AUSTIN – Marcus Morris scored 18 points to lead No. 1 Kansas to an 80-68 victory over No. 14 Texas on Monday night and the Jayhawks easily handled an opponent that a few weeks ago was supposed to challenge them for the Big 12 title.

Kansas (23-1, 9-0) outmuscled and outhustled the Longhorns (19-5, 5-4) in just about every way, holding the top-scoring team in the Big 12 to 37 percent shooting and scoring 27 points off 17 turnovers.

And when Texas finally staged a late rally, Kansas slammed the door behind senior point guard Sherron Collins.

Freshman J’Covan Brown scored 28 points for the Longhorns, who have lost five of their last seven games after earning the first No. 1 ranking in school history a month ago.

The Jayhawks gave Texas a lesson in how to not just get to No. 1, but how to stay there, using a 22-0 run in the first half to quiet a raucous home crowd and open a big lead that Texas never really threatened.

Kansas, No. 1 for the second straight week after being out of the top spot for three weeks, even outrebounded a physical Texas lineup 45-34 and allowed just five points off its 10 turnovers.

Brown scored most of his points in a late burst that cut Kansas’ lead under 10 late before Tyshawn Taylor made two free throws. Collins then bulled through two defenders to fire a sharp pass to Tyrel Reed for a layup that ended the rally.

Kansas was No. 1 in the preseason poll and for the first eight weeks of the regular season before its only loss, at Tennessee.

Texas is in a free-fall after the best start in school history. The Longhorns looked like national title contenders when they were 17-0.

But that No. 1 ranking now seems like ancient history to a team struggling to find any offensive rhythm or make big stops on defense when they count.

Texas tried to muscle up Kansas by inserting forward Gary Johnson into the staring lineup for the first time. But his 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting couldn’t make a difference.

Damion James had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Longhorns for his 50th career double-double. But just like so many other recent games, he was Texas’ only scoring option for long stretches.

Texas led 14-11 before Markieff Morris’ long 3-pointer started Kansas’ big run that left the Longhorns looking bewildered at both ends of the court.

Collins zipped a pass to Marcus Morris and he made a nifty grab in a dead sprint for a layup. Taylor made a 3-pointer before two Texas turnovers led to easy Jayhawks baskets. Collins’ long 3-pointer from the left wing made it 30-14.

Texas went scoreless for more than 11 minutes and missed 12 straight shots before James banked in a 3-pointer. Kansas led 34-24 at halftime.

Kansas opened the second half with an alley-oop dunk from Collins to Henry and the Jayhawks’ stifling defense continued to force wild shots and turnovers.

When Texas guard Dogus Balbay mishandled the ball in the backcourt, all his teammates had already run to the other end. With four Jayhawks under the basket, Collins cooly tossed it to Marcus Morris for an empathic two-handed dunk and a 50-34 Kansas lead.

Everything seemed to be working for Kansas at that point. Brady Morningstar stroked a 3-pointer and Collins spun through the lane for a behind-the-the back pass to Cole Aldrich for a dunk. Even a botched alley-oop layup to Marcus Morris worked when the ball bounced right back to him on the other side of the basket for an easy putback.

Baylor led 77-76 when Walton made the second of two free throws. Texas’ Justin Mason then made one of two before Walton got to the line again with 10 seconds left and calmly hit both.

Texas had one last chance to tie it but Avery Bradley’s 3-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Baylor (16-4, 3-3 Big 12) got its first regular-season win over Texas (18-3, 4-2) since 1998. Tweety Carter led the Bears with 27 points.

Texas rallied from 14 points down early in the second half. Damion James had 20 points and 19 rebounds for the Longhorns, but fouled out in the final minute of overtime.

-Kansas 81, Kansas State 79
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Sherron Collins bounced back from a back injury to score on a hard drive with nine seconds left in overtime, helping No. 2 Kansas pull out a gritty win over No. 11 Kansas State.
Kansas (20-1, 6-0 Big 12) dismantled Missouri on Monday and closed out the rivalry week sweep by winning an epic back-and-forth battle with Kansas State (17-4, 4-3).

Collins hit the floor with 2:44 left in overtime and went to the bench holding his back, then returned just in time to score on a baseline drive. He missed the free throw, but Cole Aldrich grabbed the rebound and Brady Morningstar hit two free throws to close out the Jayhawks’ 26th win in their last 27 games in Manhattan.
Aldrich had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Collins finished with 16 points.

Kansas State had a chance to win it in regulation, but Kansas’ Tyrel Reed stripped a streaking Dominique Sutton at the buzzer. Jacob Pullen had 22 points and Denis Clemente added 13 on 4 of 15 shooting for the Wildcats.

-Missouri 95, Oklahoma State 80
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Kim English ended a scoring slump with 20 points and had four of Missouri’s 16 3-pointers, helping the Tigers bounce back from their worst loss of the season by whipping Oklahoma State.

James Anderson had a season-high 31 points with eight rebounds for Oklahoma State (16-5, 4-3 Big 12), hounded into a season-worst 24 turnovers by Missouri’s all-court pressure. Matt Pilgrim added 21 points, 15 above his average, and added nine rebounds.

