texas Tech a 39-33 victory against Texas Saturday night.

The Red Raiders jumped to No. 2 in the AP Top 25 on Sunday and previously top-ranked Texas fell to No. 5.

As for Harrell, he put together the type of drive that make Heisman Trophy voters take notice.

After McCoy did his thing to give Texas the lead, Harrell took over with one timeout remaining and good field position thanks to a nice kickoff return by teammate Jamar Wall.

Harrell completed four straight passes - for 8, 5, 10 and 11 yards - to take the Red Raiders to Texas' 28 before a tipped pass nearly became a Longhorns interception. Texas safety Blake Gideon couldn't make what would have been a game-clinching play.

Eight seconds remained when Harrell, instead of taking the safe route and passing short to improve field position for a field goal, took a shot down the field to Crabtree near the sideline at about the 5.

Texas defensive back Curtis Brown had a shot at taking Crabtree down but couldn't take down the All-American by the jersey. Crabtree wriggled free, tight-roped the sideline and scooted into the end zone with a tick left on the clock.

It was the 500th win in the history of Texas Tech, and maybe the program's greatest victory ever. It's been 70 years since Tech was 9-0 and the Red Raiders are alone at the top of the Big 12 South at 5-0.

It's new territory for the Red Raiders, who for years have been good but written off as a quirky, gimmicky offense that put up gaudy numbers in coach Mike Leach's spread offense.

Texas Tech has gone to eight straight bowls under the eccentric Leach - with his passion for pirates and Winston Churchill - but could never get past Texas and Oklahoma in its own division.

Now, though, the Red Raiders have a shot at being considered on the same level as those perennial powerhouses. Leach has never beaten both in one season.

He rebuffed a question about whether Texas Tech is now contender or spoiler.

"I don't know," he said. "I don't do big picture questions. You must be new. You just go out, do the best you can, try to win it."

Before the Sooners host Texas Tech on Nov. 22 in Norman, Okla., the Red Raiders get No. 8 Oklahoma State at home Saturday in a second-straight top-10 showdown.

"Now the biggest game in history is Oklahoma State," Leach said, "or the history of this year, anyway."

Leach, who looked spent after the close win, said it was hard to define an emotional win.

"This game had a lot of ups and downs," he said. "This is one where both sides had to literally coach every second of the thing. It's not one where you felt good and you got to coast at all."

For Harrell, who finished with 474 yards and two touchdowns on 36-of-53 passing, he could have leapfrogged McCoy in the Heisman race with the win.

Leach threw his support behind his quarterback, in the coach's usually colorful way.

"Some of you guys maybe ought to add him to your Heisman list, if your going to mess around with that stuff," Leach told reporters. "I realize how political it is, and typically I save my words on this because I find them to be kind of a waste of time."

-- Betsy Blaney

Flaws finally catch up with Texas in loss to Tech

LUBBOCK - Colt McCoy stood in stunned disbelief: Texas' run at No. 1 was done.

Battered and bloodied - a hard hit in the third quarter split McCoy's lip and he was spitting out blood on the sideline - the quarterback had dragged Texas back from a 19-point deficit to take the lead with 89 seconds left against Texas Tech.

Eighty-eight seconds later, the Red Raiders scored the game-winning touchdown on a spectacular pass and the Longhorns were no longer undefeated after a 39-33 defeat.

After three impressive wins over Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State, Texas (8-1, 4-1 Big 12) is back at No. 5 - just where it was a month ago - because a defense that had been able to mask poor pass coverage was exposed by Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell. When the cover guys couldn't do their job, the line couldn't come up with the big sack or turnover to stop drives.

And McCoy, although very good in the second-half comeback, couldn't get things going in the first and made a crucial mistake in the third quarter with an interception that was returned for a touchdown. The offensive line that protected him so well let him get sacked three times in the first half when Tech was building a big lead.

McCoy, the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy going into the game, likely now must take a back seat to Harrell, who spent the game coolly avoiding the Texas pass rush to rip the Longhorns for 474 yards passing and two touchdowns.

