SarroSports

9/10/08 3:29pm

Everything is bigger down in Texas and that includes 6′3″ Junior quarterback Colt McCoy, who leads his Longhorns into battle Saturday against the Razerbacks of Arkansas. While Texas was beating down their first two opponents by a combined score of 94-23, McCoy was putting up great individual numbers to go along with great decision making in the pocket. Through two games McCoy has completed 44-58 passes with seven touchdowns to only one interception. As if those numbers aren’t impressive enough, McCoy also leads his team in rushing (111yds) and second in rushing touchdowns. What McCoy did against Florida Atlantic was downright impressive, completing 24-29 passes for 222 yds and 3 touchdowns. That’s not all, the best stat of the day was his 103 yds rushing reaching the end-zone once on 12 carries. If this was the first time viewers have seen Colt McCoy play, they would be certain he would become a first round draft pick of some NFL team desperate of a quarterback that can makes plays and put points up on the board. Unfortunately things haven’t all gone so smooth for the New Mexico native who is depended upon to fill the shoes of national champion QB Vince Young.

There were big expectations of Colt McCoy on his arrival to Texas and he did nothing to disappoint, throwing a freshman record 29 TD passes in 2006. That included a big win over rival Oklahoma and impressive numbers against Oklahoma St and Texas Tech. With McCoy’s success during his freshman season brought high expectations for his sophomore campaign.

Heading into the 2007 season, Texas knew they had the weapons on offense to get them on top in the Big 12. McCoy had a quarterback’s best friend in Jamal Charles, who rushed for 1,619 yds joining Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams, and Cedric Benson as the fourth running back in Longhornes history to pass 1,500 yds on the ground. McCoy had a big play receiver in Limas Sweed, until he got injured with season ending wrist surgery. With Sweed going down, so did McCoy’s numbers to a tune of 22 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. Critiques started second guessing the once promising quarterback’s decision making and if he could lead the Longhornes back to a Big 12 title.

At the start of training camp, the Longhornes experimented with a two QB system that would have McCoy and sophmore John Chiles on the field at the same time. This may have been a direct shot a McCoy implying that he needed to play up to his potential. Two weeks into the 2008 season, all he has done is lead the nation in TD passes and the Longjhornes are 2-0. Skeptics may say that they beat two weaker teams, but McCoy did not perfrom well against lesser teams in 2007 often playing down to the competition. Throwing for 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions against TCU to go along with a 4 interception stinker against Kansas State, shows that McCoy did not excel against bad teams like hes capable of. This season McCoy has taken care of business and is poised for a big season. Next up is Arkansas and with that another chance for McCoy to prove he belongs with the other great quarterbacks in college football.

-Sarro

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