Marcus and Michael Dixon also had four 3-pointers apiece for Missouri (16-5, 4-2), which was 17-for-31 from long range and shot 52 percent overall.

Laurence Bowers had 16 points and Zaire Taylor 14 points for the Tigers, who have won 32 in a row at home and entered the game with a 29-point average victory margin.

Arriaran set a Texas record for 3-pointers in a Big 12 game. Kathleen Nash added 11 points for the Longhorns (13-5), who have won two in a row after an 0-2 start in the Big 12.

Texas trailed 43-36 early in the second before Arriaran made two 3-pointers to start a game-changing Texas run. Arriaran was 8 of 11 from long range.

Andrea Riley scored 31 points to become Oklahoma State’s career leader with 2,392. Riley has scored at least 30 points in four straight games.

Tegan Cunningham scored 19 points for Oklahoma State (15-3, 3-1).

Texas led 31-27 at halftime despite having Brittainey Raven, their leading scorer, spend almost the entire first half on the bench after two early fouls. Raven had drawn the defensive assignment of covering Riley.

Raven picked up her third foul early in the second and Cunningham put Oklahoma State ahead 39-35 with a baseline jumper. The Cowgirls pushed the lead to 43-36 before Arriaran reeled them back in with eight consecutive points in an 18-3 run that put Texas up 54-46 with 9:13 to play.

Arriaran, who had made just one basket in Texas previous two games, had an easy time finding her shot against Oklahoma State’s defense, which seemed to sag off the Longhorns on the perimeter. Her eight 3-pointers were the most by a Texas player since Danielle Viglione made 11 against Houston in 1994.

Yvonne Anderson, who had to guard Riley because Raven was in foul trouble, made a pair of superb defensive plays as Texas steadily built on the lead.

Anderson’s steal and layup put Texas up by 11 before she poked the ball away from Riley, who got upset there was no foul called and was hit with a technical foul. Raven made both free throws before Arriaran drifted to the left wing and made another 3-pointer. Arriaran’s eighth 3-pointer 90 seconds later put Texas up 69-49 with 4:49 to play.

• No. 13 Oklahoma 62, Missouri 61

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Amanda Thompson scored off a rebound with 9.6 seconds left to give lift Oklahoma past Missouri.

Nyeshia Stevenson led Oklahoma (13-4, 3-1 Big 12) with 23 points, Danielle Robinson added 16, and Thompson finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Jessra Johnson led Missouri (10-7, 0-4) with 16 points. The Tigers were 2 for 22 from 3-point range and 22 of 66 overall from the field.

PASADENA, Calif. – The sure thing was looking shaky for Alabama.

Hanging onto a precarious three-point lead and with momentum on the other side, linebacker Eryk Anders was determined not to let the championship slip away.

Anders forced a fumble on his blindside sack of Texas backup quarterback Garrett Gilbert with 3:02 left Thursday night to help the top-ranked Crimson Tide hold on for a 37-21 victory in the BCS title game – a win that figured to be much easier when Alabama knocked out Colt McCoy early in the first quarter.

With McCoy on the sideline nursing a shoulder injury, the Tide (14-0) rolled to a 24-6 lead at halftime, the final touchdown coming when lineman Marcell Dareus picked off a shovel pass and returned it 28 yards for the score late in the second quarter.

The second half figured to be a laugher with Gilbert in the game – a freshman who was Texas’ “quarterback of the future” but had thrown only 26 college passes.

The kid almost did it, though.

He threw two touchdown passes to All-American Jordan Shipley to trim the deficit to 24-21 with 6:15 left, and after an Alabama punt, he had the ball at the 7-yard line, 93 yards away from one of the most improbable comeback stories in the history of the game.

But after an Alabama holding penalty moved the ball to the 17, Gilbert dropped back to pass and got rocked by Anders, a senior who plays in the shadow of All-Americans Terrence Cody and Rolando McClain. The ball went flying and Courtney Upshaw recovered.

Three plays later, Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram surged into the end zone from the 1 for the 10-point lead. A few minutes later, after Gilbert’s third interception of the night, Trent Richardson scored his second touchdown to make it 37-21.

Then the party began. Glory came back to one of the country’s most storied programs, the football factory that Bear Bryant built, courtesy of Nick Saban, who resurrected this team in the short span of three seasons.

“We back,” Ingram said.

Back for the first time since 1992, when Bryant’s protege, Gene Stallings, led the Crimson Tide to its seventh national title since the polls began in the 1930s. This makes No. 8 – and a seventh Associated Press title should be a shoo-in when the votes are tabulated.

Ingram finished with 116 yards and two touchdowns and Richardson had 109 yards and two scores.

Anders will go down with them in Crimson Tide lore, as will Dareus, who before his touchdown knocked McCoy – the winningest quarterback in college football history – down and out with an injury to his throwing shoulder on Texas’ fifth offensive play.

Dareus finished with one tackle, one interception and one touchdown, but all were game-changers.