"When you lose, it's tough," said McCoy, sacked four times in all. "That's a hard thing to deal with, but this team is awesome and this team fought."

What the Longhorns couldn't do was cover Michael Crabtree and the rest of Texas Tech's receivers. With freshman safety Earl Thomas and sophomore cornerback Curtis Brown trying to double cover Crabtree, Harrell knew he could still find his favorite target on the winning play.

Texas may simply have run out of gas on the South Plains.

The Longhorns rose to No. 1 by beating then-No. 1 Oklahoma in Dallas back on Oct. 11. Then came a rout of Missouri and a hard-fought win over Oklahoma State, both at home.

On the road again against Texas Tech, the Longhorns didn't put up much of a fight early and had to claw their way back into the game even as two seniors and emotional leaders, wide receiver Quan Cosby (back) and defensive end Brian Orakpo (sprained left knee), went down with injuries. Both will be evaluated further this week, trainer Kenny Boyd said.

"It's an excuse. A schedule's a schedule," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "I mean, you've got to play. It's the hand we were dealt and we got to step up to it and handle it."

The Longhorns nearly staged an incredible comeback. McCoy threw touchdown passes of 37 and 91 yards to Malcolm Williams in the second half. The second TD to Williams allowed McCoy to pass Major Applewhite as Texas' career passing leader.

Texas outscored the Red Raiders' offense 27-10 in the second half, but the Texas Tech defense made a huge play when Daniel Charbonnet returned an interception 18 yards for a TD and a 29-13 lead. Still, McCoy engineered the drive that nearly won it for Texas when Vondrell McGee crashed over the goal line to put Texas up 33-32.

Texas' porous pass defense couldn't make it hold up. Freshman safety Blake Gideon could have ended the game when a tipped ball practically hit him in the stomach. Instead of an interception, the ball fell through his hands and hit the turf. Harrell and Crabtree connected for the game-winner on the next play.

Now a Longhorns team that shot up to No. 1 a month ago needs Texas Tech to lose if it still hopes to play in the Big 12 championship game and contend for the national title.

A national championship "was the dream," Brown said. "The goal is the conference championship."

It could happen. The Red Raiders have a much tougher schedule than Texas down the stretch. Texas Tech hosts No. 8 Oklahoma State next Saturday night, then has a bye before traveling to No. 6 Oklahoma and finishing with Baylor.

The Longhorns play Baylor next Saturday, travel to Kansas and finish the regular season at home against rival Texas A&M.

"We've got a lot of things to fix to get ready and play better next week," Brown said. "We don't have time to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves."

-- Jim Vertuno

500 scammed by phony Texas-Tech tickets

LUBBOCK - About 500 people missed out on the chance to witness the stunning end to the Texas-Texas Tech game because they bought counterfeit tickets.

Dave Welsh, Texas Tech assistant athletic director for ticket operations, said Sunday that the scam was revealed when the fans tried to enter the stadium for Saturday night's game. While the tickets looked like regular season-ticket stock, the bar codes didn't match and showed seat locations that had already been sold.

Welsh said in a report for Sunday's online edition of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that many of the victims had purchased the tickets in areas just off campus. He said the most commonly heard amount for one of the fake tickets was $200.

Welsh said one of those scammed was a Tech football player trying to buy a ticket for a friend.

He says the counterfeiting was demoralizing because they couldn't do anything to help the people who bought the fake tickets.

Tech defeated Texas 39-33 with one second to play.

Now Texas Tech faces gauntlet that Longhorns did

HOUSTON - Texas Tech may have knocked off No. 1, but the upset settled nothing in college football's toughest division.

The Red Raiders (9-0, 5-0 Big 12) jumped to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 and took control of the Big 12 South with their 39-33 win over then-top-ranked Texas on Saturday night.

The Longhorns (8-1, 4-1), now ranked fifth, fell one play short of escaping unscathed through a murderous four-game stretch. They lost literally in the last second in Lubbock after victories over Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State, all ranked in the top 11 when Texas played them.

