LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Only in this stadium could Hodges Mitchell rush for a
career high for the second week in a row and not be the biggest story of the
game.
Then again, he doesn't share a name with Kansas' beloved basketball coach -- and this is one Roy Williams that Jayhawks fans don't love.
The Texas freshman receiver caught two touchdown passes and ran for another
TD on an end around as the No. 19 Longhorns came back from a 14-0 deficit to
beat the Jayhawks 51-16 on Saturday.
"I think I made some mistakes," said Williams, whose mental error on a
first-quarter pass pattern led to Andrew Davison's 43-yard interception return
for a 14-0 Kansas lead. "But I think I made enough big plays for people to
overlook that."
 | |
| Roy Williams caught two touchdown passes and ran for another as Texas romped Kansas.(AP) | |
Mitchell, a week after running for a career-high 229 yards against Texas
Tech, improved the mark Saturday with 264 yards and three touchdowns for Texas.
"What a game by Hodges Mitchell," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "He's just
an incredible player. Within the last five weeks, he's probably the biggest
difference in our football team."
Both of Williams' TD catches came on one-play drives in the first half for
the Longhorns (8-2, 6-1 Big 12), who gave Kansas (4-6, 2-5) its third consecutive loss and guaranteed the Jayhawks their fourth losing season in as many years under coach Terry Allen.
And both touchdowns came against Davison, Kansas' junior left cornerback.
"I've gone against better receivers -- Quincy Morgan at Kansas State, Jevon Green at Colorado -- but I didn't make the plays against him today," Davison said. "I take the blame for that. They were running a lot of hitch routes and out routes early, so I started to cheat up and I paid for it when he beat me deep."
Williams' second TD catch, a 65-yarder early in the second quarter, gave
Texas the lead for good at 23-16, and his 32-yard reception set up Mitchell's 2-yard run with 11 seconds left in the half for a 30-16 lead.
"When you get a guy that fast, and you have the mismatch on the defensive
back, it's impossible for the defense to handle unless they go to zone
coverage," Brown said. "But they had to keep coming in, because they knew we
were going to run the football."
Williams finished with four receptions for 180 yards. Chris Simms, starting
in place of the injured Major Applewhite, completed 10 of 18 passes for 240
yards.
The Longhorns got second-half scoring runs of 35 yards from Williams, 19
yards from Mitchell and 2 yards from Victor Ike.
Texas won despite giving up touchdowns on Kansas' first possession and the
Longhorns' second drive, and an interception on a two-point conversion try that
Carl Nesmith returned 100 yards to give Kansas the points instead.
Kansas took a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game, on a 19-yard end
around by Derick Mills. Five plays later, with Williams' back turned to the
play, Davison stepped front of a Simms pass in the left flat and went untouched
into the end zone.
"They didn't panic," Brown said. "They just kept playing
and got it turned around quickly."
Four plays after Kris Stockton's 19-yard field goal put the Longhorns on the
board late in the first quarter, Quentin Jammer stripped Kansas' David Winbush
of the ball and D.D. Lewis recovered at the Jayhawks' 38.
"David's fumble was pretty costly," Allen said. "We were up 14-3, we had
a chance for a first down and we had some things going offensively. That was as
drastic a situation for us as possible."
Simms threw to Williams for a score on the next play, cutting Kansas' lead
to 14-9, but Nesmith picked off the two-point try in the end zone and, after an
early burst of speed to get free, jogged down the sideline ahead of 300-pound
offensive tackle Leonard Davis to make it 16-9.
Texas tied it with 55 seconds left in the first, on Mitchell's 14-yard run.
He carried twice for 30 yards on the two-play drive, after a 17-yard punt by
Joey Pelfanio.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2000, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved