Colorado
Texas
TEXAS RUNS AWAY FROM BUFFS 31-7
October 30, 2004 | Football
BOULDER - Vince Young got a couple bad throws out of his system early and No. 8 Texas rolled from there, getting 141 yards rushing from Cedric Benson in a 31-7 victory over Colorado on Saturday.
Benson and Young each ran for a pair of touchdowns, linebacker Aaron Harris and safety Michael Griffin combined on a pair of turnovers and the Longhorns stayed in the running for a BCS bowl by winning their third straight since lossing to Oklahoma.
The Texas (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) passing game has been suspect all year and Young showed why early. On Texas' seventh play, he telegraphed a pass to the corner that Terrence Wheatley intercepted and returned 37 yards to put Colorado (4-4, 1-4 Big 12) ahead 7-0.
Texas' next possession ended on an equally bad throw, picked off by Lorenzo Sims at the CU 20. But the Colorado offense managed only one first down in the first half and didn't make it past the 50 until the fourth quarter.The results came quickly _ a 12-play, 91-yard drive for a touchdown followed by a 10-play, 68-yard drive for a 14-7 lead before halftime. Those two long marches included a total of four passes.
In fact, Young only threw eight more times total after the second interception; he finished 8-for-15 for 71 yards.
That set the stage for Benson, who seems to pass a new milestone each game. Last week, the senior became the fifth Division I back to rush for 1,000 yards in four seasons. Against Colorado, he became the 10th player to surpass 5,000 career yards rushing. Texas improved to 22-0 when he goes over 100 yards.
Predictably, Benson kept looking better as the game wore on, as much a tribute to him as to the withering job the huge Texas offensive line did on Colorado's exhausted defense. Texas held the ball for more than 35 minutes.
Early in the third quarter, Griffin sacked and stripped the ball from Joel Klatt, and Harris recovered to set up a short drive that resulted in Young's second rushing touchdown and a 21-7 lead. One possession later, Harris batted Klatt's pass in the air, Griffin intercepted and shortly after, Benson capitalized with a 6-yard touchdown.
Barring two Oklahoma losses down the stretch, the Longhorns' best chance to make the Bowl Championship Series for the first time would be as an at-large team. They came into the game ranked 10th in the BCS standings, and the big win surely won't hurt in their quest to move up.
Colorado came in knowing a 5-3 record in the bad Big 12 North could still win the division. Now that that can't happen, CU's quest will be for two more wins to become bowl eligible.
Luckily for the Buffs, there are no more games against teams like Texas. Still, they need Klatt (17-for-28, 142 yards, two interceptions) and tailback Bobby Purify to play better. Purify, struggling with an injured shoulder, ran 12 times for 13 yards and didn't have a gain of longer than 9 yards.
