Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • B7

MONDAY NOVEMBER 9 2020 FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM 1 7B Dee Winters have much to say when asked about growing up in Bur- ton. only one gas Winters said. not a understandable for a town with a population of 560, accord- ing to the 2018 U.S. Cen- sus data, located off High- way 290 between Austin and Houston. But Burton can take pride in Winters these days, who has become one of top defenders.

The sophomore linebacker tied for the team lead with seven tackles in 34-18 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday and has the second-most tackles on the team this season (38). Winters won the start- ing middle linebacker job alongside senior Garret Wallow in training camp. He emerged as the top linebacker from a number of players, including LSU transfer Marcel Brooks. the job was pretty Winters said. has treated me like a little brother and helped me out which is really good.

I battled it out and eventually came out on top to battle next to Winters has proven worthy of the label, consistently ranking among top tacklers each week. He opened the season with an eight- tackle game against Iowa State, and had another eight-tackle performance against Baylor two weeks ago. He followed the Baylor game with his seven-tack- le day, including 2.5 tack- les for loss, against Tech. He had one tackle for loss against Baylor, which came on his first sack of the season. As a true freshman last year, Winters played in 11 games, including two starts, and finished with 28 tackles, including one sack.

Pretty impressive for a three-star prospect coming out of Burton. Winters played on both sides of the ball in high school, but was utilized primarily as a wide receiver. He joins a long list of players under Gary Pat- terson who shined as of- fensive players in high school before becoming defensive staples in col- lege. Former Frogs line- backer and current Green Bay Packers defender Ty Summers was a quarter- back in high school. Form- er Frogs defensive end and current Buffalo Bills pass rusher Jerry Hughes played running back in high school.

Winters described the transition as of given what TCU coaches see and are able to develop in a high- school prospect. can see potential in you on defense if you play offense and that role is very huge, especially at TCU because a defensive-minded Winters said. having that mentality is very TCU (3-3) travels to West Virginia next Sat- urday. Drew Davison: 817-390-7760, Courtesy of Big 12 Dee Winters (13) won starting middle linebacker job alongside senior Garret Wallow in training camp. TCU FOOTBALL LB Dee Winters making small town of Burton proud BY DREWDAVISON TCU football is back to .500 on the season.

The Horned Frogs knocked off Texas Tech 34-18 on Saturday, the first home victory of the Frogs this season. TCU is 3-3 going into next game at West Virginia. what coach Gary Patterson said afterward: Opening statement: me just say this to you offensive wise and passing wise, we took what they gave us. They were not going to let us throw the ball. We took what they gave us, we did enough to win.

we just need to keep playing. We gave up a couple of big plays, but as a general rule, I thought we played very well the whole game. Special teams we punted well and we had some good returns that flipped the field. Davis and the guys blocking for him did a great job. was a tough ball On the D-line: got pressure last year against them.

We did it well early, we do it well late, but I was proud of them. The last two ball games really come on. We need to keep coming On QBMax rushing day: one of his strengths. When the quarterback outruns the secondary, you know you have a guy very athletic and he was able to do that today. excited to get back to 3-3.

been a long time. This team is getting upset about not wanting to lose and starting to grow up. down a lot of players but finding ways to On Ochaun Mathis, who had three sacks: even last week he was starting to cause prob- lems. When he gets off the ball, he has the potential to be that guy. He keeps gaining confidence and going to make him better.

Him and Khari Coleman both. We had some new guys, I think Patrick (Jenkins) and Earl (Barquet) got a sack. I was really proud of those young guys. All of the young guys have been coming On depleted corner- back group: Collins had to come in for (Tre) Tomlinson. down our last group.

I might start playing corner if not On passing game struggles but still win by 18: like I told them, when they got down in the first half, I told them to find ways to win. So, not going the way you want it to; what done here for years. just got to get ready to go. For us, we keep getting better. still better in protection, we probably held the ball a little too long today on a couple of occasions but got to get open.

We lob passes when we do get a chance to throw it. got to be able to take care of our On the energy: know. I think it was maybe closer to the most complete game played. They did play hard and I just think gaining great con- fidence in what they do. They just got to keep do- ing Drew Davison: 817-390-7760, TCU FOOTBALL Patterson to be 3-3 after win BY DREW DAVISON TCU 34, TEXAS TECH 18 Texas Tech 0 3 7 8 18 TCU 3 7 17 7 34 First Kell 43, 9:48.

Second 3 run (Kell kick), 10:32. Wolff 40, :00. Third 2 run (Kell kick), 9:47. 60 pass from Colombi (Wolff kick), 8:33. Kell 37, 3:45.