Seeking its second national title in five years, Texas (13-1) got to the game on the back of its All-American quarterback, who often looked like a one-man show in leading the Longhorns to 13 straight wins.

After the injury, McCoy was begging to go back in to finish his last college game. His dad, interviewed on TV, said the injury wasn’t that bad.

But Texas coaches decided to err on the side of caution, and McCoy spent the second half wearing a headset on the sideline, trying to encourage his teammates.

The Longhorns defense, ranked third in the country in yards allowed, kept things close until Gilbert got his feet underneath him.

And boy did he.

He led the Longhorns on a five-play, 59-yard drive to make it 24-13, then 60 yards for the second score, and suddenly, the Tide was falling apart, not rolling. The 2-point conversion made it 24-21.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Nick Saban gave Mack Brown a cooler full of Alabama’s favorite, Dreamland Bar-B-Que. Brown presented Saban with a pair of genuine Texas spurs.

A quaint gesture, and a great photo op.

But the big prize – the one they really want – is that crystal trophy Brown and Saban posed with Wednesday, and it goes to the winner of the BCS national title game.

The undefeated Crimson Tide and Longhorns will each try to add another championship to their considerable pedigrees Thursday, a meeting that will pit All-American quarterback Colt McCoy of Texas against the player who beat him for the Heisman Trophy, running back Mark Ingram of Alabama.

“When you start with 120 teams and it’s down to two, that’s about 12,000 players,” Brown said. “It’s a great honor for your players and your coaches to be in this game.”

This is a matchup of two old-line programs from Southern states – Roll Tide vs. Hook ‘em Horns – where football, on many days, is bigger than life.

Saban, in his third year in Tuscaloosa, is aiming to bring the first championship to Alabama since 1992, when Gene Stallings – a protege of the late, great Bear Bryant – roamed the sidelines.

“We have a tremendous amount of respect for the tradition and the passion that our fans have,” Saban said.

But, he said, tradition doesn’t win ball games, and early in his tenure Saban even bristled against the so-called “culture of expectations” that surrounds most everything involved with Alabama football.

Since then, he has tried to ignore the hype and has gone about doing what he did six years ago when he led LSU to the BCS title: recruiting top prospects, coaching them up, trying to turn them into good players, students and citizens.

“The rest of it really doesn’t affect that,” Saban insisted.

In keeping with the tenor of the week, Brown was much more chit-chatty and loose than his counterpart during his portion of a coaches news conference sandwiched around the photo session. He described growing up in a small town in Tennessee and being as big a Bryant fan as anyone.

Now, he’s at Texas. Once derisively known as “Coach February” – the guy who could recruit all the talent in February but never cash in on it come January – Brown has won seven of his last eight bowl games, led the Longhorns (13-0) to one national title and can easily be mentioned in the same breath as their legendary coach, Darrell Royal.

Royal, 85, and the Bear, who died in 1983, were good friends – in fact, Royal showed Bryant how to run the wishbone – though the two rarely met on opposite sidelines. Texas is 7-0-1 all-time against Alabama, with the last meeting a 14-12 win in the 1982 Cotton Bowl, five years after Royal had retired with 184 wins.

“Coach Royal is still alive and has things named after him,” Brown said. “I think Coach Bryant still walks the halls at Tuscaloosa, and he has things named after him. But everyone that sees that ‘A’ and sees the Longhorn knows the programs, and that’s what makes this game so special.”

Brown continued with a theme he’s been building on all month – that the two best teams are meeting at the Rose Bowl and a true national champion will come out of the game.

It was a legitimate debate five weeks ago when the BCS pairings came out and there were five undefeated teams – Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, TCU and Boise State. Since then, Cincinnati got blown out 51-24 by Florida in the Sugar Bowl and TCU lost 17-10 to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. It leaves the Broncos in Idaho as the only team with an argument – one they undoubtedly will not win.

Alabama (13-0) comes into the game as a 31/2-point favorite, in part because the Tide was so much more impressive than Texas in its last game.

Led by Ingram on offense and a stifling defense anchored by 350-pound defensive lineman Terrence Cody, the Tide shut down Tim Tebow of Florida in a 32-13 crushing of the Gators in the Southeastern Conference title game.

Texas, meanwhile, beat Nebraska 13-12 in the Big 12 championship game, and only after officials put 1 second back on the clock following a pass McCoy threw out of bounds. That allowed Hunter Lawrence to kick the winning field goal, even though McCoy’s sloppy game management at the end nearly cost Texas a chance to win it all.

“I was sitting there, shocked, because Colt was clearly letting it get down too far,” said ABC’s Brent Musburger, who called the Big 12 game and is in the booth again Thursday night. “That’s a big part of this game, obviously, because if he doesn’t get that second put back on there, they’re not here.”

That game – and that day – essentially sealed the Heisman race. McCoy threw for 184 yards and three interceptions and got sacked nine times. Ingram ran for 113 yards and three touchdowns to become Alabama’s first Heisman winner.

Which sets up a very similar scenario as the last time Texas played at the Rose Bowl.

Back then, it was the Longhorns against Southern California in the weeks after Texas quarterback Vince Young lost the Heisman to USC’s Reggie Bush.

