College Football

Texas Barbecue
The Longhorns burned a likely Rose Bowl bid and reignited a quarterback controversy

Texas coach Mack Brown delivered the good news to his troops before the Big 12 title game last Saturday night: No. 2 Florida had lost. A spot in the national championship game had opened, and the No. 3 Longhorns could grab it if they defeated Colorado. A fired-up Texas team jumped to a 7-0 lead at Texas Stadium. Everything was breaking the Longhorns' way, in fact, until Buffaloes linebacker Aaron Killion broke on Texas quarterback Chris Simms's sixth pass of the game. In addition to setting up Colorado's first touchdown, Killion's 73-yard interception return established the game's story line: Simms's four giveaways—three interceptions and a fumble—led to 26 first-half points for the Buffaloes, who withstood a valiant comeback by Texas to win their first Big 12 title, 39-37

The Longhorns rallied behind senior backup quarterback Major Applewhite, who entered the game late in the first half, shortly after Simms's final interception was returned 64 yards for a TD. The thief was safety Med-ford Moorer, whose score put Colorado ahead 29-10 and triggered the chant "Major! Major!" among some Texas faithful.

Simms, a lefthanded junior who had thrown for 16 touchdowns and only two interceptions in his previous six starts (all victories), was booed as he prepared to take the field for the next series. Applewhite, to his credit, signaled for the boo-birds to be quiet. Simms took one snap, dislocated the ring finger on his throwing hand and was done for the night. On Applewhite's second play he hooked up with wide receiver B.J. Johnson for a 79-yard touchdown that put the Longhorns back in the game. He went on to complete 15 of 25 passes for 240 yards and another TD before time ran out.

This game, however, in addition to helping scramble the BCS rankings, confirmed that the Buffaloes, 41-7 losers to Texas on Oct. 20, are the nation's most improved team and have one of its best running attacks. Eight days after his six-touchdown, 198-yard rushing performance against Nebraska, Colorado tailback Chris Brown racked up 182 yards and three more touchdowns. Said Buffaloes coach Gary Barnett, "It was a Chris Brown kind of night."

As opposed to a Chris Simms kind of night. Give credit to Barnett and his staff for designing a game plan that gave Simms fits. "We gave him a different look on every third down," said linebacker Joey Johnson. "We'd blitz, then we'd show blitz and drop back into coverage. We did some zone blitzing; we did a little of everything."

The most devilish wrinkle was a scheme called Special, in which Colorado played man-to-man on one side of the field and zone on the other. Special was the defense when Johnson picked off Simms's second pass of the second quarter, an interception mat led to the Buffaloes' second touchdown. "I blew a big opportunity for us," said Simms. "I'm stunned with how it turned out. We had a chance to go to the Rose Bowl, and I let a lot of people down."

His meltdown was all the more stunning considering how well he'd played this season. He'd thrown for 2,473 yards and a school-record 22 touchdowns. His deer-in-the-headlights moments, the lapses that were responsible for three interceptions that were returned for touchdowns last season, were a distant memory—until Saturday.

Thus is revived, for one final month, one of college football's longest-running soap operas: Applewhite versus Simms. "These kids have won 10 games, they're going to go to a nice bowl game," said Mack Brown, casting about for a silver lining in defeat. Between now and that game—probably the Culligan Holiday Bowl, against Washington, in San Diego on Dec. 28—he'll answer countless questions about whom he intends to start at quarterback.

The Buffaloes, bound for the Fiesta Bowl, were instructed by Barnett before Saturday's game to close their eyes and visualize "how they wanted the newspaper to read" the day after the game. "Now," he said, "they'll be able to do that."