Texas Tech Athletics
Texas
Bad Luck In Austin Continues
November 13, 1999 | Football
Nov. 13, 1999
By JIM VERTUNO
AP Sports Writer
AUSTIN, Texas - Tenth-ranked Texas earned a berth in the Big 12 title game with a 58-7 romp over Texas Tech on Saturday night as quarterback Major Applewhite threw three touchdown passes and became the Longhorns' first 3,000-yard passer.
The victory gives Texas (9-2, 6-12) at least a share of the South Division title.
The Longhorns still could end up tied for the division title with Oklahoma but Texas owns the tiebreaker to play in the championship game based on a 38-28 victory over the Sooners last month.
"Winning the Big 12 South is great, but our goal as a team lies ahead," Applewhite said. "We want to win the championship game and the bowl that follows."
Texas will play for the Big 12 championship Dec. 4 in San Antonio against the North Division winner.
That could be No. 7 Nebraska, which leads its division with one game left. Texas has beaten the Cornhuskers three straight times, including a 24-20 win this year that dashed Nebraska's national title hopes.
Texas players said the opponent won't matter.
"We'll play hard against Kansas State, Nebraska, no matter who we play," said safety Lee Jackson, who returned an interception 23 yards for a second-quarter touchdown. "It really doesn't matter."
Applewhite was 22-of-34 for 241 yards, giving him 3,132 yards this season.
His three touchdown passes, two to Montrell Flowers, gave him a school-record 21.
Behind Applewhite and Hodges Mitchell's 166 yards rushing, Texas easily marched up and down the field against the Red Raiders (5-5, 4-3).
Applewhite hit Flowers from 25 yards for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter and the Longhorns rolled up 203 yards on their first four possessions.
But three of those drives ended without points before Texas used two quick touchdowns late in the second quarter to blow the game open.
After Jackson's interception return with 3:52 left, the Red Raiders botched the ensuing kickoff when Ricky Hunter fumbled.
Texas' Beau Trahan recovered on the Tech 18 and Applewhite found Kwame Cavil from 2 yards out five plays later for a 21-0 lead.
"You struggle so hard to get in Applewhite's face and make him make bad plays. He's just an unbelievable football player," said Tech coach Spike Dykes, whose team could have played for the division title next week if they had beaten Texas.
Tech tried to surprise Texas with a pooch kick on the second-half kickoff, but couldn't recover the ball before it went out of bounds at the Texas 44. The Longhorns then drove 38 yards in six plays and a 35-yard field goal by Kris Stockton made it 24-0.
Applewhite and Texas were on cruise control by then. Chris Robertson and Mitchell scored on runs of 1 and 11 yards, respectively, before Applewhite hit Flowers from 36 yards to go up 44-0.
Texas got scoring runs of 1 and 10 yards in the fourth quarter from Victor Ike and Kenny Hayter. Flowers caught seven passes for 130 yards.
Tech's offense, meanwhile, managed just 160 yards against a Texas defense that knocked Red Raiders starting quarterback Rob Peters out of the game with a concussion.
Tech crossed midfield just once in the first three quarters and didn't score until Sammy Morris ran 13 yards for a TD with 6:23 left.
Peters, who threw for 322 yards against Texas a year ago, completed his first three passes on Tech's first drive but was shaken up when he was sandwiched on a ferocious hit by linebacker De'Andre Lewis and cornerback Roderick Babers.
"The defense was as fired up as I've seen it. We were really popping them," defensive end Aaron Humphrey said. "I know some of those hits looked like we wanted to hurt someone. It was just a product of how intense we were."
Peters' backup, freshman Kliff Kingsbury, threw five straight incompletions before Peters returned.
The pounding continued and Peters did not play in the second half after receiving the concussion in the second quarter.
Peters and Kingsbury combined to finish 10-of-32 for 137 yards.
"You never expect something like this to happen," Kingsbury said. "We have a pretty good squad on some days. Texas is the best defense we've seen."