“They weren’t showing us no kind of respect at all, so we just kind of used that all as motivation until game-time came,” said Young, who is expected to be on the sideline Thursday night.

Young had one of the best performances in college football history in a 41-38 win over USC – passing for 267 yards, running for 200 more and transforming himself into something more than just another great player to Texas fans, who have seen their share.

That’s the kind of thing that can happen to a player who leads his team a national title in Texas or Alabama, two states where football and life intersect 365 days a year.

“They tend to maybe idolize people who play football here, even though we’re just regular people,” said Alabama kicker Leigh Tiffin, whose dad, Van, kicked for Alabama in the ’80s.

In Texas, too.

“You’re under the microscope,” said Longhorns left tackle Adam Ulatoski, who played at high school powerhouse Southlake Carroll near Fort Worth. “But it’s a little different when it’s a town watching you and the state of Texas watching you. It’s a little bit of pressure, but it’s a whole lot of fun.

AUSTIN – No. 2 Texas started getting ready to face No. 1 Alabama for the national championship without a game plan or a depth chart.

At least not yet.

With the BCS title game against not being played until two weeks from Thursday, coach Mack Brown is taking his time.

Brown figures it’s too early for players to delve into specifics about the Crimson Tide, so his practices thus far, and for the next few days, are focused mostly on fundamentals. He calls them similar to summer two-a-days, except that these workouts are full contact. Brown believes in a lot of hitting to keep guys sharp during the long layoff between games.

Brown has used a similar plan for many years and it’s easy to see why. Texas has won five straight bowl games and seven of its last eight, a run that includes the national championship in January 2006.

Well, there is one new wrinkle this time. That whole thing about no depth chart.

Unhappy with the way his offense played in the Big 12 championship, and still upset with the defense’s performance against Texas A&M in the game before that, Brown decided to really make practices interesting by threatening everyone into thinking their job is on the line.

“What we’re doing is we’re going back and being really, really hard on the guys,” Brown said Monday. “We’re having a lot of tough, physical drills and we’re changing the depth chart daily.”

Colt McCoy’s job is certainly safe. But the guys who got him sacked nine times against Nebraska are among those who probably better be sharp – or else.

“There’s always the possibility there will be some changes there, yes,” offensive coordinator Greg Davis said. “At 13-0, we’re not going to reinvent ourselves in a month. But I do think we have to be smart enough to tweak some things.”

McCoy hasn’t chewed out his line because he still believes in them. Besides, he has a simple answer for anyone who says they played lousy against the Cornhuskers.

“We found a way to win,” he said. “We understand we struggled a little bit. We’ve come through a lot. Now we’re in the national championship. That’s where we wanted to be when we started the season and we’re going to do everything we can to play our best.”

McCoy is among seven Texas players who were on the sideline in jerseys and jeans watching Vince Young lead No. 2 Texas to an upset of No. 1 Southern California in the Rose Bowl four years ago. Brown has talked to the team about the similarities between that game and this one, from the rankings to the setting.

Another coincidence is that the Longhorns have a Heisman Trophy finalist (last time Young, this time McCoy) and the foe has the winner (last time Trojans running back Reggie Bush, this time Alabama running back Mark Ingram). But the similarity goes even deeper on the Texas end.

Davis sent Young a text message right after the ceremony four years ago telling him, “You’re my Heisman Trophy winner,” and the quarterback responded: “Game on, coach,” knowing that the Longhorns would be facing Bush and the Trojans in the title game.

When Ingram beat McCoy, Davis sent the same message. McCoy sent the same response.

Davis said he’s told the story of that text exchange enough times that McCoy probably copied it on purpose. Asked which was the case, McCoy played it vague.

“I answered the way I felt,” he said. “I think last year was a lot more disappointing. I was fine afterward this year because I know how much more we have to play for.”

Brown mentioned in passing Monday that Texas has won 26 of its last 27 games, then later mentioned in passing that Alabama has won 25 of its last 27 games.

Coincidence? Perhaps. But don’t be surprised if he’s using stats like that to help keep his team confident as they find themselves in the rare position of being underdogs.

Of course, whenever that gets mentioned, all he has to do is remind them about the ‘05 title game, when the Longhorns weren’t just underdogs, but a big part of the game’s storyline was whether that Trojan squad deserved to be considered the greatest college football team ever to lace ‘em up.

“This is not about who had the best season. This isn’t even about the history. This isn’t even about who has the best team. It’s about whose going to play the best for 31/2 hours,” Brown said. “That’s what I learned in 2005. The rest of it’s going to be chatter. It’s going to be who plays the best for 31/2 hours.”

• Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Nick Saban knows it’s out of his control, but he wishes people would stop asking No. 1 Alabama’s players about the national championship.

That’s one of those external things he calls “clutter,” things like the Crimson Tide’s first Heisman Trophy, the Butkus Award, the six first-team All-Americans and the Southeastern Conference title.

And the biggest piece of potential clutter of all: The Tide’s Jan. 7 date with No. 2 Texas in Pasadena, Calif., for the BCS national championship.

