10B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2009
Jayhawks in mizzery
A Kansas fan holds up a poster of the winning catch from last year's Border Showdown. More than 70,000 fans attended the game at Arrowhead Stadium Saturday.
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
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Florida, Alabama to face off in SEC Championship game
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — For the second straight season the Southeastern Conference championship game will be a No.1 vs. No.2 match.
Florida extended its lead in the AP college football poll Sunday, receiving 46 first-place votes after routing rival Florida State 37-10.
The Crimson Tide received seven first-place votes and 1,416 points to edge No. 3 Texas, which received seven first place votes and 1,414 points. Both teams had close
victories against in-state rivals over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Last season, Florida went into the SEC title game as the No. 2 team in the AP Top 25 and beat No. 1 Alabama to earn a spot in the BCS national championship game. The SEC title game will again be a de fact national semifinal, with the winner of Saturday's game in Atlanta earning a spot in the national title game in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 7.
The top six in the BCS standings were the same as in the AP poll.
Oregon moved up three spots to No. 7 heading into its seasonfinale against No. 13 Oregon State, a Thursday night game that will decide the Pac-10's representative in the Rose Bowl.
The top six in the latest poll was unchanged for the third consecutive week. TCU is No. 4, followed by fellow beatens Cincinnati and Boise State.
Three Big Ten teams round out the top. Ohio State is No. 8, followed by Iowa and Penn State.
Virginia Tech is No.11 and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Georgia Tech dropped five spots to No.12 after losing 30-24 to Georgia.
25 after a 34-17 loss to South Carolina, Saturday in Tampa, Fla., for the ACC championship and a spot in the Orange Bowl.
The Yellow Jackets will play Clemson, which fell 10 spots to No.
Pittsburgh fell six spots to No. 14 after losing 19-16 to West Virginia. Pitt hosts Cincinnati in a game that will decide the Big East title. West Virginia moved back into the rankings at No. 24.
No. 15 LSU, No. 16 BYU and No.
17 Miami all moved up two spots.
Houston jumped seven spots to No. 18 after clinching a spot in the Conference USA title game with a 73-14 victory against Rice.
No. 19 is California and No. 20 is Southern California.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alabama's Marcell Daree reacts at the end of Alabama's 26-21 victory against Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. Friday, Alabama will play Florida for the SEC title.
Colts come back from 13-point deficit to defeat Texans
BY KRISTIE RIEKEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — The AFC South champion Indianapolis Colts have perfected the art of the comeback in their undefeated march into the playoffs.
Peyton Manning threw for three touchdowns and the Colts rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit Sunday for a 35-27 win over the Texans, their 20th straight regular-season victory. Indianapolis (11-0) is one victory shy of the New England Patriots' NFL-record 21-game run from 2006-08. The Colts can tie the record if they beat Tennessee at home next weekend.
The Colts improved to 15-1 against Houston (5-6) in their fifth straight come-from-behind win. They became the first team to secure a playoff berth and gained the AFC South title Sunday evening when San Francisco beat Jacksonville 20-3.
"We don't get overexcited certainly when things aren't going the way we want them to," Manning said. "We don't panic, we don't yell, we don't throw helmets. We just try to put the series behind us and move on to the next one. There was a lot of that (Sunday)."
Manning threw two first-half interceptions, but had a pair of second-half touchdown passes, including a 4-yarder to Dallas Clark that gave the Colts a 21-20 lead with about nine minutes left.
Clint Session stretched the lead to 28-20 when he returned an interception by Matt Schaub 26 yards for a touchdown seconds later.
"That's a good team over there, but we're the Colts." Session said. "We do things the right way and we try to get every win we can get."
Schaub fumbled on Houston's next possession and Chad Simpson's touchdown run put the game out of reach.
"If you doubt, you're done." Reggie Wayne said. "It's just like showing a bad poker face. If they see that, you're in trouble. Guys just
stick with it. We knew the defense was going to pick it up. We know we have to take care of the offense and get some drives going"
Houston, which has lost three straight, was all but unstoppable in the first half, and the Texans scored on their first four possessions. It was a different story after halftime, with the Texans unable to get anything going offensively until Schaub hit Jacoby Jones for a touchdown with 18 seconds remaining.
"This isn't the first time this has happened to us," Andre Johnson said. "It's just real frustrating. I'm very upset with myself. It's kind of sounding like a broken record, we've just got to find a way to play
for four quarters."
The Colts' first lead came on Manning's touchdown pass to Clark. In what was a theme Sunday, the drive was helped by a 17-yard pass interference penalty on Houston.
Matt Stover missed a 32-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, keeping Houston's lead at 20-14.
In the third quarter, the Texans were called for pass interference on third-and-goal from the 8-yard line, giving the Colts a first down at the 1. Wayne caught a touchdown pass three plays later making the score 20-14.
Houston's Jacques Reeves got a
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43-yard pass interference penalty on the third play of that drive.
Roy Williams earns 600th career victory
"You can't play a half against this football team," Houston cornerback Dunta Robinson said. "We knew coming out of halftime that this game was far from over. ... (Manning) is great. He's going to find a way to not get sacked and he's going to find a way to make plays and that's what he did."
Ed Davis added 16 points, 15 rebounds and a pair of momentum-changing blocked shots late for the Tar Heels (6-1), who endured an uncharacteristic second-half slump, warmed up down the stretch with an 11-3 spurt and hit 4 of 7 free throws in the final minute to dodge Nevada's upset bid.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Deon Thompson scored a career-high 23 points and No. 11 North Carolina beat pesky Nevada 80-73 Sunday night to give coach Roy Williams his 600th career victory.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Armon Johnson scored 20 points on 10-of-20 shooting and Luke Babbitt added 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead Nevada (2-3). The
Manning finished 27 of 35 for 244 vards.
That was enough to make Williams the 33rd coach in Division I history to reach the 600-victory mark. He improved to 600-139 in his 22nd season and became the eighth active coach to hit that milestone.
Wolf Pack shot 41 percent and held the Tar Heels without a field goal for five minutes before missing 10 of their final 14 shots.
But for a while, that landmark victory seemed like anything but a certainty against a Wolf Pack team playing the second game of a three-game 5,731-mile road swing.
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Larry Drew II finished with 12 points and a career high 10 assists, and hit two 3-pointers 45 seconds apart during the burst that gave the Tar Heels needed.
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