Texas quarterback Colt McCoy gets back at Ohio State Buckeyes

Comments Comment on this article82

By JIM VERTUNO/AP Sports Writer
Published: January 5, 2009
Modified: January 6, 2009 at 12:01 am


Texas wide receiver Quan Cosby is bought down by Ohio State cornerbacks Anderson Russell, right, and Chimdi Chekwa during the fourth quarter of the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football game in Glendale, Ariz., Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

GLENDALE, Ariz.Colt McCoy got the best of Ohio State this time.

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The Texas quarterback was just a wide-eyed freshman playing his second college game in 2006 when No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Texas met in Austin and the Buckeyes waltzed out of town with a 24-7 victory that was a baptism of big hits.

That was then.

The savvy McCoy of 2009, the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, is no comparison to the player of three years ago.

Dusting off the dirt after several big hits — and two illegal blows to the head — McCoy passed for 414 yards and two touchdowns, the second to Quan Cosby with 16 seconds to play, to carry third-ranked Texas to a 24-21 win over No. 10 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on Monday night.

McCoy finished with a school-record 41 completions and ran for Texas' first touchdown in the Longhorns' fifth straight bowl win.

McCoy's gritty performance could make him the clear favorite to win the Heisman next season if 2008 winner Sam Bradford of Oklahoma decides to leave for the NFL.

McCoy was at his best in the third quarter and on the final drive.

With Texas (12-1) trailing 6-3, he scored the Longhorns' first touchdown on a 14-yard run when he spun around Buckeyes cornerback Malcolm Jenkins. The defender had ducked his head and must have been surprised when McCoy easily danced around him to get into the end zone.

Texas' second TD came when McCoy rolled to his right, spotted Jordan Shipley in the end zone and fired just as Cosby, who was running the other way, stepped in for the grab and the score.

McCoy, pumping his fist, danced all the way back to the bench.

None of it came easy.

The Buckeyes battered McCoy all game, sacking him twice and knocking him down numerous other times. Twice in the first half he took shots to the head by defensive lineman Thaddeus Gibson. On one sack, Gibson wrapped up McCoy with both arms, picked him up and slammed him down like a wet fish.

But that was in the first half. In the second, McCoy had found his rhythm and Texas was on a roll.

After Ohio State (10-3) took a 21-17 lead on Terrelle Pryor's catch late in the fourth, McCoy coolly drove the Longhorns to the winning touchdown. With 16 seconds left, Texas had time for maybe three more plays when McCoy fired a dart to Cosby across the middle. Cosby slipped a tackle and dived into the end zone without a Buckeye defender within 10 yards.


 


