Longhorns survive scare from in-state rival A & amp;M

LSU clinched the SEC West and will face Georgia for the conference championship.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Vince Young and Texas were far from perfect, but the Longhorns fought through their faults, remained unbeaten and moved one step closer to the Rose Bowl.
Ramonce Taylor ran for two touchdowns, Cedric Griffin returned a blocked punt for score in the third quarter and the No. 2 Longhorns survived Young's shakiest game of the season to keep their national championship hopes intact with a 40-29 win over Texas A & amp;M on Friday.
Young is one of the leading contenders for the Heisman Trophy, but Aggies freshman Stephen McGee made the plays the Longhorns' quarterback usually makes. McGee ran for 108 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his first start as A & amp;M made a strong run at pulling off one of the biggest upsets in a 111-year-old rivalry.
Young came in likely needing a big game to keep pace with USC's Reggie Bush in the chase for the Heisman Trophy -- and his penchant for making big plays in Texas' biggest games seemed to guarantee it.
Instead, he struggled against a defense ranked 109th in the country with 162 yards passing, 19 rushing and two turnovers that led directly to Aggies' touchdowns. He did throw for a touchdown and led to key late drives for field goals.
Despite his bad game, Texas (11-0, 8-0) moves on to the Big 12 title game next Saturday against the winner of the North Division. Win that game and the Longhorns are a lock for a return trip the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4 to play for the Bowl Championship Series title.
The Aggies (5-6, 3-5) did everything they could to spoil those plans.
Behind McGee, who was starting in place of injured senior Reggie McNeal, and the punishing running of 265-pound freshman Jorvorski Lane, the Aggies had the Longhorns reeling before finally running out of gas late in the fourth quarter. The Aggies finish with their second losing season in three years under coach Dennis Franchione.
Lane finished with 104 yards on 17 carries.
Taylor ran for 102 yards on 15 carries for Texas. His second touchdown, an 8-yard scamper through the right side in the third quarter capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive after the Aggies had taken a 22-21 lead on McGee's 11-yard touchdown run.
The Longhorns got the critical blocked punt on A & amp;M's next possession when Michael Griffin crashed over the left side. Cedric Griffin snared the ball in mid-air and cruised into the end zone for a 34-22 Texas lead.
McGee's second touchdown -- a 1-yard run -- got the Aggies within five before the Longhorns stretched the lead on David Pino's 41-yard field goal. Pino also kicked a 29-yarder with 2:22 left for the final points.
No. 3 LSU 19, Arkansas 17
BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU won with clutch defense yet again, wrapping up a berth in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
JaMarcus Russell threw a 50-yard touchdown pass and Justin Vincent ran for a 4-yard score to help LSU in the battle for "The Boot."
The Tigers (10-1, 7-1 SEC) also registered their second safety in two games after forcing Arkansas to punt from the back of its own end zone late in the first half, earning two points that proved critical when Arkansas (4-7, 2-6) refused to relent after falling behind 19-3 early in the second half.
LSU had to have the victory to clinch the SEC West and now will face Georgia in the conference championship game in Atlanta on Dec. 3, the second time in three years those two teams have met to decide the SEC.
The Tigers held Arkansas standout freshman Darren McFadden to 57 yards on 24 carries, leaving McFadden at 1,113 for the season.
Arizona St. 23, Arizona 20
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half to beat Arizona on Jesse Ainsworth's 20-yard field goal with six seconds to play.
The Territorial Cup victory earned the Sun Devils (6-5, 4-4 Pac-10) a postseason invitation, probably just down the road at the Insight Bowl in Phoenix.
It will be the first consecutive bowl appearances for ASU in coach Dirk Koetter's five years at the school.
Terry Richardson's 71-yard punt return and Rudy Carpenter's two-point conversion pass to Zach Miller tied it at 20-20 with 7:52 remaining.
Mike Bell gained 117 yards in 27 carries in his final game for Arizona, but missed most of the second half with a leg injury. Freshman quarterback Willie Tuitama went down with an apparent shoulder injury after being hit while throwing the game's only interception with 11:26 to play.
Arizona (3-8, 2-6) led 17-5 at the half.
Nebraska 30, Colorado 3
BOULDER, Colo. -- In a completely unexpected and ugly flashback to the bad ol' days for Colorado, the Buffaloes were no match for Nebraska.
Zac Taylor threw for 392 yards and two scores, Cory Ross accounted for 142 yards and a touchdown and the Huskers dominated CU the way they did when Tom Osborne was coach.
A few water bottles and other debris rained down from the CU student section in the fourth quarter, forcing officials to stop action and order two sections of Folsom Field emptied for the final 10 minutes of the game. Nobody appeared injured.
Outcoached, outplayed, out-everythinged by Big Red, Colorado (7-4, 5-3 Big 12) lost its second straight game and might have watched its trip to the Big 12 title game go down the drain, too. The loss left the door open for Iowa State, which would earn the spot with a win at Kansas today.
CU would back into the game against No. 2 Texas if the Cyclones lose. But really, after watching this complete dismantling -- an embarrassment not only to the program but to many of the trash-throwing fans, as well -- the words "Colorado" and "championship" would look odd together.
It was the Huskers (7-4, 4-4) who looked like title contenders, putting together, by far, the best 60 minutes of coach Bill Callahan's troubled two-year tenure. They posted their biggest win in the series since a 52-7 blowout in 1992 and gave themselves quite a boost as they head into the bowl season and beyond.
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