Longhorns stampede Aggies to 49-39 loss

Associated Press

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Colt McCoy threw four touchdown passes and No. 3 Texas overcame a huge game by Texas A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson to wrap up an undefeated regular season with a 49-39 win over the Aggies on Thursday night.

The Longhorns (12-0, 8-0 Big 12) have only next week’s conference championship game against Nebraska standing between them and the BCS title game.

For a while, though, it seemed as though Johnson would rally the Aggies (6-6, 3-5) to a gigantic upset, shattering McCoy’s Heisman Trophy hopes and opening the door for TCU and Cincinnati to vault into the national championship picture.

Jeff Fuller caught three touchdown passes from Johnson, the last with 7:10 left to cut Texas’ lead to 42-39.

But Marquise Goodwin returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, and the Longhorns could finally breathe easy after A&M’s Randy Bullock missed a 23-yard field goal try with 3:05 remaining.

Pitt-WVU

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia coach Bill Stewart likes a comeback story and he sees a darned good one in Pittsburgh’s Bill Stull.

Stewart has noticed Stull’s improvement since the last time No. 8 Pittsburgh (9-1, 5-0 Big East) and West Virginia (7-3, 3-2) met in the Backyard Brawl. The quarterback can help lead the Panthers to their third straight win over the Mountaineers tonight, something that hasn’t happened since Pitt won seven straight from 1976-82.

Stull is fourth nationally in passing efficiency with 18 touchdown passes and only four interceptions and has the Panthers within reach of their first Bowl Championship Series berth in five years.

“He is a classic example of a young man that stayed the course, kept fighting and got up off the carpet,” Stewart said.

Last year, Stull had to be carried off the field on a stretcher following a hard hit during an October loss to Rutgers and wasn’t the same after that.