Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 41

C7 UP NEXT FOR TEXAS Raiders wallop Wildcats on ground, in air, with hits Austin American-Statesman SPORTS Sunday, October 16, 2005 Standings end zone with 74 seconds to go before the break. Tech opened the second half Conf. All dv scoring zi unanswered points 14 coming after Slay Big 12-leading fifth and sixth forced fumbles of the season to go up 38-13 Deiore K-state answered with a 98-yard kickoff return by Yamon Figurs late ih the third period. so-Vt VrntTVi G1or'c five NORTH I I Nebraska 2 1 5 1 Colorado '2 1 4 2 Missouri 2 1 4 2 Kansas State 12 4 2 Iowa State 0 3 3 3 Kansas 0 3 3 3 SOUTH Texas 3 0 6 0 Texas Tech 3 0 6 0 Texas 2 1 4 2 Oklahoma 2 1 3 3 Baylor 12 4 2 Oklahoma State 0 3 3 3 A' By Randy Riggs AMKimmSTATKSMAN hTAI'K LUBBOCK In Texas Tech's final rehearsal before this week's battle of unbeatens at Texas, Joel Filani and Cody Hodges found much for which to be grateful. After the 13th-ranked Red Raiders rolled to a 59-20 rout of Kansas State, Hodges was thankful for his best day as a quarterback 643 passing yards, the fourth-highest total in NCAA Division I-A history.

Filani was thankful that he caught 10 of those passes, for a Big 12-record 255 yards. Each was thankful he wasn't Allan Evridge. In case Kansas State's red-shirt freshman quarterback didn't get the number of that train in his first collegiate start, it was No. 3. That was the blurry digit on the red jersey of Dwayne Slay, Tech's free safety whom fellow safety Vincent Meeks has dubbed "bullet" for reasons readily understandable to Evridge after he was obliterated by Slay on a fumble-inducing play in the third quarter.

The turnover led to the touchdown that gave Tech a 38-13 cushion. Slay is a 6-foot-3-inch, 214-pound senior. They don't keep records on this sort of thing, but he must be the hardest-hitting defensive back in the Big 12, if not the nation. "You heard it before you saw it," Tech Coach Mike Leach said of Slay's hit on Evridge. "I mean, just the velocity of the thing and the fact that you don't see something like that every day ignites a team a little bit." That assertion won't get an argument from the Wildcats.

Slay separated Evridge and receiver Davin Dennis from the ball, not to mention their senses, on separate vicious hits Saturday to set up touchdowns for the Raiders. "When he hit that quarterback, I was like, 'Oh, my Meeks said softly. That echoed the sentiments of Hodges and Filani after a record-setting day in front of a Jones Stadium homecoming crowd of 50,813 fans. "Dwayne hit (Evridge) so hard, I felt bad for him," Filani said. Added Hodges: "You never like to see a hit like that on a quarterback.

I'm glad I'm not back there and Dwayne Slay's 1-2) of any team since Colorado in 1990, the Red Raiders are not lacking confidence. "Texas has always been a great opponent, but I'm excited," said running back Taurean Henderson. The senior had reason to be. The first of his 10 catches Saturday (for 118 yards and two TDs) made him the NCAA's career leader in receptions by a running back. He now has 272, breaking the mark of 262 held by Long Beach State's Mark Tern-pleton.

Henderson also rushed for three TDs. His five TDs equaled the school record shared by three others. "He's the most multidimensional guy we have," Leach said. "He's in the ultimate iron-horse position. He has to do everything." The Wildcats actually held a 13-10 lead with about 2'4 minutes to play in the first half after Evridge found a wide-open Jordy Nelson on an 80-yard bomb that marked Nelson's sixth straight game with a TD catch.

But the Raiders struck back with a vengeance. Hodges, who completed 44 of 65 passes, hit a leaping Robert Johnson in the forced fumble the hit on -Dennis early in the third quarter was the turning point. That blow, which left both Slay and Dennis woozy, came with Tech nursing a 17-13 lead. A little more than two minutes later, it was 24-13 after Jarrett Hicks grabbed a 20-yard pass for his school-record 23rd career touchdown reception. The rout was on.