Oops, those two dreaded words.

“I’m not worried about winning the national championship and I don’t want our players to worry about it either,” Saban shot back at a reporter Monday. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t ask them although I know you will.

“What I want our players to focus on is playing our best football and assume they’re going to be playing against the best football team they’ve ever played.”

For the time being, that pesky national title talk will remain as much a part of the fabric of the state as Bear Bryant. Impossible to avoid, even for an ultra-focused coach like Saban, who insists he has too much to do every day to waste precious seconds daydreaming or pondering what-ifs.

Actually, Saban might be capable of ignoring it except when reporters bring it up. Linebacker Cory Reamer was even asked if he’d ever heard the words “national title” come out of his coach’s mouth.

“No. And I doubt I ever will,” Reamer said.

If he has, it was probably in reference to Saban’s 2003 LSU team, which won a share of the title.

Alabama (13-0) is seeking its first national championship – sorry, Coach – since the 1992 season and trying to break an 0-7-1 record against the Longhorns (13-0).

The Tide dispatched then-No. 1 Florida 32-13 to claim the SEC title for its 25th win in the past two seasons.

This Alabama team is much more accustomed to handling the hype than last year’s group, which was unable to rebound from an SEC championship game loss to the Gators.

Stunned by the game-week suspension of Outland Trophy-winning left tackle Andre Smith, the Tide lost the Sugar Bowl 31-17 to Utah.

This Alabama team is much more seasoned in handling hype, and has mostly steered clear of off-the-field troubles.

“I think we’ve gotten better at it,” All-America cornerback Javier Arenas said. “We were undefeated last year and the expectations, and people were saying this and saying that. And we’ve managed it pretty well.

“If we just do the same thing for this game, then we’ll get the same results if we do everything else right.”

The colorful Arenas even offers an analogy to explain what Saban means by mental clutter.

“You drive down the road and you’re thinking about a chick and you hit a dog on the road, that’s clutter,” he said.

Hazards are everywhere for the Tide.

Tailback Mark Ingram captured the school’s first Heisman, which rests next to the SEC championship trophy in the first trophy case on the second floor of Alabama’s football building. Linebacker Rolando McClain won the Butkus Award. Those two were first-team All-Americans, along with Arenas, guard Mike Johnson, nose guard Terrence Cody and kicker Leigh Tiffin.

Saban knows none of that counts for points in Pasadena.

“The field’s still going to be 50 yards wide and 100 yards deep and how they play in that game – I don’t care what award they won, or how many All-Americans we have – none of that stuff’s going to matter when the game starts,” Saban said. “It’s going to be how we play. That’s what the players need to understand.

“Unless you have success in the next game, it doesn’t really matter. I can’t even name anybody that’s played in this game the last three years that didn’t have success.”

But he knows who won: Florida (twice) and LSU, both SEC rivals. Now, Alabama is trying to keep it in the league.

The Tide will practice through Wednesday before breaking for Christmas, then resume workouts on campus from Dec. 27-31. The players voted to travel to Pasadena together by charter flight even if that means losing the NCAA bowl stipend. Alabama has appealed in hopes that they will receive at least part of the money.

The game supplies the biggest potential payday.

“You only get one shot at the national championship,” tight end Colin Peek said. “You want to give it your best.”

It hasn’t hurt the conference, either.

McCoy capped a big Thursday night for the Big 12, winning the Maxwell Award honoring the nation’s best all-around player.

It was just the latest in a series of postseason honors for McCoy, who also is a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He won the Walter Camp Football Foundation’s player of the year award for the second consecutive season earlier in the day.

Before he beat out fellow Heisman finalists Mark Ingram of Alabama and Tim Tebow of Florida for the Maxwell, he picked up the Davey O’Brien Award at the annual college football awards at Disney World, given to the nation’s best quarterback.

“To win awards like this shows that you’re greatly respected,” McCoy said. “It means people see the things that you do, and you’re rewarded for them.”

Apparently they didn’t see his last play. Or maybe they just let it slip.

The Longhorns (13-0) needed a field goal as time expired to beat Nebraska 13-12 in the Big 12 title game Saturday night. But on the second-to-last play, McCoy nearly let the clock strike zero on a rollout that surely had Longhorns fans gasping.

The player chasing him all night made out just fine Thursday night, too.

Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh, also a Heisman finalist, won the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defensive player, and he took home the Outland Trophy for the best interior lineman. He previously won the Lombardi Award as the nation’s top lineman and Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s top defensive player.

The powerhouse defensive lineman put together his best performance of the year against No. 2 Texas. He matched his career high with 12 tackles and had 41/2 sacks as the Cornhuskers nearly upset the Longhorns.

“I guess maybe that helped a little bit,” Suh said. “I’m just really honored to win these awards and it’s really a tribute to my teammates.”

McCoy and Suh also will be in New York on Saturday night hoping to win the Heisman. Ingram, Tebow and Stanford’s

Toby Gerhart are the other finalists for college football’s most prestigious award.

