18 BIG 12
TEXAS LONGHORNS
Team slogans keep Longhorns motivated
By Michael Sherfield The Daily Texan
AUSTIN, Texas — It's a good thing Texas newest slogan dangles freely from his neck because Mack Brown is running out of room on his arms.
The veteran coach has bought in to the motivational sayings that dot the Texas training facilities as much as his players, sporting wrist bands that say, "We're Texas" and "All In," this season's mottoes.
Now he's even making up his own. "Texas Swagger," a Brown-Sergio Kindle joint venture, is printed on a dog tag around the neck of all the players and coaches.
"I started the swagger thing at Missouri because I thought it's time we go on the road and act like we're going to win" Brown said.
"For a 58-year-old, I've got dog tags, I've got armbands, I got everything on here," he said, gesturing to his arms.
Kindle, the senior defensive end, proposed printing dog tags with the saying and giving them to the team before visiting Oklahoma State on Saturday, an idea Brown quickly warmed up to.
"One thing we all need to do a better job of is making sure the older guys buy in,"
Brown said. "It's their team, they have some input, some ownership in their team without taking over. That's a hard thing. We constantly ask our guys [for] ideas."
So when Kindle, working with assistant athletics director and motivational poster guru George Wynn, came up with the tags, Brown was on board.
"We handed them out on Thursday and the kids all hooted when they got them," Brown said. "It's to make them aware that we are in tune, we are focused, we do care. Oklahoma State was going to come out with a swagger, you need to, too."
The Longhorns swept away their two toughest road tests by a combined score of 82 to 21 against the Tigers and Cowboys. Talk about swagger.
Dead-eye Lawrence
There's a reason the Texas coaches refer to them as Team Automatic. The Longhorns haven't been quite perfect in kicking field goals this season, but they've been pretty close.
Kicker Hunter Lawrence has made 16 of his 18 attempts, seeing one blocked and one 54-yard attempt hit the crossbar.
He's also made 36 of 37 extra points.
Oklahoma State quarterback Zac Robinson, center, scrambles out of the reach of Texas linebacker Sergio Kindle, left, and defensive end Sam Acho in the first quarter of their game in Stillwater, Okla., last Saturday. Texas defeated the Cowboys 41-14.
TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS
Win against Kansas gives coach Leach 82nd victory
By Alex Ybarra The Daily Toreador
LUBBOCK, Texas — Last week, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach didn't elaborate on the notion that he was one win shy of tying former coach Spike Dykes for the most wins in school history.
But after the Red Raiders beat Kansas 42-21 on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium, it seemed the gravity of the accomplishment finally took effect.
Tied with Dykes at 82, it's clear Leach hasn't broken the record yet. But as he fought back tears after the game, it was obvious that it means something to him.
Leach decided to thank those coaches who paved the way, something he said doesn't happen enough.
"Well, Spike's, you know, it's funny," Leach said. "I think the young guys don't do maybe as good a job of thanking the older guys as they really ought to. You know, when I was coming up in coaching, Spike's a guy that I always really admired.
"I think that I learned a lot from Spike like all of us do. Well I just really want to thank him, you know. But, you know, there's no new guys without the old guys. The old guys are what made it happen."
It took Leach 10 years to reach the 82win plateau, which took Dykes 14 to achieve mainly because of more difficult non-conference schedules.
But regardless of semantics, running back Baron Batch, who had a career-high four touchdowns on Saturday, said it's an honor to play for Leach and be part of a winning program.
"The thing about Tech, the reason I came here is because it's a winning program. We win" Batch said. "I think sometimes people take for granted just how good of a coach he is, and how much we win here.
"I think at times, when we're not driving up and down the field on everybody, people get disappointed. But that just shows how good of a coach Leach is, and people expect that from him."
BAYLOR BEARS
Bears lose fourth straight by falling to Cornhuskers
By Nate Sandell Iowa State Daily
WACO, Texas — Freshman Cody Green led Nebraska to points on its first three drives in his first college start as the Cornhuskers ended a two-game losing streak, beating Baylor 20-10 last Saturday.
Justin Blatchford returned a blocked punt for a touchdown, Dontrayevous Robinson added a rushing score and Jared Crick had a school record of five sacks to help Nebraska (5-3, 2-2 Big 12) beat Baylor (3-5, 0-4) for the tenth straight time.
Green, a Texas high school star from a town about 200 miles southeast of Waco, was 12 of 21 for 128 yards passing to stake Nebraska to a 20-0 lead. The Huskers had scored just 17 points combined in recent home losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State, and they matched a school record with eight turnovers against the Cyclones.
Baylor lost its fourth in a row and hasn't beaten Nebraska since 1956. Clifton Odom returned an interception for a touchdown in the third quarter to bring the Bears within 10.
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini promised personnel changes earlier this week after watching his offense sputter in consecutive lackluster performances. The biggest move came at quarterback, where junior Zac Lee had started the first seven games of the season.
Green got a hand from the Huskers' special teams before he even took the field.
Eric Martin came up the middle and blocked Derek Epperson's punt on the first series of the game. Blatchford scooped up the loose ball at 25 and dove into the end zone right in front of the red-clad Nebraska contingent.
Green and the Huskers offense received hearty applause from Nebraska's fans when they first took the field.
The 18-year-old from Dayton, Texas scrambled for 10 yards to earn a first down on third-and-5 during Nebraska's opening offensive series, which ended in Alex Henery's 45-yard field goal.
THE WAVE NOVEMBER 6,2009
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN