Texas QB a huge key in Longhorns’ victory

The Texas quarterback dropped short down field passes to receivers Jordan Shipley and Quan Cosby all afternoon against Oklahoma State. He occasionally dumped screen passes to running backs Chris Ogbonnaya and Vondrell McGee.

And when the pass was not available, McCoy used his feet to pick up vital yards.

Like many Heisman candidates, McCoy was a difference-maker in top-ranked Texas’ 28-24 victory against the seventh- ranked Cowboys.

The leading contender for college football’s most outstanding player award was 38-of-45 passing for 391 yards and two touchdowns.

McCoy also added 41 yards rushing and a touchdown.

”He’s delivering the ball right where it needs to be every time,” Shipley said.

“He’s playing with a lot of confidence and a lot of faith right now. It’s just a lot of fun.”

It wasn’t fun for the OSU defense. In three career games against the Cowboys, the Texas quarterback is 81-of-101 passing for 1,019 yards.

On Saturday, the Cowboys had trouble corralling McCoy.

”He made plays, and we didn’t come up big when we needed to,” said OSU linebacker Andre Sexton.

One area where the Cowboys defense didn’t come up big was third down plays. The Longhorns offense was 11-of-14 on third-down conversions.

Entering the game, OSU’s opponents converted only 29 percent (27-of- 92) of their third downs.

Giving McCoy additional plays was a dangerous proposition. One of the third-down conversions came after Sexton’s roughing the passer penalty midway through the third quarter that nullified a Perrish Cox interception at the OSU 5-yard line.

Two plays later, McCoy scored on a 3-yard run to make the score 28-14.

“In this conference, you’re playing outstanding quarterbacks. Colt just proves again that he’s up there with everybody else,” said OSU defensive coordinator Tim Beckman.