48 run (Kell kick), :38. Fourth 57 pass from Colombi (Price run), 11:47. 81 run (Kell kick), 1:42. TT TCU First downs 16 13 Rushes-yards 26-77 49-270 Passing 234 73 Comp-Att-Int 23-41-1 11-23-1 Return Yards 14 123 Punts-Avg. Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-0 Penalties-Yards 6-60 7-75 Time of Possession 25:28 34:32 INDIVIDUAL Tech, X.White 6-33, Colombi 14-18, Thompson 4-13, Price 1-12, Townsend 1-1.

TCU, Duggan 19-154, D.Barlow 11-63, Evans 10-36, Demercado 4-22, D.Davis 1-6, Johnston 1-2, Miller 1-0, (Team) 1-(minus 2), Barber 1-(minus 11). Tech, Colombi 23-41-1- 234. TCU, Duggan 11-23-1-73. Tech, X.White 5-35, Price 4-30, Ezukanma 3-60, Thompson 3-2, Polk 2-61, Vasher 2-22, Koontz 2-16, Holcomb 1-5, Carter 1-3. TCU, Barber 3-27, Wells 2-23, Ware 1-7, D.Davis 1-6, Evans 1-4, Conwright 1-4, Johnston 1-1, Barkley 1-1.

MISSED FIELD Tech, Wolff 37. Mississippi State 24, Vanderbilt 17: Will Rogers threw for 226 yards and a touchdown, and the Bull- defense forced five turnovers in a win in Starkville, Miss. Mississip- pi State (2-4, 2-4 South- eastern Conference) final- ly won its first home game under first-year coach Mike Leach. The Commo- dores (0-5, 0-5) had 478 yards of total offense, more than twice Mis- sissippi total, but ultimately over- come their turnover woes. Due to a crippling mix of COVID-19 infections, injuries and suspensions, Vanderbilt dressed only 58 scholarship players for the game.

Arkansas 24, Tennessee 13: Feleipe Franks threw three touchdown passes in the second half to lead host Arkansas in a come- from-behind win. The Razorbacks (3-3) trailed 13-0 at halftime before scoring on four straight drives in the third quarter. Franks threw touchdown passes to Mike Woods, Blake Kern and a 59-yar- der to Treylon Burks. A.J. 48-yard field goal with seven seconds re- maining in the third quar- ter capped the scoring.

Tennessee (2-4) quarter- back Jarrett Guarantano, who left late in the third quarter with a head injury, completed just 5 of 8 pas- ses for 42 yards. ASSOCIATED PRESS SEC IN BRIEF SATURDAY No. 4 Notre Dame 47, No. 1 Clemson 40 (2OT): Ky- ren Williams had a 3-yard touchdown run in the sec- ond overtime and No. 4 Notre Dame shut down top-ranked Clemson with a couple of sacks.

Clemson had won 36 straight games and had not lost to an At- lantic Coast Conference team since 2017. The Fight- ing Irish have won 13 straight games, snapped an 11-game losing streak against top-five teams and beat a No. 1 for the first time since taking down Florida State in 1993. No. 3 Ohio State 49, Rutgers 27: Justin Fields threw five touchdown passes and ran for another score to help host Ohio State.

Fields completed 24 of 28 passes for 314 yards. No. 8 Florida 44, No. 5 Georgia 28: Kyle Trask became the first quarterback in Southeast- ern Conference history to throw four touchdown passes in five consecutive games. The Gators (4-1) have a stranglehold on the East Division.

The Bulldogs (4-2), were likely eliminated from College Football Playoff consid- eration. No. 6 Cincinnati 38, Hous- ton 10: Gerrid Doaks rushed for 184 yards, and Desmond Ridder ran for three scores and threw for another for host Cincinnati. No. 12 Oregon 35, Stan- ford 14: Tyler Shough threw for 227 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score to lead host Oregon.

No. 13 Indiana 38, No. 23 Michigan 21: Michael Penix Jr. passed for 342 yards and three touch- downs and host Indiana beat Michigan for the first time in 33 years. No.

14 Oklahoma State 20, Kansas State 18: Jason Taylor II returned a fum- ble 85 yards for a touch- down late in the fourth quarter, and visiting Okla- homa State stopped Kan- sas 2-point try that would have tied it with 2:08 to go. No. 15 Coastal Carolina 23, South Alabama 6: Grayson McCall threw for 203 yards and a score, Massimo Biscardi had three field goals and host Coastal Carolina im- proved to 7-0. No. 16 Marshall 51, Mas- sachusetts 10: Grant Wells threw three touch- down passes, and Brenden Knox ran for two scores for host Marshall.

