Part 2

The Bowl Outlook

The Longhorns' victory over the Aggies assured them a spot in a major bowl
game. 
It probably will be the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on against Pacific Coast
tri-champion Oregon State, a very good 10-1 team. 
But it could be the Cotton Bowl for a third straight year against an SEC
power. 
Let's look at the Big 12 Conference's bowl setup:
1.  Champion gets an automatic BCS bowl bid. 
a. If OU loses to Kansas State, the Sooners might get a BCS at-large bowl
bid. 
2.  Cotton Bowl, Jan. 1, payout $2.5 million, picks first after BCS bowls fill
up.  10 a.m. Fox
3.  Holiday Bowl, Dec. 29, payout $1.9 million, gets second pick.  7:30 p.m.
ESPN
4.  Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Dec. 30, payout $1.2 million, comes  next.  7
p.m. ESPN
5.  Insight.com Bowl in Tucson, Dec. 28, payout $750,000, gets the next bid. 
6:30 p.m. ESPN
6.  Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Dec. 30, payout $1.1 million.  7 p.m. ESPN
7.  Galleryfurniture.com Bowl in Houston, Dec. 27, payout $750,000, comes last
in the Big 12 pecking order.  7 p.m. ESPN-2
The bowl bids won't go out until after the Big 12 title game this weekend,
but Kansas State probably needs to beat Oklahoma and win the automatic BCS
berth to avoid falling to the lower-ranking bowls on the Big 12 list. 
K-State coach Bill Snyder is outstanding at winning games, but is not popular
with the bowl committee members because they feel he is a very reluctant
participant in the pre-bowl festivities. 
So, the Wildcats probably won't affect the Longhorns' bowl hopes because they
will either beat Oklahoma and get an automatic BCS bid or the will lose to
the Sooners and be picked for a bowl bid after the Longhorns are already set. 
I think Oklahoma will get a BCS bid, even if the Sooners lose to K-State
Saturday.  In that case, the Sooners wouldn't affect the Longhorns' bowl
prospects either. 
That leaves the bowls with Big 12 ties looking like this after the BCS picks:
Cotton Bowl - Nebraska (9-2) or Texas (9-2) vs. SEC team, probably Tennessee
(8-3)
Holiday Bowl - Texas (9-2) or Nebraska (9-2) vs. Oregon State (10-1)
Alamo Bowl -  probably Texas A&M (7-4) or Kansas State (10-2) vs.
Northwestern (8-3)
Insight.com Bowl - A&M (7-4) or Kansas State (10-2) vs. Big East team
Independence Bowl - Iowa State (8-3) vs. SEC team
Galleryfurniture.com Bowl - Texas Tech (7-5) vs. East Carolina (7-4)
I'm pulling for Texas to wind up in the Cotton Bowl game again because I'd
like for the Horns to win their last game this season and I think Tennessee
is a better matchup for UT than Oregon State. 

FINAL BIG 12 STANDINGS

SOUTHERN DIVISION
Conference                  Season
W   L   PF    PA     Pct.       W   L    PF     PA     Pct. 
Oklahoma        8    0  299   133   1.000   11    0   441   168    1.000
Texas           7    1  301   160     .875     9    2   425   197      .818
Texas A&M       5    3  201   152     .625     7    4   307   196      .636
Texas Tech  3    5  202   212     .375     7    5   303   238      .583
Okla. State     1    7  137   249     .125     3    8  202   303      .273
Baylor          0    8    82   343     .000     2    9   139   397      .182

NORTHERN DIVISION
Conference                  Season
W   L   PF     PA      Pct.      W    L   PF     PA      Pct. 
Kansas State    6    2  578   186      .750   10     2   490    213     .833
Nebraska        6    2  338   163      .750     9     2   456   213     .818
Iowa State      5    3  220   242      .625     8     3   306   293     .727
Colorado        3    5  200   222      .375     3     8   252   284     .273
Kansas          2    6  179   308      .250     4     7   261   359     .363
Missouri        2    6  186   253      .250     3     8   255   348     .273

Last Week's Results
Texas 43, Texas A&M 17
Oklahoma 12, Oklahoma State 7
Nebraska 34, Colorado 32

2000 Longhorn Schedule, Record (9-2)
Texas  Opp. 
Sept. 9     Louisiana-Laf.     52    10
Sept 16    at Stanford        24    27
Sept 23    Houston            48      0
Sept 30    Oklahoma State     42      7
Oct. 7       Oklahoma (Dallas)14        63
Oct. 14    at Colorado        28    14
Oct. 21    Missouri           46    12
Oct. 28    Baylor             48    14
Nov. 4      at Texas Tech     29    17
Nov. 11    at Kansas          51    16
Nov. 24    Texas A&M          43    17

Scoring by Quarters
Texas         58    133 117    117  -  425
Opponents     56      68        52      21  -  197

