Dallas – The Texas sideline was as dead as Tuscola, Texas, on a Saturday night. The defending national champions had gained exactly 1 yard in the second quarter against a suspect Oklahoma defense and were staring at 10-7 halftime deficit.
They looked across the field and there was the Sooners’ Adrian Peterson, the greatest college back in the land, huffing and snorting like a bull in Pamplona. He was ready to race through the Cotton Bowl in his trademark explosive second half, one that would no doubt launch him into the Heisman Trophy race and launch the seventh-ranked Longhorns out of the Big 12 title picture.
That’s when Texas quarterback Colt McCoy suddenly transformed himself from a quiet freshman from tiny Tuscola into a brash, rabblerousing field general, much like the man no one thought he could replace.
He ran up and down the team bench, screaming, cajoling, encouraging.
“He’s telling guys to keep their heads up,” tailback Selvin Young said. “We were looking at him. We had our heads up. We understand. But the fact that our quarterback was trying to be a leader and trying to motivate like that and understand that at all times we have a chance. I was telling him, ‘Take it over. It’s your day.”‘
Yes, and it might be a new day for Texas football, particularly in this vicious rivalry. McCoy’s stats won’t make anyone forget Vince Young. Nor will his arm or panache. Forget his legs. But McCoy’s poise and leadership – not to mention two pinpoint touchdown passes – in the second half were very much Vincentesque in Texas’ 28-10 win over the No. 14 Sooners.
Saturday was the day when OU (3-2, 0-1 Big 12) figured order would be restored in the Red River Rivalry. Yeah, Texas ended Oklahoma’s five-game win streak last year, but Peterson barely played and Young was about to threaten Reggie Bush in the Heisman race.
But Young is gone, trying to save the Tennessee Titans, Peterson is back and some freshman from a Class AA school in central Texas is trying to continue the Longhorns’ legacy. Yeah, sure, Sooners fans said. And Bevo will be the next governor of Texas.
Hey, Bevo for Guvo! McCoy beautifully led Limas Sweed on a 33-yard touchdown pass for a 14-10 lead early in the third quarter and all but iced it 9 1/2 minutes later when he lofted a pretty 7-yard TD pass to Jordan Shipley to make it 21-10. More important, he didn’t brain lock and make hair- tearing mistakes freshman quarterbacks are making all over the country.
No interceptions. No overthrown passes. No botched time management. His meager 108 yards on 11-of-18 passing didn’t tell the story. Texas coach Mack Brown tried.
“The only thing we talked about at halftime was that the OU team is way too good for us to not make some explosive plays in the passing game,” he said. “We have to. We can’t line up and throw underneath. We have to get the ball deep and, to their credit, they did.
“Colt helps that.”
It’s clear McCoy is maturing. This isn’t an episode of “Friday Night Lights.” This isn’t his old Jim Ned High. Five games into the season, he was already hearing criticism about his subpar arm and personality that can’t be very forceful coming from a town with one street-
light. Even though he came in as the eighth-rated quarterback in the country, Longhorns fans were wondering when Mack would put in freshman Jevan Snead, he of the better arm and an offensive knowledge that was rapidly equaling McCoy’s.
Yet in the most important game of any Texas season, McCoy put the Longhorns (5-1, 2-0) on a more direct path to the Big 12 title game and on the periphery of the national title picture. He could have caved after Texas flopped in the ballyhooed opener against Ohio State.
Instead, he has dug in and put Texas on his shoulders.
“The biggest thing about the Ohio State game was we had the ability to make plays but things just didn’t fall,” McCoy said. “The biggest thing we learned from that is we hate to lose. We had to come together as a team and say, look, we have to pull together and figure out what it takes to win.”
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