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Texas-24
Ohio St.-21

Texas-45
OU-35
Barry, bethany - Jan 7, 2009 at 9:25 am
Trojan, trust me you will someday find out that there is a God and he is not make believe! When you go to the place that people like you who spew such trash go, you will truly be wishing that he was just make believe. I would hate to be you when you take your last breath. I do not like Texas, especially Cry Daddy Mack, but at least Colt McCoy is a class act! It's just to bad he had to compete with Sam Bradford! BOOMER SOONER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Paula, Searcy - Jan 7, 2009 at 6:59 am
Carl, did you stay up all night thinking of that one? What a douche.
Dana, Tacoma - Jan 6, 2009 at 10:25 pm
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I keep reading about 4 BCS losses for OU and how they were embarrassed in all 4. Hmmmm, I recall ESPN rating the Boise State/OU game, the # 1 game of the season for any sport. I remember the LSU/OU game as being a touchdown difference. The other 2 is where OU was shocked. And guess what? I still enjoy all seasons with my Sooners, something 90% of all college fans can't say year after year about their teams. At OU, we are entertained year in and year out. 39-33
alan, oklahoma city - Jan 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm
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45-35
mister, bogata - Jan 6, 2009 at 8:27 pm
With all the crying that Mack has done, he does have one more shot at a National Title this year. He could beg that other loser from Texas by the name of BUSH to appoint Texas as National Champions.
Carl, Norman - Jan 6, 2009 at 8:16 pm
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With all the crying that Mack has done, he does have one more shot at a National Title this year. He could beg that other loser from Texas by the name of BUSH to appoint Texas as National Champions.
Carl, Norman - Jan 6, 2009 at 8:16 pm
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Mack Brown is a classless coach. It is right to stand up for your team but to keep telling people either directly or indirectly that Texas was robbed and should be playing Thursday is getting riduculous. OU got into the Big 12 championship game on rules established that all Big 12 teams had to obey. I don't agree with having coaches outside the conference having a say in the Big 12 championship game but those were the rules. Sure I would be upset but the rules are the rules. I am expecting Brown to have another plane flying over Miami like was done over KC. Get over it Texas. GO SOONERS!!! BEAT FLORIDA!!!
William, Fairfield - Jan 6, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Trojan, your comments are like what I would expect from California and its valueless society. Are you sure you are not from San Francisco.
William, Fairfield - Jan 6, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Trojan, I be try and be mo inteligant when i responses to yuo. Yo posts r irrelivant. We har in Ok em pretty mpressed with you western intelligense. We just b happie to be goin to a game Thursday night. How much did your backyard bowl pay you rubbers? The irrelevancies of your posts might as well bring in last season's stats and who beat who crap and the year before that. When it comes to intelligent posts, the word intelligent is not the word for yours. BTW, whatever you believe in or what someone else believes in that is different from your beliefs...doesn't change the Truth.
alan, oklahoma city - Jan 6, 2009 at 4:58 pm
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Trojan, there is simply no point in you even saying that other than to insult on a very personal level. I'm not a religious man, and I have as much fun as the next guy poking fun at people. But there are just some things that are off limits in a civilized society. This is not the place nor the forum, but even being non-religious, I could out-debate your beliefs more convincingly than Hawking could out-debate a toddler in math.
Dana, Tacoma - Jan 6, 2009 at 4:37 pm
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On a different note, since the article is about Colt McCoy, I was astonished that he made the statement without Jesus this would be impossible. It just gets me that after an athletic contest the star athlete would get up and give credit to some make-belief god.
Trojan, Santa Barbara - Jan 6, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Darrell, injuries are part of the game. That still does not change the fact that Texas beat OU and Oregon dominated the final three quarters against Oklahoma State.
Trojan, Santa Barbara - Jan 6, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Jim, we used to call them "sea stories". Like the old saying goes: The difference between a sea story and a fairy tale? A fairy tale starts out with once upon a time, a sea story starts out with this ain't no $&!#, and after that, they're pretty much the same. Everyone of us is pretty much yankin each others lariat around here anyway.
Dana, Tacoma - Jan 6, 2009 at 3:46 pm
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Trojan,

Oregon did not dominate OSU. Oregon was a fine team but had OSU not had to deal with their top 3 offensive players being injured they would have beaten Oregon. It was kept a secret until after the game but OSU's all-american running back had his knee scoped between the final game of the regular season and the bowl game. It was quite apparent that he was not at full speed for the bowl game. Credit Oregon's defense, along with bad field conditions to a certain extent, as to why OSU's type of running game didn't have much success that day, but a star player recovering from a recent surgery had a big impact as well.

OSU's lack of running success aside, they were still dominating Oregon's defense with the passing game until the QB separated his shoulder in the 2nd quarter and the all-american receiver tweaked his knee on the bad field in the 2nd quarter and both were drastically limited thereafter.

OSU's offense was slowed by their big 3 stars playing over 2 quarters each injured and limited in what they could do. The bottomline is OSU is not deep and Oregon was able to eventually take control of the game because OSU did not have enough depth to overcome the injuries. Even Belotti (sp) said OSU's offense wasn't the same after the wide receiver got hurt and that the shots on OSU's QB took a toll. That comment was made without even knowing the QB played over half the game with a separated shoulder and therefore there was a legitimate reason his passing accuracy went to hell. Oregon played a good, physical game and won but did not dominate. OSU's defense wore down in the 2nd half like they always do, due to lack of depth, but the turning point came in the 2nd quarter when the 2nd and 3rd components of our tripletts on offense got injured.