McCoy became the third player to win the Walter Camp award in back-to-back years, joining Ohio State star Archie Griffin (1974-75) and Southern California standout O.J. Simpson (1967-68). The honor is voted on by coaches and sports information directors.

McCoy led the Longhorns to a 13-0 record this season and a spot in the Jan. 7 BCS national championship game against Alabama. He threw for 3,512 yards and 27 touchdowns.

McCoy said his awards Thursday night don’t give him any indication how the Heisman race will play out.

“Who knows? All these awards are voted on by different groups of people,” McCoy said. “I really don’t pay attention to it. I try to stay away from that. You’re going to hear good things and bad things, and I don’t necessarily feel you need to hear either one of them.”

While Tebow didn’t win any awards on this night, the Florida star brought a little extra company.

Tebow brought 20-year-old Kelly Faughnan from Clifton, Va., as his “date.” Just before Thanksgiving last year, Kelly was diagnosed with a brain tumor, her father Jim said. She had surgery last December.

Her wish was to go to Disney World during the awards show to get a glimpse of Tebow. The two met Wednesday night, and Tebow said he decided to bring her along to the show.

“I was really touched,” Tebow said.

Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly won the Coach of the Year award on the same day he told his team he was leaving for Notre Dame.

Stanford’s Toby Gerhart won the Doak Walker Award for the nation’s best running back. Tennessee star Eric Berry accepted the Jim Thorpe Award honoring the best defensive back.

Notre Dame’s Golden Tate won the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver. UCLA’s Kai Forbath took home the Lou Groza Award for the best kicker.

Georgia’s Drew Butler won the Ray Guy Award honoring the nation’s best punter. Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich has won the Disney Spirit Award given to college football’s most inspirational figure. Herzlich overcame a rare form of bone cancer and is expected to return next season.

NEW YORK – Colt McCoy never thought for a second he had thrown away Texas’ chance to play for a national championship. Though he admits if he had known the rules better, he might have avoided cutting it so close at the end of the Big 12 title game.

Tim Tebow, meanwhile, is still smarting from having Florida’s national championship hopes dashed by Alabama. No, he hasn’t gone back to watch the Crimson Tide’s 32-13 victory against the Gators yet.

The two star quarterbacks were in Manhattan on Tuesday, starting a busy week on the awards circuit as finalists for the Campbell Trophy, which goes to college football’s top scholar-athlete.

Both will head to Orlando, Fla., for Thursday’s college football awards show and be back in New York on Saturday night for the Heisman Trophy presentation.

After that, McCoy and the second-ranked Longhorns have a national championship game to prepare for against No. 1 Alabama on Jan. 7 in Pasadena, Calif. Tebow and the Gators have to settle for the Sugar Bowl against No. 4 Cincinnati.

Texas almost ended up watching the BCS title game, too.

The Longhorns (13-0) needed a field goal on the last play of the game to beat Nebraska 13-12. But on the second-to-last play, McCoy nearly let the clock strike zero on a rollout that had college football fans gasping late Saturday night.

He said when he checked the clock, there were 11 seconds left, so he knew he had enough time to run a play. The rollout was designed to pick up another 5 yards or so with either a run or pass. But when Nebraska got pressure, he quickly decided to throw the ball away.

And that’s when his knowledge of the rule book – or lack of knowledge – cost him.

McCoy said he thought the clock would stop on a ball thrown out of bounds as soon as it passed the first-down marker. Not the case. The clock runs until the ball hits something.

McCoy lobbed a long pass over the bench area and it hit a rail near the stands. The clock struck :00. Nebraska began to celebrate.

“When I saw them rush the field, the first thought was find the (official in the) white hat because I know there’s time left,” he said. “I thought 2 seconds.”

It turned out to be 1. Still enough for Hunter Lawrence to make a 46-yard field goal that sent Texas to the Rose Bowl to try to win its first national championship since 2005.

“It was close, you’ve got to admit that,” McCoy said. “It was probably closer than you wanted it to be, but understanding everything that goes on I was not worried about it.

“I walked off to the side and told Coach (Mack) Brown, I said, ‘I bet we have 2 seconds left.’ He said, ‘Yeah, you’re probably right.’ But he was real nervous at the time.”

As harrowing as the narrow escape was for the Longhorns, their Saturday went far better than Florida’s did.

Tebow and the Gators were dominated by Alabama and had their 22-game winning streak stopped.

“Does it still hurt and is it frustrating? Yeah, absolutely, because we put a lot of work into it,” Tebow said. “You know our goal was to win the SEC championship and have an opportunity to go to Pasadena and play for it all and hoist up that crystal ball. That was our dream. We wanted to do it and we fell a little short. And that hurts.”

McCoy and Tebow came into this season as big favorites in the Heisman Trophy race. Along with last year’s winner, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, it seemed practically inevitable they would return to New York for this year’s Heisman handout.

But going into Saturday’s festivities, neither Tebow nor McCoy is considered the favorite among five finalists. The others are Alabama’s Mark Ingram, Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh.

Tebow seemed resigned to the fact that he will probably not become the second two-time Heisman winner.

