Published: September 12, 2007 04:58 pm            

Longhorns cast wary eye north at dominant Sooners

AUSTIN — They hate to admit it, but the Texas Longhorns have taken notice of happenings north of the Red River.

While the No. 6 Longhorns struggled to put away Arkansas State and didn’t score in the first half against a good TCU team, No. 5 Oklahoma steamrolled North Texas and Miami.

The Sooner Schooner looks more like an Abrams tank after two games. Longhorns fans take comfort in winning the last two games against Oklahoma in Dallas, but memories of the five-game losing streak before that linger like a queasy hangover.

(Before going too far, remember the 2003 OU squad that was pretty much branded the greatest team of all time before losing its final two games.)

Beating North Texas, which essentially played like a high school team under first-year coach Todd Dodge, was one thing. The 51-13 pasting of once-proud Miami grabbed Texas’ attention.

If anything, it told the Longhorns they’ve got some work to do before playing the Sooners on Oct. 6. Until then, Texas goes to Central Florida before hosting Rice and Kansas State and will be looking for more games like their second half against TCU.

“They’re impressive right now. It’s early, but it’s impressive,” senior defensive tackle Derek Lokey said of the Sooners. “But that’s not anything we’re focused on right now.”

Maybe not publicly, but it’s a safe bet the Texas coaches are peeking at game film and the players are watching the highlights of a defense that dismantled the Hurricanes. Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford is challenging Colt McCoy’s great freshman season with eight touchdowns passes already.

Texas certainly played better against TCU than against Arkansas State. The defense dominated and Jamaal Charles ran for 134 yards, most of it in the second half when the offense started to emerge.

McCoy is struggling and hasn’t quite been the QB the Longhorns expected after throwing for 29 TD passes last season. He already has four interceptions after two games. That’s as many as he had in the first 10 games last year.

Second quarters have been McCoy’s problem. That’s when he threw all four interceptions — two against Arkansas State and two against TCU.

But a closer look may reveal that McCoy is becoming a better quarterback than his latest numbers show.

Great quarterbacks push their team to win when things aren’t working. They make the tough throws against good defenses. And they rally their teams.

Texas was losing 10-0 at halftime thanks to McCoy’s two interceptions. One was returned for a touchdown, and the other set up a field goal.

The Longhorns’ comeback started when McCoy hit Nate Jones for a 33-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter, and he used his legs for a 23-yard scramble to set up the go-ahead score.

Texas ended up winning easily 34-13 and McCoy was at his best when Texas needed him to be. That gives him three come-from-behind wins over ranked opponents the last two seasons and should make Texas fans feel pretty good no matter what the Sooners do between now and Oct. 6.

It was last season against Oklahoma when McCoy grew up. He built some big numbers against creampuffs early in the season, but two touchdown passes in the third quarter against the Sooners rallied Texas for a 28-10 win.

Bradford hasn’t played in Dallas, where Texas and Oklahoma quarterbacks are measured. North Texas’s defensive coordinator was a high school coach last season, and as much as Miami-Oklahoma conjured memories of great games in the 1980s, the Hurricanes played like a confused team under new head coach Randy Shannon.

The Longhorns have time to get better. McCoy has time to shake out the kinks.

They have 24 days until kickoff in Big D. Will they be ready for OU?

        

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