UT Women Win Tourney

Senior guard JoRuth Woods scored 19 points to lead the Texas women's
basketball team to a 78-74 over Denver late Sunday night in Cancun, Mexico,
in the championship game of the Torneo Cancun de Basquetbol. 
Woods was the tourney MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by 6-2
freshman forward Annissa Hastings, who came off the bench to score a
career-high 16 points to lead Texas to a 73-59 win over Louisville in the
first round of the tourney Saturday night. 
Texas hit 23 of 33 free throws, including a six for eight performance  in the
final 30 seconds to ice the championship game. 
The Longhorns are 5-1 and off to their best start since the 1996-97 season. 
Coach Jody Conradt said she is "very pleased" with the way her young team is
improving. 

Recruiting Roundup

Let's get the bad news out of the way first, because there is a lot of good
news to brighten the overall picture. 
The bad news is that the Horns really have an uphill fight in their bid to
sign the state's top recruit ) DT Tommie Harris of Killeen Ellison. 
Oklahoma has the inside track now, and the Sooners will have to stumble on
the field or in their  recruiting of Harris to give the Horns a chance to get
back in the race. 
* * * *
Nearly all of the 19 recruits who have already committed to Texas have chosen
plan to take their official visits the Dec. 15 weekend, and so have most of
the players the Longhorns are still recruiting. 
That is the weekend of the annual football banquet and the only Longhorn
pledges who won't be taking official visits that weekend are DE Eric Hall of
Clarksville, Tenn., who took his official visit earlier, and possibly players
like RB Cedric Benson of Midland Lee and QB-Athlete Kendal Briles of
Wollforth Frenship, because they play on teams that might be still alive in
the state playoffs in mid-December. 
Benson, last year's Class 5A Offensive Player of the Year, had 19 carries for
201 yards and three touchdowns on runs of 26, 52 and 11 yards in a 45-14
thumping of El Paso Franklin in the state playoffs last weekend.  He also
scored on a 52-yard screen pass. 
Briles, last year's Class 4A Offensive Player of the year, completed 15 of 20
passes for 230 yards and five touchdowns in a 61-6 romp past El Paso Ysleta. 
Briles, who led Stephenville to the state 4A title last year, has thrown for
more than 3,000 yards and 30 touchdown and has run for more than 800 yards
and 12 more TDs so far this season. 
Despite rumors galore to the contrary, both Benson and Briles said they
remain solidly committed to Texas. 
* * * *
With 19 scholarships already committed, Texas will give only five to seven
more this season.  They could go as high as seven because they can count
punter Brian Bradford of Trinity Valley JC, who will enroll in January,
against last year. 
The best players still available who list the Longhorns No.  1 are LB Derrick
Johnson of Waco, DL Kaelen Jakes of Valencia, Cal.;  TE James Moses and DE
Jonathan Jackson, both of Galena Park North Shore; OL William Winston of
Houston Madison, safety Dewayne Brandon of Temple, athlete Quan Cosby of Mart
and DT Paul Broussard of Blinn JC. 
Most of the remaining six or seven scholarships will go to the players in
that group. 
DT Marquise Hill, 6-6, 300, 5.0, of New Orleans De La Salle, and DE Justin
Tomerlin, 6-7, 260, of San Clemente, Cal.,  are a couple of outstanding
prospects who might visit Texas, but they are the longest of long shots right
now. 
* * * *
Top recruits who came to the A&M game were DTs Harris and Broussard, and
Longhorn commitments OLs Jonathan Scott of Dallas Carter, Mike Garcia of
Galena Park and Terrance Young of Longview, LBs Yamil Lebron of Killeen
Ellison and Lance McFarland of Jefferson and RB Anthony Johnson of Jefferson. 
Two top junior prospects also were on hand ) OL Kyle Thornton, 6-5, 300, 5.2,
of Dallas St. Mark's and WR Anthony Wright, 6-3, 200, 4.5, of Klein Forest. 
Thornton is the younger brother of Longhorn freshman DE starter Kalen
Thornton. 
Aggie Injury Excuses Hollow
The Aggies players and coaches did a lost of post-game moaning about their
injury problems. 
For the second straight year, Texas was missing starting QB Major Applewhite
against A&M and the Horns also were down to a backup FB, Chad Stevens,
playing TE because all three scholarship TEs were injured. 
Two top DT reserves, Stevie Lee and Ryan Haywood, were lost for the season,
starting safety Lee Jackson and super DT Shaun Rogers have missed a lot of
time with injuries and redshirt freshman WR Artie Ellis, the guy who was
counted on to give those super freshmen some time to mature, had been out
nearly all year with a sore shin. 
Then you have OL like Derrick Dockery and Antwan Kirk-Hughes who have been
battle sickness and/or injuries all year. 
The point is that every team has injuries, and Texas has had more of them
this season than Texas A&M.

