Texas 70, 
Colorado 3
Young, Horns blow out Buffs 70-3 for Big 12 title win
VIDEO PLAYLIST 
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| Top 25 Overview | |
It was over when... ... a mentally and physically overmatched Colorado team backed its way into the title game. Gameball goes to... Vince Young. The Texas QB was 14-for-17 for 193 yards with 3 TD passes. He also ran for 57 yards and 1 TD. Stat of the game... 100-6. The Buffs have been outscored by 94 points in the last two weeks. | |
| Team Stat Comparison | ||
 |  | |
| 1st Downs | 26 | 12 |
| Total Yards | 486 | 191 |
| Passing | 218 | 109 |
| Rushing | 268 | 82 |
| Penalties | 11-93 | 8-74 |
| 3rd Down Conversions | 11-16 | 3-14 |
| 4th Down Conversions | 0-1 | 1-2 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 4 |
| Possession | 36:06 | 23:54 |
| Individual Leaders |
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| Scoring Summary | |||||
| FIRST QUARTER | TEX | COLO | |||
| TD | 9:44 | HENRY MELTON 1 YD RUN (DAVID PINO KICK) Drive info: 7 plays, 65 yards. | 7 | 0 |
| TD | 5:59 | JAMAAL CHARLES 3 YD PASS FROM VINCE YOUNG (DAVID PINO KICK) Drive info: 8 plays, 52 yards. | 14 | 0 |
| SECOND QUARTER | TEX | COLO | |||
| FG | 14:48 | MASON CROSBY 25 YD FG Drive info: 4 plays, -3 yards. | 14 | 3 |
| TD | 12:00 | VINCE YOUNG 2 YD RUN (DAVID PINO KICK) Drive info: 7 plays, 46 yards. | 21 | 3 |
| TD | 11:37 | LIMAS SWEED 31 YD PASS FROM VINCE YOUNG (DAVID PINO KICK) Drive info: 1 plays, 31 yards. | 28 | 3 |
| TD | 7:20 | DAVID THOMAS 8 YD PASS FROM VINCE YOUNG (DAVID PINO KICK) Drive info: 4 plays, 44 yards. | 35 | 3 |
| TD | 0:25 | JAMAAL CHARLES 2 YD RUN (DAVID PINO KICK) Drive info: 9 plays, 71 yards. | 42 | 3 |
| THIRD QUARTER | TEX | COLO | |||
| TD | 11:26 | SELVIN YOUNG 4 YD RUN (DAVID PINO KICK) Drive info: 8 plays, 68 yards. | 49 | 3 |
| TD | 10:21 | BRANDON FOSTER 0 YD BLOCKED PUNT RETURN (DAVID PINO KICK) | 56 | 3 |
| TD | 9:59 | JAMAAL CHARLES 26 YD RUN (DAVID PINO KICK) Drive info: 1 plays, 26 yards. | 63 | 3 |
| TD | 7:36 | HENRY MELTON 1 YD RUN (DAVID PINO KICK) Drive info: 6 plays, 16 yards. | 70 | 3 |
HOUSTON (AP) -- With a Texas-sized trouncing, the Longhorns got their tuneup, sent a message and punched their ticket to the Rose Bowl to play for the national title that has eluded the storied program for decades.
| Season | Record | Bowl | Result |
| 2005 | 12-0 | Rose | vs. USC |
| 1983 | 11-0 | Cotton | UGA 10, Texas 9 |
| 1977 | 11-0 | Cotton | ND 38, Texas 10 |
| 1970 | 10-0 | Cotton | ND 24, Texas 10 |
| 1969* | 10-0 | Cotton | Texas 21, ND 17 |
| 1963* | 10-0 | Cotton | Texas 28, Navy 6 |
| 1962 | 9-0-1 | Cotton | LSU 13, Texas 0 |
| * Undisputed national champions | |||
Led by four touchdowns from Vince Young and two more from Jamaal Charles, the second-ranked Longhorns embarrassed Colorado 70-3 in the Big 12 championship game Saturday, a predictable result that gave them a spot in the BCS title game, Jan. 4 in Pasadena.
After their resounding win -- the eighth-largest margin of victory the program's 113-year history -- the 'Horns (12-0) waited to see who their Rose Bowl opponent would be. The nation's only other undefeated team, No. 1 USC, played No. 11 UCLA later Saturday.