Now it's Tech's turn to face the gauntlet. The Red Raiders host eighth-ranked Oklahoma State (8-1, 4-1) this week before playing No. 6 Oklahoma (8-1, 4-1) in Norman, where the Sooners are 59-2 in 10 seasons under coach Bob Stoops.

Amid the chaos after Saturday's victory, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach reminded his team of the road ahead.

"Coach Leach told us in the locker room if we don't come out there next weekend and get another ‘W,' this win doesn't mean much to us," said defensive lineman Colby Whitlock.

The Cowboys and Sooners stayed one game back in the division race with impressive victories.

In Stillwater, Zac Robinson threw for 395 yards with five touchdowns - four to Dez Bryant - and Oklahoma State improved to 4-1 in the Big 12 for the first time with a 59-17 win over Iowa State.

In Norman, the Sooners routed Nebraska 62-28, the most points for Oklahoma in the long history of that series. Oklahoma has gone over 50 points five times this season and leads the league in scoring (49.8 points per game).

Texas Tech's win revived both Oklahoma teams' chances of winning the South. If Texas had won in Lubbock, the Cowboys, Sooners and Red Raiders would've all been playing for second place, watching helplessly to see if the Longhorns could run the table.

Now, the three will play a virtual round-robin.

If the Red Raiders win their last three games, they'll play for the Big 12 championship. Another scenario? Tech loses to both the Sooners and Cowboys and the Oklahoma teams are 6-1 in league play heading into their annual Bedlam game on Nov. 29.

"We should have never been in a position to count on Texas losing," said Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. "But since we are, and Tech beat Texas, we are in control of our own destiny now. We just have to make sure we take care of business. That game is over now, so we just need to handle what is in front of us."

The Longhorns, of course, also are still in it and have the advantage of having the toughest part of their schedule behind them.

They'll be heavily favored to win their last three games - against Baylor, Kansas and Texas A&M - and could still win the South if Texas Tech loses to both Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. Texas would have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the winner of the "Bedlam" game.

"We're going to keep our heads up and keep fighting because there is a lot of football left to play," said Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. "We've got to move on."

The North division is a bit more clear-cut and could come down to the Missouri-Kansas game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., on Nov. 29.

The 13th-ranked Tigers (7-2, 3-2) and Jayhawks (6-3, 3-2) stayed tied for first place after wildly different wins on Saturday. The Tigers needed a late field goal to beat Baylor 31-28 in Waco, while the Jayhawks hammered Kansas State 52-21 in Lawrence.

The Tigers will be favored to beat Kansas State (4-5, 1-4) and Iowa State (2-7, 0-5), but Kansas plays at Nebraska (5-4, 2-3) and hosts Texas before the Missouri game.

The Jayhawks snapped a two-game losing streak with their third straight victory in the Sunflower Series.

"Our goal is to win the North and this sets us up to have that opportunity at the end of the season," said Kansas senior linebacker Mike Rivera.

While the contenders get ready for the stretch run, the Big 12's also-rans have more modest goals in mind.

Nebraska, Colorado (4-5, 1-4), Kansas State, Texas A&M (4-5, 2-3) and Baylor (3-6, 1-4) still have shots at bowl eligibility. Nebraska, A&M and Baylor are breaking in new coaches this season and an extra month of practice would do all of them some good.

The Cornhuskers play Kansas State and Colorado after this week's date with the Jayhawks, the most favorable schedule among the conference teams hoping to finish .500 or better. Every other team has a ranked opponent remaining.

"Our margin of error right now is small, and we keep trying to stress to our players that it's about us," said Nebraska coach Bo Pelini. "It's about taking care of what we do. When we don't play well, we don't execute our stuff well, that margin of error grows. We're not able to overcome that."

The Buffaloes lost 24-17 to Texas A&M on Saturday and probably lost leading rusher Rodney Stewart for the season. The freshman broke his right leg on a horse-collar tackle by A&M's Von Miller.

A&M, meanwhile, has won two in a row after opening league play with three straight losses. But the Aggies still have Oklahoma and Texas left on the schedule and a shocking, season-opening loss to Arkansas State could end up costing them a bowl berth.