No. 17 Iowa State 38, Baylor 31: Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes in the second half after throwing three in- terceptions in the first for host Iowa State. No. 18 SMU 47, Temple 23: Shane Buechele threw four touchdown passes for visiting SMU. No.

19 Oklahoma 62, Kansas 9: Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns for host Oklahoma. ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 IN BRIEF Alabama is No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll for the first time this year, extending its record of consecutive sea- sons with at least one week on top of the rankings to 13. Notre Dame moved up two spots to No. 2 on Sun- day after upsetting Clem- son in a dramatic double- overtime game Saturday night.

Ohio State re- mained No. 3. Clemson gave up the top spot for the first time this season and landed at No. 4. The Crimson Tide, who had an open date, re- ceived 59 of 62 first-place votes.

Notre Dame, which has its best ranking since it was No. 1 at the end of the 2012 regular season, received two first-place votes. Ohio State got one. Texas moved up two spots to No. 5, the best ranking since they finished fifth to end the 2012 season.

Florida jumped two spots to No. 6 after beat- ing Georgia to snap a three-game losing streak against its SEC East rival. The Bulldogs fell eight spots to a season-low 13th. No. 7 Cincinnati, No.

8 BYU, No. 9 Miami and No. 10 Indiana round out the top 10. The Hoosiers moved up three spots after beating Michigan. POLL POINTS no surprise when Alabama reaches No.

1, but always historic. The Crimson streak of seasons with at least one appearance at No. 1 started in Nick Sa- second year as coach in Tuscaloosa. The Tide reached the top of the poll for the first time under Saban on Nov. 2, 2008, the day after beat- ing Arkansas State.

No. 1 Texas lost that week at Texas Tech Graham Harrell to Mi- chael Crabtree in the final seconds as the Red Raid- ers shocked the Long- horns to open the door for Alabama to ascend. The second-longest streak of consecutive years appearing at No. 1 in AP poll history belongs to Miami, which went seven seasons from 1986-92. This No.

1 appearance is the 92nd under Saban and record 123rd overall. Take away Alaba- other No. 1 appear- ances and just appearances at No. 1 would rank as the fourth- most in college history behind Ohio (105), (101) and Notre (98). also one more than South- ern California (91) has ever had.

RANKED VS. RANKED After four Top-25 matchups this past week- end, there are none next week. Defending national champion LSU has stum- bled to 2-3, meaning for the first time since 2001, the Tigers will face Alaba- ma as an unranked team. COLLEGE FOOTBALL Alabama is on top again; Notre Dame up 2 spots to No. 2 BY RALPH D.

RUSSO Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. Texas put on a performance worthy of a College Football Playoff contender. The seventh- ranked Aggies plan on stopping, either. Kellen Mond threw four touchdown passes to be- come the career leader, Isaiah Spiller ran for 131 yards and the Ag- gies routed South Carolina 48-3 on Saturday night. turning heads and doing a lot of things that people think we were going to Aggies defensive tackle Bobby Brown III said.

going to keep turning heads, proving people Just maybe all the way to a playoff berth. They certainly look the part against the Gamecocks. always think you can be Texas coach Jimbo Fisher said. experience has helped on each side of the ball. Learning to win each play and, in turn, the big- ger picture is coming to- Especially when Mond, Spiller and the Aggies defense play like this.

Mond set the school mark with the 68th touch- down pass of his career, a 52-yarder to Devon Achane in the third quar- ter with the game long decided. Mond also ran for a score to help Texas improve to 5-1 all in the Southeastern Conference for its best start since opening 6-0 in 2016. The Aggies are 7-0 against the Gamecocks. Mond and Spiller helped the Aggies open a 21-0 halftime lead and cruise to their fourth consecutive victory since a loss at Alabama last month. Spiller had two short pickups for first downs one on a fourth-and-1 with Texas in chip-shot field goal range before Mond flipped a 4-yard TD pass to Ainias Smith.

Mond found tight end Jalen Wydermeyer for two first-half scores. Wyder- myer was left all alone and walked into the end zone on a 15-yard scoring grab. Right before half, Mond hit Wydermyer on a crossing route near the goal line to go up three scores. South Carolina (2-4), coming off an off week, had no answer. Quarterback Collin Hill was 8 of 21 for 66 yards and two interceptions before getting lifted in the fourth quarter for last starter and current backup, Ryan Hilinski.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL No. 7 Texas QB Mond throttle South Carolina BY PETE IACOBELLI Associated Press.