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November 12, 2006
Big XII Recap - Week 11
With the number of games winding down, the tickets to the Big XII Championship Game will be handed out with a simple formula. Win and you’re in. That is all that Nebraska and Texas needed to do after setting themselves up with big victories last week.
Nebraska was able to do just that, albeit with a little drama mixed in. The Cornhuskers had been up 21-7 and looked on their way to an easy victory over Texas A&M. However, the Aggies were able to run off 20 straight points and looked to have control of the game after intercepting a Zac Taylor pass with less than three minutes remaining. But a field goal attempt by A&M that would have sealed the win was blocked by Nebraska giving them the ball back with a little under two minutes left.
Taylor took advantage, driving the team down the field and tossing a touchdown pass to Maurice Purify with 21 seconds remaining to give his team the win, 28-27. It was the second touchdown pass for Taylor in the game and made him the all-time leading passer at the school. His 21 touchdown passes are also a Nebraska school record for a single year. The win gave Nebraska the Big XII North title and reserves their place in the Kansas City.
Texas wasn’t so lucky. They scored the first seven points of the game on a quarterback sneak by Colt McCoy and that is when things started to go bad. McCoy injured his right shoulder on the run, after being crushed underneath the pile. He was forced from the game and freshman Jevan Snead came in to run the Longhorns offense.
Kansas State took advantage of the rookie signal caller, sacking him five times. They were unable to shut him down totally as the Longhorns still managed to put 45 points on the board. The Wildcats needed an onside kick recovery and a first down within the final minute to seal the victory, 48-45. Quarterback Josh Freeman threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns for Kansas State.
The loss puts a lot of pressure on Texas, especially with the status of McCoy’s injury unknown. The Longhorns had hoped to stay in the National Title hunt after Louisville’s loss earlier in the week. Now they are just hoping to win the South division. Texas must win against Texas A&M in two weeks or hope for Oklahoma to slip against either Baylor or Oklahoma State in their final two games in order to clinch the division.
In other action, Oklahoma needed some big plays of their own, scoring the final 24 points of the game to beat Texas Tech, 34-24. Paul Thompson had 309 yards passing, his career high, and fourth string running back Chris Brown had 84 yards and two touchdowns for the Sooners in the victory. Oklahoma State had no such trouble defeating Baylor 66-24. The win was the Cowboys’ sixth on the season, making them the 8th team in the conference to become bowl eligible. On a week where their coach Dan McCarney resigned, Iowa State did nothing to pick him up. The Cyclones lost to Colorado 33-16 to fall to 0-7 in conference. They have a single game against Missouri remaining to get a win, and avoid going winless in the Big XII for the first time since the inception of the conference.
Ben Miraski writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. His Big XII recap appears weekly on Blogcritics.org as part of their NCAA Tailgate Cleanup. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com
Posted by bmiraski at November 12, 2006 5:00 PM
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