The Bears are the longest shot to earn bowl eligibility, with No. 5 Texas, Texas A&M and No. 2 Texas Tech remaining. Baylor rallied from a 21-7 halftime deficit against Missouri on Saturday, but Chase Daniel guided the Tigers for the winning field goal with Jeff Wolfert's 34-yard field goal with 2:31 remaining.

On the play before the winning kick, Baylor's Jordan Lake made a diving attempt and and almost had an interception. Bears coach Art Briles hopes the near-miss gives his team confidence for the difficult tests ahead.

"We can play with anybody in the country, does not matter what number is in front of your name," Briles said. "That's the way we are going to be. When we line up on the football field, we expect to win the football game."

-- Chris Duncan

Madness in November, college football style

Call it November Madness. A heart-stopper on the plains of West Texas caps a wild day of fantastic finishes and late-game drama in college football.

Week 10 also revealed that Tim Tebow's not giving up his Heisman Trophy without a fight, Michigan's playing out the string and California is determined to have more outlandish uniforms than Oregon.

The Big Story

For a while Saturday, it felt like March and the first couple of days of the NCAA basketball tournament, with game after game coming down to the wire.

In the Big Ten, all within the span of about 45 minutes, there were games decided by an interception return touchdown (Northwestern over Minnesota), a hook-and-lateral touchdown (Purdue over Michigan) and a field goal (Michigan State over Wisconsin), all with 26 seconds or less remaining in the fourth quarter.

Then came the midday games and more mayhem. In the ACC, Miami scored a TD with less than a minute left then beat Virginia in OT. Wake Forest blew a big lead to Duke before winning in overtime. Florida State was all set to win in the final minute at Georgia Tech, but the Seminoles fumbled inside the 10 and the Yellow Jackets recovered in the end zone to hold on.

Pittsburgh won a field-goal contest in four overtimes against Notre Dame. Navy rallied from 20-points down the fourth quarter and beat Temple in OT. Illinois got a field goal with 24 seconds left to beat Iowa. Missouri intercepted a pass in the final two minutes to hold off Baylor.

Texas Tech topped them all. The late show from Lubbock, Texas, became the latest front-runner for game of the year, with Michael Crabtree and Graham Harrell hooking up for a touchdown with a second left to beat Texas 39-33 and send shock waves through the national title race.

It's after such a totally entertaining Saturday such as this that someone who thinks the Bowl Championship Series is a really great idea will say, "See, if you had a playoff would the regular season be so much fun?"

Yes it would, but there is no reason to bang our heads against the wall. Best, rather, to enjoy the memories of a day made for satellite dishes.

Heisman-worthy

Tim Tebow wouldn't be considered cocky if he long ago had the weekend of Dec. 13 blocked off. That's when the Heisman Trophy is handed out.

For the first month and a half of the season, Tebow didn't seem to have much of a chance to match Archie Griffin and become the second two-time Heisman winner.

After accounting for five touchdowns in a 49-10 thumping of Georgia, Tebow is starting to gain ground on all those Big 12 quarterbacks with the freaky stats.

If Tebow and the Gators earn a spot in the national title game, you can all but guarantee he'll be a Heisman finalist.

End of an era

It wasn't long ago Nebraska was where Michigan is.

The Wolverines guaranteed themselves a losing season, their first since 1967, by falling 48-42 to Purdue.

No doubt, many Michigan fans are wondering what they've gotten into with coach Rich Rodriguez, whose first season in Ann Arbor was expected to be a rebuilding year. But this bad?

Nebraska fans had a similar feeling back in 2004, the first season under coach Bill Callahan. The NFL castoff had replaced Frank Solich and looked to change the culture of one of the most successful programs in college football history.

He started by leading the Cornhuskers to their first losing season in more than four decades. Things got better for Callahan, then got much worse, and last year he was fired.

Those worried that Michigan is heading down that road shouldn't.

While Rodriguez has brought a different personality and a different offense to Michigan, it's doubtful he'll alienate the fan base and the former members of the program the way Callahan did at Nebraska.

