Texas loses QB McCoy, then national title hopes at K-State

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- Touchdown, Colt McCoy. Texas, 7-0. Let

the rout of Kansas State begin.

Not so fast. The Longhorns' star quarterback injured his right

shoulder on the play and was done for the night.

And now so are Texas' chances of repeating as national

champions.

Josh Freeman threw three touchdown passes and ran for a score to

lead the Wildcats to a 45-42 victory over No. 4 Texas on Saturday

night.

"One thing about Texas," coach Mack Brown said, "there's

never a good time to lose."

Texas, fifth in last week's BCS standings, had hoped to move up

when No. 15 Rutgers stunned No. 3 Louisville 28-25 on Thursday. And

when McCoy went in from a yard out on Texas' first possession the

Longhorns appeared on their way to doing just that.

But McCoy, whose 27 touchdown passes this season are a school

record, got pinned under the pile on his 1-yard TD run in the first

quarter.

He left the game and was replaced by freshman Jevan Snead.

It was the first action of the year for Snead, who had pushed

McCoy for the starter's job this summer. He was 13-for-30 for 130

yards and one score and was sacked five times.

Before he got hurt, McCoy completed all four of his attempts for

51 yards.

"I give credit to their defense," Snead said. "I could have

handled it a lot better, but they have a really good defense.

"There were a lot of plays that I could have made but I

didn't."

Kansas State (7-4, 4-3) made its share of mistakes, too. The

Wildcats won despite two disastrous plays by their punt team, which

allowed Texas to start two touchdown drives at or inside the 5-yard

line.

But nobody was in a mood to gripe about that.

"There's always things that we're going to have to clean up,

but we've obviously shown that we can play with any team in the

country," linebacker Brandon Archer said.

The Longhorns (9-2, 6-1 Big 12) got within a field goal on Chris

Ogbonnaya's 1-yard touchdown run with 1:36 to go. But Jordy Nelson

recovered the ensuing onside kick and then caught a 6-yard pass for

a first down that sealed the Wildcats' biggest win in years.

"I didn't feel good about this one until the very end," said

Prince, who has Kansas State back on a winning track after losing

records in Bill Snyder's final two seasons as coach. "We were

coaching our brains out down there at the very end to make this

thing go the way we wanted it to go."

Freeman took a knee, and purple-clad fans streamed onto the

field to celebrate.

Freeman threw for 263 yards and Kansas State scored three

touchdowns over a 3:06 span in the third quarter on its way to

breaking a six-game losing streak against ranked opponents.

The Wildcats also won their third straight and guaranteed their

first winning record since they won the Big 12 championship in

2003.

"Our plan was to be the best team in November," Freeman said.

"That's the equivalent of playoff football -- be the best in

November -- and we're on our way to do that."

Yamon Figurs caught two touchdown passes for Kansas State and

Leon Patton ran for a touchdown and threw to Cedric Wilson for

another. Ian Campbell recovered two fumbles, both of which led to

touchdown drives.

Snead's 33-yard TD pass to Limas Sweed got the Longhorns within

42-35 with just under 13 minutes left, but Jeff Snodgrass hit a

51-yard field goal with 3:19 left to give the Wildcats some room.

Jamaal Charles ran for 87 yards and two scores for Texas, and

Selvin Young ran for another TD. But each also lost a costly fumble

in the third quarter, when Kansas State went on its 21-point tear.

Young's 5-yard run early in the period, one play after Michael

Griffin blocked Tim Reyer's punt and Tyrell Gatewood recovered,

tied the score at 21. But on the Longhorns' next drive, Charles

fumbled at Kansas State's 20.

Campbell recovered, and it led to Patton's 18-yard halfback pass

to Wilson for a 28-21 lead.

Young fumbled on the second play of the Longhorns' next

possession, and Campbell recovered again. Freeman's 30-yard pass to

Figurs then put the Wildcats up 35-21.

After Snead threw three incompletions on Texas' next drive, John

McCardle blocked Greg Johnson's punt and Daniel Gonzalez recovered

at the 23. That led to Freeman's 1-yard TD run to make it 42-21

lead.

"It took a life of its own with the two touchdowns after the

trick plays, and the blocked punt," Brown said. "I am really

proud of our staff and our coaches, that they hung in there and

came back and still gave us a chance to win."

Charles started Texas' comeback bid with an 18-yard scoring run

later in the third, cutting Kansas State's lead to 42-28.

Patton's TD run with just over six minutes left in the second

gave Kansas State a 21-14 halftime lead.