On the OU/Texas debate, the bottomline is you look at a season, not any single game to determine who had the better year. OU had the misfortune of having to replace a middle linebacker (QB on defense) in the middle of a game they had a solid lead in with a kid with little or no experience. UT immediately recognized the weakness and took advantage to win the game. I believe UT scored on every possession after the starting MLB torn his knee up and left the game. Texas had difficulty scoring until the injury and scored every possession thereafter. Anybody who watched the game and understands football saw that the injury was the turning point. OU was better than Texas before the injury and in the 2nd half of the season when they were able to make adjustments for losing the MLB and continued to improve as a team they again became the better team. By far at the end of the season, OU was the better team, regardless of what happened in the 1st half of the season due to certain circumstances. Had Texas taken care of business for the remainder of the season and cashed in on the good fortune they received in the OU game then we wouldn't have to listen to all the continual whining and dissing of Texas Tech by somehow trying to forget that they beat Texas. OU simply played a tougher schedule, had their loss (under understandable circumstances that some conveniently forget) to a better opponent than Texas did and was dominate in the last half of the season.

Based upon the regular season overall performances; the 2 most deserving teams made it to the BCS championship game. OU losing their starting RB for the big game could be costly if Florida can stop their remaining running game and make them one dimensional but that doesn't change the fact that they earned thier invitation to the title game.

Could USC beat OU or Florida? Maybe but they lost their shot by losing to Oregon State. Could Utah or even Texas? Maybe, but probably not the majority of the time and their overall season resume did not earn them a shot at the title. Would it have been a great year for a play-off? Absolutely.
Darrell, Woodbury - Jan 6, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Dana, believe it or not if you intentionally mislead or lie on these boards it may lead to consequences. Just ask Darthhusker, of course nothing you just wrote could get you in any trouble just looking out for you before you take it to the next level.
Jim, Stillwater - Jan 6, 2009 at 3:28 pm
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I heard Bob Stoops was in talks with Notre Dame. This was breaking on ESPN radio
Dana, Tacoma - Jan 6, 2009 at 2:58 pm
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The UofW has never been shy about spending money, they've just ended up with less then desirable coaches. Rick Neuheisel, and most recently the disaster named Ty Willingham.
Dana, Tacoma - Jan 6, 2009 at 2:42 pm
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The University of Washington has hired seven coaches from USC including both former offensive coordinators. Steve Sarkisian is the new Husky head coach and Nick Holt the defensive coordinator is now the assistant HC and defensive coordinator for Washington. The Huskies gave Holt a salary of $2.1 million over three years which is more than alot of head coaches make. Sarkisian was reportedly paid over $2M per year. Holt was paid well at SC. His salary was $500K for the Trojans. In addition to Sarkisian and Holt the Huskies hired, Demetrice Martin, defensive backs coach, Johnny Nansen, defensive line coach, Ivan Lewis, strength and conditioning coach, Charr Gagahan, strength assistant coach, Jared Blank, Director of Player Personnel and Jim Michalczik, to be Husky offensive coordinator.

Pete Carroll is reportedly pissed.
JP, - - Jan 6, 2009 at 2:30 pm
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Mack's title hopes are Living on a Prayer like Jon Dana! :)
Scott, Indian Territory - Jan 6, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Jonbonjovy that last late hit call was brutal!
Pat, Grand Prairie - Jan 6, 2009 at 1:47 pm
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Now wait just a minute. Who can name themselves Jonbonjovy and expect to be taken seriously?
Dana, Tacoma - Jan 6, 2009 at 1:45 pm
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Goes to Show Ohio State had to resort to cheap shots to keep themselves in the game. Why does tressel dress like a saint when his program is crooked?
Zeb, Oklahoma City - Jan 6, 2009 at 1:42 pm
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Excuse me, 44-10.
Trojan, Santa Barbara - Jan 6, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Hey thats a great point Trojan.
Pat, Grand Prairie - Jan 6, 2009 at 1:39 pm
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