SPORTS COLUMN
Last updated Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:41 PM CDT in Columns
By Harry King
For Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Running Game Lone Question For ’Horns
AUSTIN, Tex. — Our level-headed host, a UT grad, initiated the conversation about the Texas running game.
He fears that the more rabid Longhorn fans see Texas’ high national ranking and leapfrog ahead to the BCS title game, overlooking the fact that the Longhorns are missing a 20 carry per game running back.
UT is plenty good to handle Arkansas, with or without a meat-and-potatoes running game. After watching the Longhorns dismantle the Razorbacks 52-10 on Saturday, the question is whether UT can run the ball well enough to beat hated Oklahoma and other quality opponents from the Big 12 and be a contender in the national championship picture.
No. 7 when the week began, the Longhorns will be no worse than fifth after the voters digest Oregon State over USC and Ole Miss over Florida. The inability to run the ball consistently caught up with No. 1 and No. 4. USC tailback Joe McKnight made 10 yards against the Beavers; Florida ran for only 124 yards vs. the Rebels and couldn’t make fourth-and-1 at the Ole Miss 32 in the final minute.
Droning on about UT might be sacrilege, but Arkansas was behind 17-0 in the first 16 minutes, 31-3 at the break, and there was not a “what-if” during the afternoon. Plus, nowhere in the standard stats can an encouraging number be found in Arkansas’ column.
Scrounging for a positive, punter Jeremy Davis was solid, although he stayed upright and missed a chance to convince an official that a Texas player ran into him. Other than that, Dennis Johnson had six kickoff returns for 150 yards. The down side of that is that Johnson had six kickoffs to return.
Despite the announcement that the crowd topped 97,000, there were plenty of empty seats at the start and others departed in time to catch Man Man at 4:30 p.m. at the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
A life-long Arkie in Austin is danged near obligated to say something derogatory about the burnt orange and the only option available is to sprinkle reality on the dreams of another national title to join the ones from ‘63 ‘69 ‘70 and ‘05 noted on the upper-deck rim of the stadium.
Quarterback Colt McCoy was UT’s leading rusher through the first three games and he was productive again on Saturday with nine carries for 84 yards, including a couple of wise decisions to scramble and two well-designed draw plays.
McCoy had completed 77.8 percent of his passes prior to Saturday and it is mind-boggling that he improved on that by hitting 17-of-19 for 185 yards. He is in the Heisman Trophy talk with a bullet by his name.
McCoy’s skills are vast, but coach Mack Brown is very aware of the questions about the lack of a traditional running game. “Rice wasn’t a good running team except for the quarterback, and I know we don’t accept quarterback runs,” Brown jabbed at the critics early in the week.
Excluding McCoy, Vondrell McGee had a team-leading 26 carries through the first three games and he toted it 14 times against the Razorbacks, netting 49 yards. He did very little running inside, nothing like the damage by Alabama’s backs the previous week. Fullback Cody Johnson retreated to the tailback spot for the heavy-duty stuff, including a 1-yard run for the second TD.
McCoy doesn’t step out-of-bounds to avoid contact and he showed his speed on a quick snap that caught Arkansas shuffling players. From the Razorback 35, McCoy started left and the outside defender paid just enough attention to the potential pitch man to provide a crease. Former Texas coach Darrell Royal, who conferred with McCoy after the Longhorns won the coin toss, must have smiled when McCoy read it and kept it for 24-3.
Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
About this columnist
The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He's covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.
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