For Ginger Allday Johnson. "Longhorns earn dramatic win over Iowa State Posted: 10:57 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013 BY RANDY RIGGS - AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF AMES, Iowa — Nobody said it had to be pretty. Of course, nobody said it had to be so dramatic, either. It wasn’t pretty and it definitely was dramatic, but somehow the Longhorns managed to find a way to head into next Saturday’s acid test with Oklahoma remaining undefeated in Big 12 play. Texas got a clutch last-minute scoring drive directed by Case McCoy and then a huge defensive play by defensive ends Jackson Jeffcoat and Cedric Reed to nip Iowa State 31-30 on Thursday night before 52,762 fans at Jack Trice Stadium. Texas coach Mack Brown spent three years here early in his career as a wide receivers coach and then offensive coordinator. For all practical purposes, he also could have seen his career end here, had the Longhorns lost. It looked precisely like that would happen when Iowa State had a first down at the UT 13 with a 27-24 lead and about five minutes left. But Texas’ defense, which alternated between porous and stout all night, stiffened when it needed to the most. It forced the Cyclones (1-3, 0-1) to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Netten Cole with 3 minutes, 40 seconds left to make the score 30-24. All Texas (3-2, 2-0) needed was a touchdown and a conversion, something it hadn’t had since a 6-yard run by Joe Bergeron with 4:30 left in the third quarter. Twelve plays, 75 yards and several stroke-inducing moments later, the Longhorns got it when McCoy snuck over from the 1 with 51 seconds remaining. Except for the end result, it was hardly a picture-perfect drive for the Longhorns. They were aided by a pair of pass-interference calls — Iowa State had four in the game — and had to sweat out two fumbles by Johnathan Gray on back-to-back plays before McCoy’s sneak. The first fumble, from the 2 on first down, went to the replay booth where officials upheld the ruling on the field that Gray already was down. The Cyclones, starting at their 25 with 51 seconds left and no timeouts remaining, reached the Texas 42, getting close to field-goal range. But on third down, Reed batted quarterback Sam B. Richardson’s pass into the air and Jeffcoat grabbed it, allowing the Longhorns to escape. Consequently, Brown said he plans to deliver the game ball to the family of James Street at the funeral Friday of the legendary UT quarterback, who died suddenly early Monday. Jeffcoat had a great game. In addition to the interception, he also had one of the Longhorns’ five sacks and a fumble recovery. McCoy, subbing again for injured starter David Ash, had a typical McCoy night — alternating between being applause- or cringe-worthy. He completed just 26 of 45 yards for a modest 244 yards, but he didn’t throw an interception and had one very improbable touchdown en route to pulling out his third last-gasp victory, joining Texas A&M in 2011 and Kansas in 2012. The touchdown came as momentum was completely on Iowa State’s side as halftime approached. Trailing 10-0 early, the Cyclones ran off 13 straight points as the Longhorns floundered on both sides of the ball. The final Cyclone points came with 33 seconds left in the half on a 41-yard field goal by Netten, and the stadium was rocking. But those weren’t the final points of the half. Four seconds were left when McCoy took a snap at the ISU 44, stepped up in the pocket and launched the very definition of a Hail Mary. The prayer was answered when a back-peddling John Harris, sandwiched by two defenders with two others close by, jumped up and came down with the ball in the end zone. Fellow receivers Marcus Johnson and Kendall Sanders, on the perimeter of the scrum, both signalled touchdown, and the officials agreed. The play gave Texas a 17-13 lead at the half that was almost as unlikely as the 31-30 lead it had at the end."
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 12:10:54 +0000
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