TOP-25 Simms sparks Texas past rival

Chris Simms has led the Longhorns to three straight victories over Texas A & amp;M.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas -- Chris Simms won't win the Heisman Trophy, a national championship or even a Big 12 title.
Instead, he and Texas will have to be satisfied with doing something no Texas quarterback had done in 55 years: leading the Longhorns to three straight victories over rival Texas A & amp;M.
Simms passed for 278 yards and three touchdowns to lead 10th-ranked Texas past A & amp;M 50-20 Friday, a result that certainly won't stem speculation that Aggies coach R.C. Slocum will be fired.
Simms was the gem of Texas' 1999 recruiting class and the failure to win the championships Texas fans expected weighed heavily on his career.
Great home finish
He made his final home game, in front of 83,711 at Royal-Memorial Stadium, a memorable one. He'll leave Texas 15-0 as a starter at home.
"I know everybody back home in New Jersey was watching," said Simms, whose father, Phil, helped the New York Giants win the 1987 Super Bowl. "I had to put that last one good showing on TV.
"It's tough to explain -- I almost started crying before the game when I had to hug my mom, but it ended up being a great day."
The game was played four days after A & amp;M freshman defensive tackle Brandon Fails died after collapsing in his dorm. Aggies players wore stickers on their helmets with his No. 89.
Fails will be buried today.
"The first day was hard, and we knew we had to focus on this game because that's what he would have wanted," teammate Bethel Johnson said.
"Without a doubt, we had a major distraction with a young man's death," Slocum said. "I wouldn't want in any way to somehow attribute this loss to losing this player. That wouldn't be fair to his family."
Texas (10-2, 6-2) broke open a tight game with 27 straight points in the second half.
Roy Williams caught touchdown passes of 75 and 38 yards from Simms, Michael Huff returned an interception 28 yards for a TD, and Nathan Vasher went 60 yards with a punt return to score.
No. 13 Colorado 28, Nebraska 13
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Freshman Brian Calhoun ran for 137 yards as Colorado defeated Nebraska for its first victory in Lincoln since 1990.
Fullback Brandon Drum added two touchdowns for the Buffaloes (9-3, 7-1 Big 12), who go to Houston for next Saturday's Big 12 championship game against Oklahoma. Colorado has won eight of nine after a 1-2 start.
The Buffs denied the Cornhuskers (7-6, 3-5) a chance to extend their unprecedented streak of nine-victory seasons to 34. Nebraska completed its worst regular season since 1961, when it went 3-6-1.
Arkansas 21, No. 18 LSU 20
LITTLE ROCK -- Matt Jones threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to DeCori Birmingham with 9 seconds left, and David Carlton made a long extra point for Arkansas.
Arkansas scored twice in the last half of the fourth quarter to win the SEC's West Division title and advance to the conference title game against Georgia next Saturday in Atlanta.
Trailing 20-14 with 34 seconds left, the Razorbacks (9-3, 5-3 SEC) got the ball at their 19. Jones completed a 50-yard pass to Richard Smith on the first play.
After an incompletion from the LSU 31, Jones found Birmingham in the back right corner of the end zone. The sophomore slipped behind Randall Gay and outleaped him for the ball. LSU's Travis Daniels was too late to break up the pass.
Arkansas was penalized 15 yards for excessive celebration, however, setting up a 35-yard extra point. Carlton's kick was plenty long enough, but it curved left and was barely good.
LSU (8-4, 5-3) could have won the West Division and advanced to the championship game if not for the dramatic touchdown. Jones was just 2-of-13 for 46 yards before completing the two long passes on the final drive.
LSU quarterback Marcus Randall accounted for two touchdowns and threw for 203 yards on 14-of-25 passing to give LSU to a 20-14 lead before Arkansas' comeback.
The sophomore threw a 67-yard touchdown to freshman Skyler Green, and his 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter put the Tigers in control. Randall seemingly gave LSU the game with a late drive that took up 5:53 and resulted in a 29-yard field goal by John Corbello with 40 seconds remaining.