"You want to look at the finality of it all? I've been here nine, 10 months. We've had great tradition; we still have great tradition, and we're going to try to do all we can to uphold it. But right now, we're not going to a bowl," Rodriguez said after the Purdue game.

BCS breakdown

Penn State's BCS status is unchanged. Now the Nittany Lions are stuck behind first-place Alabama and second-place Texas Tech in the standings. Penn State's chances of moving up hinge on staying unbeaten and having the Tide and Red Raiders lose.

The Big Ten's tarnished reputation and Penn State's schedule are holding the Nittany Lions back and that won't change if Alabama and Texas Tech run through far tougher leagues unbeaten.

Quick hits

-Cal plays Oregon and it's the Golden Bears wearing the garish, bright yellow uniforms, while the Ducks play in the more tasteful, though totally out of season, all white.

-To Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe: You don't want to be known as the guy who can't beat Greg Robinson. The Cardinals lost to the Orange for the second straight season, accounting for two-thirds of Robinson's Big East wins in his four seasons as coach.

Lookahead

LSU's season as defending national champion has been sort of a letdown. That's what happens when you give up 50 points in each of your two biggest games.

On Saturday, though, the Tigers can make it all better for their fans. Nick Saban and No. 1 Alabama come to Baton Rouge, La., the former LSU coach's first trip back to his old stomping grounds with the Tide.

No. 2 Texas Tech has another huge home game, this time against No. 8 Oklahoma State.

On Thursday night in the Mountain West Conference, No. 10 Utah and No. 11 TCU meet with the league title and a possible BCS bid on the line.

-- Ralph D. Russo covers college football for The Associated Press. Write to him at rrusso(at)ap.org.

Oklahoma St. receivers besides Bryant making plays

STILLWATER, Okla. - With 15 touchdown catches this football season, Dez Bryant remains the unquestioned star of Oklahoma State's receiving corps.

But in Saturday's 59-17 rout of Iowa State, some of the Cowboys' other receivers made big plays, the biggest a 95-yard touchdown catch-and-run by Jeremy Broadway that set a school record.

A season-high 10 different players caught at least one pass against the Cyclones, but such variety hasn't been the norm. Outside of Bryant and tight end Brandon Pettigrew - who missed three games because of injury - the Cowboys have not had consistent play from their receiving corps. In two games, only three Oklahoma State players caught passes.

With the eighth-ranked Cowboys winning, the lack of productivity from their down-the-line receivers hasn't been a big issue. But as Oklahoma State (8-1, 4-1 Big 12 Conference) moves deeper into the season - and into contention for a Bowl Championship Series berth - the Cowboys know they'll need big receiving plays from others besides Bryant and Pettigrew.

In addition to Broadway's catch, Bryant hauled in an 80-yard touchdown pass on a post pattern and Damian Davis caught a 50-yard pass that led to Bryant's fourth scoring reception.

"That's what we've got to do," Broadway said. "Dez is our primary playmaker ... but Michael Jordan has to have somebody to back him up. He's got people keying on him and people trying to shut him down, and we've got to back him up. We have the ability to do it."

Such big plays would seem to be a necessity as Oklahoma State prepares to face No. 2 Texas Tech (9-0, 5-0) on Saturday - the Cowboys' third road game in five weeks against a top-five opponent.

"We're still in a good position," said quarterback Zac Robinson, who threw for 395 yards against the Cyclones. "We've got a lot of things in front of us still. We'll just kind of see how this whole thing plays out and keep on winning."

Coach Mike Gundy said Sunday that sometimes defensive packages - and the Cowboys' penchant for running the football - result in some receivers not having many passes thrown their way.

"It's good to get the other guys some passes," Gundy said. "They work hard. It depends on what the defense gives us at times ... and you kind of have to work the running game in between."

Bryant's receiving numbers - 60 catches for 1,054 yards and 15 touchdowns, just two shy of the single-season school record - have led to some quiet buzz that he should be a Heisman Trophy candidate.