“I think it would be tough based on that last game and that last loss. It would be probably tough, probably a long shot,” he said. “But it’s just an honor that I’m a finalist and have an opportunity.”

McCoy’s final game didn’t do much to boost his Heisman hopes, either.

“When I left I told my teammates, ‘Who knows what’s going to happen?’” he said. “Thought I had it won after the (Texas) A&M game, but you faced some obstacles and difficulties in the championship game, but you find a way to win and I told them that’s the most important thing.”

McCoy and Bradford became good friends after getting to know each other during awards week last year. As a former winner, Bradford has a Heisman vote.

“He told me I had his vote,” McCoy said.

As for Tebow’s ballot, “I’m not going to give away who I voted for,” he said.

The quirky, often imperfect method of choosing a national champion succeeded Sunday in matching top-ranked Alabama against No. 2 Texas in the BCS championship – a Jan. 7 game between undefeated teams that will bring together Heisman Trophy hopefuls Colt McCoy of the Longhorns and Mark Ingram of the Crimson Tide.

And, of course, it also produced plenty for the little guys to get upset about.

No. 3 TCU, No. 4 Cincinnati and No. 6 Boise State also finished undefeated. All three were included in the BCS, but none will play for the title, which will renew the annual debate about college football’s way of determining the best team in the land.

“If we were going to talk about fairness, the first thing we’d do is destroy that whole structure,” said Jay Coakley, a sociology professor who authored the textbook, “Sport In Society: Issues and Controversies.” “That’s the least fair thing in all of college sports. It doesn’t even pretend to be fair.”

Seeking its first national title since 1992, Alabama opens as a 3-point favorite for the game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. That’s the place where Vince Young almost singlehandedly led Texas to a victory over Southern California in 2006 to claim the national title.

The other BCS matchups: Oregon against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl; Iowa against Georgia Tech in the Orange; Florida against Cincinnati in the Sugar and TCU against Boise State in the Fiesta.

“We’re here to prove a point,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said after his team’s fate was announced. “I voted for us No. 2 in polls today when we voted. We believe we have a great football team and we’re out to show we could be the No. 1 team in the nation.”

The Longhorns (13-0) have been on both sides of the BCS debate in the past.

Just last year, their chances for a national title were squashed when they lost a three-way tiebreaker for the Big 12 South title.

This time around, Texas defeated Nebraska 13-12 in the Big 12 title game Saturday to secure its spot in the national championship, though the less-than-dominating performance certainly left things open for debate. Still, there was a big gap between Texas and TCU in the BCS rankings, the coaches’ poll and The Associated Press poll, which is not included in the BCS formula. The AP awards its own national championship.

Behind 113 yards rushing and three touchdowns from Ingram, Alabama (13-0) defeated Florida 32-13 in the SEC championship game, an overwhelming victory over the defending national champions that made the Tide an easy choice for No. 1.

But is anything really easy when it comes to the BCS?

TCU was ranked 17th in the preseason polls and never really had a chance to rise above the bigger, more traditional programs that were ahead of them.

Cincinnati made it through the Big East, one of the six so-called power conferences.

Boise State finished its fourth undefeated regular season in the last six years, but still found itself ranked behind No. 5 Florida, in large part because it plays in the Western Athletic Conference.

A perfect scenario for an eight-team playoff, perhaps, but that’s years off.

“Why should Boise State and TCU, who are both undefeated, be satisfied?” said Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican who is trying to pass legislation to change the BCS. “One might say they were bought off, paid off, by going to the so-called BCS bowl.”

Indeed, with two non-BCS schools making the big games, there will be a few more million dollars for the 50-or-so non-BCS schools to divide among themselves. But no national championship.

That will go to either Texas or Alabama. The Longhorns have a 7-0-1 record against the Tide, though many of those came when it was Bear Bryant vs. Darrell Royal on the sidelines. They haven’t met since the 1982 Cotton Bowl, when Texas won 14-12.

Nebraska's Alex Henery (90) kicks one of his two field goals in the first quarter of an NCAA college football Big 12 Conference championship game against Texas, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

ARLINGTON – Colt McCoy dropped to a knee and looked straight down, a hand shielding his eyes. After all the mistakes and near-misses, his Texas Longhorns still had a chance to make it to the national championship game, yet the star quarterback was too overcome to watch.

He missed one heck of a kick.

Hunter Lawrence nailed a 46-yard field goal as time expired, giving a roughed-up McCoy and the Longhorns a 13-12 victory over No. 21 Nebraska in the Big 12 championship on Saturday night and a spot in the BCS title game against No. 2 Alabama.

“We had so many things not go our way tonight but we found a way,” McCoy said.

McCoy may not win the Heisman Trophy after this performance, but that’s not why he came back for his senior year. He wanted to match predecessor Vince Young’s feat of leading Texas to a national championship, and that dream is alive and well – even if he might need the time off until the Jan. 7 game in Pasadena, Calif., to heal from this punishment.

McCoy, who’d never been sacked more than four times, was taken down nine times, 41/2 by Ndumakong Suh. The abuse dazed the winningest QB in college football history, prompting him into making a bunch of freshman mistakes – including the nearly costly flub of letting time run out.