"This bunch, all year, has controlled their own destiny, and they did the same today," Texas coach Mack Brown said.
With the game well in hand, some 'Horns fans clad in burnt orange could be seen sniffing yellow roses in the stands. The Yellow Rose of Texas -- certainly it will be popular symbol in the Lone Star State over the next few weeks. The Longhorns are going for their first undisputed national title since 1969, when Darrell Royal worked the sidelines.
Saturday's win gave Texas its first Big 12 title since 1996 and the first title of any kind for Brown, the veteran coach who built a reputation for his ability to recruit great teams, but never take them to the ultimate destination.
"To get him this victory, we love playing for a guy like that," Young said.
Many felt there was no way Brown could have messed it up with this group. Against Colorado (7-5), it was never in doubt.
But even though they were playing against a vastly overmatched opponent -- a team they had already beaten 42-17 in the regular season -- the Longhorns deserve credit.
Credit for taking care of business early -- the way great teams do -- grabbing a 14-0 lead after 11 minutes and 35-3 midway through the second quarter. And credit for playing relatively mistake-free ball and looking like a true power in this, the week after many questioned their focus in a 40-29 struggle against Texas A&M.
Young got criticized in that win, many wondering if he was really Heisman material if he couldn't dominate against the 109th ranked defense in the country. There were no questions this time. In the two-plus quarters he played, he finished 14-for-17 for 193 yards with three touchdown passes.
"I'd just like to say, look at the year," Brown said when asked about his quarterback's Heisman bid. "Vince Young is a great football player and to me, the most valuable player on our football team for sure, and on any team in the country."
His second touchdown throw, a 31-yarder to Limas Sweed (five catches, 102 yards), was well covered but nearly impossible to defend because of the way Sweed screened himself away from the defender and the way Young threw the pass, so nobody but his receiver could catch it.
Young's 8-yard TD to David Thomas was similarly brilliant, thrown toward the sideline as Thomas laid out to make the catch -- again well covered, but in a spot where only he could make the play.
Maybe Young's best play, though, was his 2-yard touchdown run, a play in which all four Texas receivers were covered, as were all the outside running lanes for the mobile QB. So, Young simply picked and poked and tiptoed his way through the inside, knocking down his own teammate, guard Will Allen, to get to the end zone standing up.
The blowout got even more ridiculous in the third quarter when Texas scored on its first possession, scored again off a blocked punt, then made it 63-3 on a run by Charles (seven carries, 62 yards) after CU lost a fumble at its 26.
That score, at the 9:59 mark of the third quarter, gave Young the rest of the day off.
As for Colorado, well, what really is there to say?
Counting their 30-3 loss last week to Nebraska that -- sadly for the Buffs -- wasn't enough to disqualify them from this game, they have been outscored 100-6 the last two weeks. This debacle comes a year after their 42-3 loss to Oklahoma in the title game. On Saturday, CU trailed 42-3 at halftime.
"A pretty numbing game," coach Gary Barnett called it.
It would have been completely laughable had CU quarterback Joel Klatt not taken a vicious, helmet-to-helmet hit from linebacker Drew Kelson in the third quarter that left him lying motionless in the end zone for a few, anxious moments.
Klatt (14-for-24, 100 yards) was able to stagger off the field, though, and can consider himself lucky if he doesn't remember much of this one. The Longhorns, meanwhile, will enjoy this victory and feel good about themselves for a few days.
Then, it's on to bigger business.
Unlike last season, when Brown practically had to beg for an at-large BCS berth and a spot in the Rose Bowl, this Pasadena trip is undeniably well deserved.
The Longhorns won their games by an average score of 41-14. They scored 40 points 11 times, 50 seven times, 60 four times and hit 70 in this one for the first time since 1996.
Led by safety Michael Huff and lineman Rod Wright, the defense stayed in the top 10 in the country through most of the season.
Special teams, meanwhile, was solid all year and never more so than Saturday, when the Horns blocked a field goal, scored a touchdown off a blocked punt and also got a 54-yard kickoff return from Ramonce Taylor after Colorado's lone score.
The kicking game was supposed to be Colorado's single edge in this game, but the Horns took that away, too -- one of many indisputable signs that they are, at the least, one of the country's two best teams, no argument about it.