Gundy isn't ready to support such an effort - yet. Asked if he would support any Oklahoma State efforts to push Bryant for the honor, Gundy said he didn't know Bryant's name was being mentioned on Heisman lists.

"That would be something we'd have to sit down and talk about as a group," Gundy said.

Broadway said Oklahoma State's other receivers have become better players just playing and practicing with Bryant.

"You've got no choice," Broadway said. "You've got to step your game up."

Meanwhile, as his teammates seek his advice, Bryant is receiving the same from a former Oklahoma State receiving great. Gundy said Hart Lee Dykes - who played with Gundy, Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders on the Cowboys' high-powered offenses of the mid-to-late 1980s - called Bryant this week.

"I think he (Dykes) sees a lot of his own traits and has a lot of respect for him," Gundy said.

Bryant said he was honored by the call.

"He was the greatest receiver who ever played at Oklahoma State," Bryant said. "We talked about backside blocking and everything like that, how I could get better. I felt like, listening to him can help out my game, and I can get where he was at."

-- Murray Evans

Texas' loss creates tiny opening for No. 6 Sooners

NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops didn't need to be in front of a television to know what was going on in the Big 12 South race and perhaps beyond. Even after the Sooners' blowout of Nebraska, OU's followers stuck around and let him know through their screams everything he needed to know.

Fans packed the concourses at Owen Field after Oklahoma's 62-28 win against the Huskers, gathering around any TV screen they could find to watch what wound up being a last-second 39-33 defeat for archrival Texas against Texas Tech.

With their voices, the fans let their disappointment be known when the Longhorns scored with 89 seconds left to take the lead. And it was unquestionable what had happened when Tech scored with 1 second left to win the game, even as Stoops addressed reporters in his postgame news conference.

"You know who just scored," Stoops said. "You guys need to quit asking me questions. Let's go get on the radio."

Tech's win - or, more specifically, Texas' loss - revives the Sooners' hopes for a third straight Big 12 title, and the automatic BCS berth that goes along with it. And after last year's crazy finish to the football season, maybe even the national championship isn't out of the question for Oklahoma (8-1, 4-1 Big 12).

The Sooners still don't control their own destiny. Tiebreaker scenarios can still keep them out of the Big 12 title game even if they win out against Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. But the chances of catching Texas if the Longhorns made it unscathed through a gauntlet of four straight games against ranked opponents were awfully slim.

"It gives you life. And we knew we had life," Stoops said. "But still we've got three more games to go. We've got to keep making improvement. It just changes things, and you just have to keep after it."

Despite the win, Oklahoma fell two spots to sixth in the BCS standings Sunday in a move that mimicked their positioning in The Associated Press' poll. The Sooners were passed by Texas Tech and Florida and remained behind Texas - which beat the Sooners 45-35 win on a neutral field earlier this year.

Harris Poll voters dropped them one spot to fifth, while the coaches kept them in fourth.

It's a backward step that could be taken care of if the Sooners take care of business against the second-ranked Red Raiders and No. 8 Oklahoma State - but first up is the Aggies, who've won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

"That won't take long for them to understand that. They already do," Stoops said. "But none of it matters if you don't go play well in this game."

That message shouldn't be hard to understand for the Sooners, who overcame an early loss at Colorado last season and got back in the national title picture, only to get upset again at Texas Tech in November. They still got into the Big 12 title game after Texas lost to Texas A&M and the Sooners had the tiebreak.

"We just have to make sure we take care of business," defensive captain Gerald McCoy said. "That game is over now, so we just need to handle what is in front of us."

While Oklahoma only narrowly avoided giving up 30 points in a fourth straight game for the first time in school history, Stoops said he was encouraged by the defense's improvement - particularly early, when three of Nebraska's first five plays resulted in turnovers.

That helped create the big lead, and Stoops said the score was skewed after that because strategies change when the game is out of hand.

"I feel good. I feel like they're working hard. We've just got to keep after it," Stoops said. "You just have to keep pushing for improvement and keep a good attitude through a long year. It's staying up and staying focused, and I think our guys are doing that."

-- Jeff Latzke