After a 42-yard field goal by Alex Henery put the Cornhuskers up 12-10 with 1:44 left, an out-of-bounds kickoff put Texas (13-0) at its 40. McCoy drove to the Nebraska 26, then faced third-and-13 from the 29. Seeking a few more yards with only a few ticks left, McCoy ended up scrambling and throwing the ball out of bounds as the clock hit all zeros.

But officials checked a video replay and put 1 second back, and Lawrence converted to keep the Longhorns undefeated. Texas players flung helmets and rushed the field to celebrate this agonizingly close conference championship. The Cornhuskers slunked off, unable to believe they weren’t going away with the upset.

“We’re excited about being Big 12 champs and we’ll see you in Pasadena,” Texas coach Mack Brown said in a raspy voice at the end of a confetti-filled celebration at midfield.

Once the celebratory scrum ended, Lawrence was carried off on the shoulders of his teammates. That just as easily could’ve been Nebraska’s Alex Henery enjoying the star treatment as his 42-yard field goal with 1:44 had put the Cornhuskers ahead. He accounted for all of their points, also making kicks of 45, 52 and 28.

Nebraska’s offense was downright terrible, with just three first downs through three quarters, yet the Cornhuskers were always within a play of the lead because McCoy was unable to get anything going against Suh and crew.

McCoy was 20 of 36 for 184 yards with three interceptions; he had only two over the previous six games.

“Nebraska’s defense is great,” McCoy said. “They’re one of the best we’ve played.”

Nebraska’s Zac Lee was 6 of 19 – with three more passes completed to Longhorns – for 39 yards. The Cornhuskers (9-4) had only 106 total yards, their lowest total in 25 years. This was their third loss by two points or less.

McCoy threw interceptions on two of the first three series, but Lee only managed to get field goals out of them. Up 6-0, Nebraska had another great chance to break things open when it blocked a punt and took over at the Texas 37. But Lee threw an interception on the next snap.

The Cornhuskers wouldn’t even get a first down the next seven times they had the ball. Yet McCoy was still struggling, too.

Texas didn’t crack midfield until its seventh possession and even then it was only because of a short punt by Henery. McCoy started at the 42 and capped it with a 2-yard plunge into the end zone that stood up to a video review. It put the Longhorns up 7-6, and it turned out to be the game’s only touchdown.

McCoy faced mostly poor field position in the first half, but in the third quarter he started three straight drives within 53 yards of the end zone and managed only one field goal out of it. Texas did so poorly that the first two series ended with pooch punts on fourth-and-long. On the first, McCoy took a sack that knocked the Longhorns out of field-goal range. They finally got points on the third one, with Lawrence making a 39-yarder.

Up 10-6, McCoy hit wide-open James Kirkendoll with a lob down the left sideline that looked likely to be a 75-yard touchdown because his defender was several yards away.

But Kirkendoll dropped it.

Henery made a 28-yard field goal on Nebraska’s next series to make it 10-9. Then Texas’ Marquise Goodwin slipped and fell at the 1 on the kickoff return.

McCoy was facing third-and-10 from his 1, and taking a shotgun snap several yards into the end zone, when he hit go-to guy Jordan Shipley for a first down. Several big plays followed and McCoy seemed ready to put the game away. Only to have a pass intercepted by Dejon Gomes.

Lee followed with a 17-yard run, Nebraska’s longest play of the game, then hit a 16-yard pass to set up Henery’s go-ahead kick.

The Longhorns almost found out what can go wrong when a lesser team hangs close. Despite it all, they’re four quarters from a national championship.

TEXAS 13, NEBRASKA 12

Texas 0 7 3 3 – 13

Nebraska 6 0 0 6 – 12

First Quarter

Neb-FG Henery 45, 11:04.

Neb-FG Henery 52, 6:32.

Second Quarter

Tex-McCoy 2 run (Lawrence kick), 2:19.

Third Quarter

Tex-FG Lawrence 39, 1:40.

Fourth Quarter

Neb-FG Henery 28, 11:34.

Neb-FG Henery 42, 1:44.

Tex-FG Lawrence 46, :00.

A-76,211.

TEAM STATISTICS

Tex Neb

First downs 17 5

Rushes-yards 38-18 35-67

Passing 184 39

Comp-Att-Int 20-36-3 6-20-3

Return Yards 9 49

Punts-Avg. 9-39.4 8-37.1

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 7-45 7-64

Time of Possession 32:00 28:00

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Texas, Newton 19-36, C.Johnson 1-2, Whittaker 1-0,

McCoy 17-(minus 20). Nebraska, Helu 10-28, Burkhead 17-22, Lee 6-12,

C.Green 2-5.

PASSING-Texas, McCoy 20-36-3-184. Nebraska, Lee 6-19-3-39,

C.Green 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-Texas, Shipley 7-71, Newton 5-43, M.Williams 3-52,

Buckner 3-14, Goodwin 2-4. Nebraska, Kinnie 2-30, Burkhead 2-1, Paul 1-4, Robinson 1-4.