Saturday, October 21, 2006

FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
TEXAS BEATS NEBRASKA
LSU BEATS FRESNO STATE

From the AP via ESPN:

Horns slip past Huskers on walk-on kicker's game-winning FG

The Huskers were on the verge of pulling the upset after taking a 20-19 lead with 4:54 left. But Texas caught a huge break when receiver Terrence Nunn fumbled as the Huskers were trying to kill the clock. Marcus Griffin recovered at the Nebraska 44 with 2:17 left.

Colt McCoy, with a 20 mph wind in his face, snow flurries swirling and Vince Young looking on from the sideline, drove the Longhorns to the Nebraska 5 .

Nebraska (6-2, 3-1) tried to ice Bailey when coach Bill Callahan asked officials to review the previous play to see if the Huskers may have intercepted a pass by McCoy in the end zone. Replays clearly showed that the ball bounced on the ground, however, and Bailey didn't seem to mind the delay.

After getting a good-natured slap on the helmet from Brown, he trotted back out onto the field and calmly made the kick.

Click here for the rest.

Sounds like it was a great game. Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize it was an early game and didn't turn on the television until there was, well, only 2:17 left on the clock. Yeah, that's right, I started watching right after Texas recovered the fumble that allowed them to win the game. So no anxiety for me, no thrills, no nail-biting. Just the very satisfying feeling that we had it in the bag. I mean, those last couple of minutes were somewhat exciting. The announcers kept going on and on about how the Longhorns' starting kicker had blown it three times already. Then Coach Brown brought in the walk-on guy, and Nebraska's coach used his time outs to try to ice him. But, you know, he kicked from like the seven yard line. It wasn't that exciting.

But, what the hell, it's a win against a conference opponent, in the snow, and Nebraska's pretty damned good this year. I'll take it.

Again from the AP via ESPN:

Bowe ties LSU receiving record in rout of Fresno State

Dwayne Bowe caught a 58-yard touchdown pass to tie the LSU record for career scoring catches and ice the No. 14 Tigers' 38-6 victory over Fresno State on Saturday night.

And

JaMarcus Russell was 15-of-19 passing for 210 yards and two touchdowns, playing into the fourth quarter at home for the first time this season.

LSU (6-2) has registered lopsided victories in all six of its home games, but this one was closer than the others for the better part of three quarters.

Fresno State kicker Clint Stitser made field goals of 35 and 29 yards, the second one getting the Bulldogs (1-6) as close as 17-6 midway through the third quarter.

But the Tigers responded with a six-play, 67-yard scoring drive capped by Broussard's score as the Tigers began to pull away. Bowe scored on LSU's next drive, then Russell hit Davis to make it 38-6 with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Click here for the rest.

So it was a blowout, but not until the fourth quarter. Fresno State was in it until close to the end. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see this one either. Totally blacked out on TV here in Baton Rouge, and I'm still not sure how the ticket lottery works here anyway. So I just kind of kept track of the score online. You know, I'd bitch about how LSU keeps playing these lesser opponents, but, apparently Fresno State was pretty good a couple of years ago. I suppose who ever does the scheduling was expecting a better match. Oh well, it's a win.

Just not an SEC win, and the Tigers sure could use a few more of those.

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