"We're going to enjoy the Kansas State game tonight, watch film and make corrections tomorrow and then next week it will be all about Texas," Hodges said. "We are happy to be 6-0." Even happier, perhaps, than Hodges is to have Slay on his tpnm Saturday's scores Texas Tech 59, Kansas State 20 Missouri 27, Iowa State 24 Texas 62, Oklahoma State 23 Texas 42, Colorado 17 Oklahoma 19, Kansas 3 Nebraska 23, Baylor 14 Saturday's schedule Nebraska at Missouri, 11:30 a.m. Texas at Kansas State, 1:10 p.m. Texas Tech at Texas, 2:30 p.m. Kansas at Colorado, 6 p.m.

Baylor at Oklahoma, 6 p.m. Oklahoma State at Iowa State, TBA LM Otero associated I'liHss Texas Tech's Cody Hodges, right, embraces Taurean Henderson after a TD catch. Henderson scored five times in the victory. coming after me." Now Tech (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) will be coming after the Longhorns on Saturday at Royal Memorial Stadium, with an unblemished mark for the first time since 1976. After scoring the most points against the Wildcats (4-2, rriggsstatesman.com; 445-3957 TEXAS 62, OKLAHOMA STATE 23 'awui i nil 4.11m iipm TV Rout of Cowboys perfect remedy for Aggies, McNeal 3 77 a i 1 xiL- I i Rod Aydelotte associatkd the largest at Floyd Casey Stadium since 1996 for a game against anyone but UT or Texas Nebraska's Cortney Grixby outruns Baylor's Daniel Sepulveda on a punt return.

The crowd of 40,857 was Bigger-than-usual crowd sees Cornhuskers bounce Baylor Quarterback, feeling no pain in foot, leads to confidence-boosting victory By Olin Buchanan AMKKICAN-STATKSM ST.UT COLLEGE STATION A sore foot caused Texas quarterback Reggie McNeal to miss three days of practice this week, but there wasn't much reason for worry. Oklahoma State can cure what ails you. Feeling at peak health, McNeal passed for three touchdowns and rushed for a career-best 150 yards, while freshman Jorvorskie Lane ran for three touchdowns and Texas defense forced seven turnovers as the Aggies rolled to a Big 12 Conference football victory on Saturday before 78,451 fans at Kyle Field. "I felt real good from the time I stepped out there on the field. I felt like myself again," McNeal said.

"I didn't have no limp. I mean, I was perfect." Well, not quite, but he was close enough. McNeal completed 18 of 26 passes for 263 yards and led the Aggies to scores on their first five possessions. exploded for 694 yards of total offense to break out of a two-game offensive slump. And perhaps that put the Aggies, who were embarrassed by Colorado 41-20 a week ago, back on track to be a factor in the Big 12 race.

"I think we're real confident," said senior receiver Jason Carter, who caught four passes for 58 yards. "We have to take it game by game. We have to go to Kansas State (next week) and that will be a tough road game, but we can get there and get a win. This right here is going to catapult us over the hump and get everything going the right way." Such a dominating performance gave the Aggies (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) reason to be optimistic, and it did not matter that Oklahoma State (3-3, 0-3) entered on a two-game losing streak or that second-string quarterback Al Pena started for the Cowboys, threw four interceptions and also lost a fumble on OSU's first play. It certainly mattered to Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy.

"I don't think he played very good," Gundy said of Pena, who made his first career start. "From where I was it looked like he missed eight or 10 throws. I don't want to hear about a first-time quarterback. I've been on football teams where new players played." Three freshmen started for the Aggies on offense, and that did not include the bullish, 255-pound Lane, who carried 22 times for 139 yards. Two of his touchdowns runs of 6 and 1 yards helped the Aggies take a 20-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Aggies also started two freshmen on defense, including cornerback Devin Gregg, Donna McWilliam assik Reggie McNeal completed 18 of 26 passes for 263 yards against Oklahoma State. 'I felt like myself he said. The victory helped the Aggies ease some of the pain of last week's loss to Colorado. (' 'We got out-coached, out-schemed and out-played. When you play a quarterback as good as McNeal, if he gets in a' rhythm and gets on a roll, it's hard to deal Mike Gundy Oklahoma Slate coach Appel at the 2.

The Aggies promptly marched 98 yards in nine plays the biggest a 39-yard run by Lane for McNeal's 7-yard touchdown pass to Chris Alexander for a 34-17 lead. "I thought the swing was there at the beginning of the third quarter when they drove it the field and Jaxson makes the interception and then we go 98 yards," Coach Dennis Franchione said. "That was a pretty pivotal part of what happened." Oklahoma State's next three drives ended with an interception in the end zone, a punt and a fumble at midfield. The Aggies responded with two more touchdowns, on a McNeal pass to Boone Stuts and a Lane run. final two scores came when Brandon Leone caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from McNeal, and backup quarterback Stephen McGee tossed a 14-yard TD pass to Martellus Bennett.