Basketball Team 3-1

Texas took a big early lead over  Indiana  Friday night and then held off a
Hoosier comeback for a 70-58 victory in the consolation game of the Tivo
Preseason NIT in New York City. 
The Longhorns (3-1) started three freshmen - James Thomas, Brandon Mouton and
Royal Ivey - and used a stifling defense to take a 42-22 lead at halftime. 
Indiana (2-2) climbed back into the game and cut the lead to seven points at
49-42, limiting Texas to just two baskets in the first 8:52 of the second
half. 
Then Thomas scored five straight points as Texas restored a comfortable lead
with a 13-0 run. 
Mouton and Maurice Evans opened the game with consecutive 3-pointers, and the
Texas defensive pressure forced a lot of turnovers. 
Chis Owens had 12 points in the first half and led Texas with 15 points and
14 rebounds. 
Texas had fallen to top-ranked Duke, 95-69 Wednesday in the tourney
semifinals.  Mouton led Texas with 18 points and Evans had 17. 

Baseball Team Adds Four

Baseball coach Augie Garrido has signed third baseman Nic Crosta of Seattle,
Wash, right-handed pitchers Chris Scofield of Fort Worth Nolan and Danny
Muegge of Blinn JC and centerfielder Dustin Majewski of Blinn JC.to round out
the Longhorns' early signing class  for the 2001-02 campaign. 
"With their potential both offensively and defensively, thse players are
solid additions to our early signing class that will  provide us with depth,"
said Texas assistant coach and  recruiting coordinator Tommy Harmon. 
"Overall, we are very pleased  with the student-athletes we have signed for
the 2001-02 season." 
An honor student at Nolan Catholic High School, Scofield earned  All-State
honors to go along with All-Area distinctions in 2000 as he  helped the
Vikings capture their district championship and finish  second in the state
finals.   He was also named his team's MVP last  season and was a teammate of
current Longhorn freshman pitcher Tim  McGough at Nolan. 
Crosta is a three-year varsity letterman, a three-time All-Seamount League
selection and two-time team MVP for Highline High School in Seattle, Wash.
An honor student, Crosta posted a league-leading .551 batting average last
season to go along with conference-best numbers in RBI (31) and home runs (8)
to win the Seamount League's Triple Crown and earn South County Journal
All-Area accolades. 
He was also named the Everett Wood Bat Classic MVP and to an All-Tournament
team in Reno, Nev., this past summer. 
Majewski hit .385 and blasted 16 homers at Blinn last season.  Muegge played
last season at McLennan JC in Waco, and is playing for Blinn this season.  He
has a very good changeup and a fast ball in the 88-90 mph range. 

Reese Signs Top Prospects

Texas swimming coach Eddie Reese and diving coach Matt Scoggin have signed
three top recruits. 
They are swimmers Andrew Davidson of Father Ryan HS in Nashvill and Rainer
Kendrick of Homewood HS in Birminghamm and diver Jonathan Linette of Fort
Lauderdale, Fla.
Davidson, a four-time high school All-American and 1999 Southeastern
Conference Swimmer of the Year, is the defending Tennessee state champion in
the 100 butterfly and 100-yard backstroke. 
He also won the 1999 Junior National Championship in the 200 backstroke and
qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100 and 200 backstroke. 
Kendrick is a four-time All-State honoree and two-time South Eastern Swimmer
of the Year. 
At the 1999 American Short Course Championships, he placed first in both the
200 and the 400  individual medley events, while also finishing runner-up in
the 100 freestyle and 200 butterfly. 
Linette won back-to-back Junior National Titles (1998 and 1999) on the
10-meter platform, and also captured the bronze medal at the 2000 Junior
World Championships in the platform event.  She posted a 12th-place finish
(885.93) on the platform at the U. S. Olympic Trials. 
"We are extremely pleased in this group," said Reese. " They are very talented
and are definitely strong in each of their events, which will help solidify
and add versatility to our roster." 

Women's Golf Inks Pair

Texas women's golf coach Susan Watkins has signed Lisa Ferrero of Lodi, Cal., 
and Perry Swenson of Charlotte, N. C.
Ferrero won the 2000 U.S. Girls Junior Amateur title at the Pumpkin Ridge
Golf Course in North Plains, Ore. last summer. 
The three-time AJGA All-American is currently ranked No.  15 in the Golfweek's
Girls Amateur Ratings, where she has posted 26 top-25 finishes. 
Swenson is ranked 58th in the Golfweek's Girls Amateur Ratings.  Last season,
she helped her team capture the regional championships and place third at the
state championships. 
The AJGA All-American Honorable Mention honoree captured the 2000 Greensboro
Rolex Tournament and was a member of the 2000 East Canon Cup Team. 

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I'll have reports on the men's and women's basketball teams and lots of other
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