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Snubbed Texas meets Ohio State in Fiesta Bowl

Jan 5, 2009 - 3:40 PM (3) Texas (11-1) vs. (10) Ohio State (10-2), 8:00 pm EST

AUSTIN, Texas (Ticker) -- Mack Brown and Texas clearly feel they have been cheated out of a chance to compete for a national championship.

The third-ranked Longhorns instead will have to settle for a ticket to Monday night's Fiesta Bowl, where they will take on freshman sensation Terrelle Pryor and Ohio State.

Texas (11-1) enjoyed an outstanding regular season highlighted by a 45-35 victory over Oklahoma in the annual Red River Rivalry game on October 11.

But three weeks later, the Longhorns dropped a heartbreaking 39-33 decision at Texas Tech, creating an eventual logjam in the Big 12 Conference's South Division.

After rallying to take a lead in the final two minutes, the Longhorns (11-1) could only watch as Graham Harrell marched Texas Tech down the field before hooking up with Michael Crabtree for a game-winning touchdown pass with one second remaining.

Texas fell behind Oklahoma in the subsequent BCS standings and never recovered. By virtue of their higher BCS ranking, the Sooners won a three-way tiebreaker with the Longhorns and the Red Raiders to claim the South Division crown and earn a berth in the Big 12 title game.

Oklahoma crushed Missouri, 62-21, to win its third straight Big 12 title and secure a spot in the BCS championship game.

Brown, who openly campaigned for the Longhorns down the stretch during the regular season, has attempted to put the disappointment of Texas' misfortune behind him.

"It's time for us to put behind us all the BCS stuff and move forward and look forward to a great game," Brown said. "The BCS doesn't satisfy everybody. We've been on the positive side of it a few times. We've been on the negative side a few times."

Texas certainly has put together an impressive resume this season - the Longhorns posted wins over ranked opponents in Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks.

Led by quarterback Colt McCoy, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, Texas averaged 43.9 points per game this year, the fifth-best mark in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

McCoy passed for 3,445 yards and 32 touchdowns against just seven interceptions this season. The junior also was the Longhorns' leading rusher, gaining 576 yards on the ground.

"He's been the heart of our offense," Brown said. "He means to this team what Vince Young meant to the one in 2005.

"I can't imagine a player that means more to his team than Colt does to ours."

Now McCoy and the Longhorns will have to shift their focus on the Buckeyes (10-2), who finished with the No. 10 ranking in the BCS.

It marks the fourth straight BCS bowl appearance and seventh overall for the Buckeyes, who finished second in the Big Ten Conference behind Penn State.

Ohio State won eight of its last nine games and figures to be a dangerous opponent with Pryor at quarterback.

However, the Buckeyes will look to end their recent postseason slump after getting routed in each of the last two national title games. McCoy, for one, knows that he will have a tough time against Ohio State's veteran defense.

"They've got a great defense, so we know it is going to be tough to score," McCoy said. "We just have to practice and prepare like we have all season and, hopefully, we can come out with the win."

Since dropping a 35-3 decision at Southern California on September 13, the Buckeyes have yielded an average of just 12 points per game.

Ohio State is led by senior linebacker James Laurinaitis, a Butkus Award semifinalist, junior running back Chris "Beanie" Wells, who ran for 1,091 yards in just nine games, and Pryor, who has emerged as one of the top young players in the country.

In fact, Brown and Ohio State coach Jim Tressel both have compared Pryor to Young, who quarterbacked the Longhorns to their next national championship.

"I remember talking to Mack about that very thing, and Mack felt that (Pryor) did look similar to Vince when he was in high school," Tressel said. "I'm sure as he watches him now, he feels he is that type of young man. He works extremely hard ... and we certainly hope he becomes as good as Vince Young."

This year's top incoming recruit, Pryor completed 62.5 percent of his passes, threw 12 touchdowns and also ran for 553 yards and six TDs.