"We got out-coached, out- the Jayhawks (3-3, 0-3), who haven't scored a touchdown since Oct. 1. Bomar, the redshirt freshman who came in as the Big 12's 12th-ranked passer, connected with Malcom Kelly on a 25-yard TD pass with 10:17 left, putting the struggling Sooners on top 16-3. His 40-yarder to Kelly ignited the 11-play, 92 yard march and finally brought life to an Oklahoma offense that had trouble all night moving against a powerful but frustrated Kansas defense. Kansas managed only 1 1 yards of offense in the second half and 97 for the game.

Missouri 27, Iowa State 24: When senior quarterback Brad Smith was knocked woozy, freshman Chase Daniel, Miz-zou's prized recruit from Southlake Carroll High in Texas, came to the rescue in Columbia, Mo. Daniel led two late scoring drives to tie the game 24-24, then passed and ran Missouri to the Iowa State overtime, setting up Adam Crossett's 26-yard field goal for the win as the Tigers (4-2, 2-l)beat the Cyclones (3-3, 0-3) for the second straight year in overtime. Until Saturday, Daniel had thrown 18 collegiate passep. Against the Cyclones he was 16 of 23 for 185 yards. Missouri's defense scored two early touchdowns.

Then Iowa State took over, scoring 24 straight points while flustering Smith, who had one of the worst games of his career. He rushed for 39 yards on 11 carries and completed just eight passes for just 45 yards. He also threw an interception and fumbled. ASSfX'IATKDl'RUSS WACO Zac Taylor threw two touchdown passes and led Nebraska to scores on four of its first five drives, then the defense made it hold up in a 23-14 victory over Baylor on Saturday night. On a night the Bears hoped would be their coming-out party, the Cornhuskers (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) made -a Statement of their own by matching last season's win total.

It wasn't easy, though, as Baylor (4-2, 1-2) took another step toward respectability even in defeat. Coming off its first-ever Big 12 road win, over Iowa State, the Bears led 7-3 in the second quarter and were driving for a go-ahead score late in the third quarter after wild touchdown got them within 20-14. But Nebraska forced a punt, then got a 22-yard field goal from Jordan Congdon, his third of the game. That stretched the lead to nine points, meaning two scores, and Baylor couldn't recover even with its new, all-green look, from helmets to jerseys to pants. Terrance Parks replaced Shawn Bell at quarterback and his first drive ended with a fumble by Dominique Zeigler.

Parks threw interceptions the next two times the Bears had the ball. Even with Baylor closing the game by turning the ball over on three of its last five snaps, the Bears were a lot tougher on the Cornhuskers than they were in a 32-point loss last season. Taylor was 18 of 32 for 168 yards, but he was extremely effective through the middle of the third quarter, when his first pass of the second half produced James A. Finley assi i.vi A trainer attends to Missouri QB Brad Smith during the second half against Iowa State. A woozy Smith left the game early.

a 21-yard touchdown and a 20-7 lead. Bell drove Baylor 81 yards for a touchdown on the game's opening series, but the Bears' offense went cold after that. The game drew a crowd of 40,857, including nearly 10,000 Nebraska fans, the largest gathering at Floyd Casey Stadium since September 1996 for a game against anyone but Texas or Texas Oklahoma 19, Kansas 3: Rhett Bomar's fourth-quarter pass capped Oklahoma's only touchdown drive on a sloppy, mistake-filled night at Arrowhead Stadium and the Sooners (3-3, 2-1) escaped with a win over who sacked Pena and caused a fumble on his first collegiate play. McNeal added 4-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter for a 27-3 lead, but Pena threw a touchdown pass to John Johnson and Julius Crosslin ran 2 yards for a score as the Cowboys pulled within 27-17 at halftime. OSU then took the second-half kickoff and reached the 42, but on first-and-10, Pefla's deep pass to Ricky Price was intercepted by Jaxson schemed and out-played," Gundy said.

"When you play a quarterback as good as McNeal, if he gets in a rhythm and gets on a roll, it's hard to deal with. That's what we allowed him to do." And it allowed McNeal and the Aggies to get well again. obuchanandPstatesman.com.