ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -Big 12 coordinator of football officials Walt Anderson said the right call was made in putting an extra second on the clock, allowing Texas’ Hunter Lawrence to kick the game-winning field goal in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday night.
The clock showed :00 after Texas quarterback Colt McCoy scrambled and threw the ball out of bounds. But while Nebraska players threw up their arms in celebration and ran onto the field, officials waved their arms trying to gain control of what proved to be a premature celebration.
A second was put back on the clock after the play was reviewed. Lawrence then made a 46-yard field goal for a 13-12 Texas victory.
“The play is reviewable because it involves a clock error at a crucial time of the game,” Anderson said.
Anderson said replay officials were looking at the flight of the ball with the clock superimposed on a replay. They ruled the ball hit the ground with 1 second left.
lock,” Anderson said.
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BEEBE DISAPPOINTED: Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe isn’t thrilled with how one of his counterparts lobbied against the BCS.
Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson did not hold back when he told Congress a playoff is needed to replace the current Bowl Championship Series structure.
“It was disappointing to me that’s the approach the (Mountain West) conference took,” Beebe said before Saturday night’s Big 12 championship game. “Because I do feel like we have a deal. The time to talk about changing the deal is when you’re in discussions prior to negotiations,”
After unbeaten Utah did not play for the national championship last season, Thompson began his push for a playoff.
In May, Thompson offered testimony against the BCS format in front of Congress. The Mountain West, which does not have an automatic bid, also proposed a playoff format and hired a Washington firm to lobby for changes to the BCS.
The BCS agreed to a four-year contract with ESPN last year. The deal allows the BCS to put off making major changes until the 2014 season.
“To retreat from that and act like we’ve got to change it all because of one year’s result was very disappointing to me,” Beebe said.
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NEW NEBRASKA FANS: A couple of TCU fans found some new friends among a group of Nebraska supporters.
ed screen at Cowboys Stadium with a sign that read “Every TCU Student Praying For Nebraska.” They stood out sitting near dozens of several Cornhuskers fans dressed in red.
After No. 1 Florida lost in the SEC title game, No. 4 TCU (12-0) and coach Gary Patterson might have had a chance to crash the BCS national championship game if Texas lost.
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QUOTABLE:
“If this had been the SEC, we would have called it a beautiful game. That’s what happens. You get in the Big 12, and we expect offense to run down the field and those two defenses played great.”- Texas coach Mack Brown.
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COLT’S STRUGGLES: Colt McCoy threw three interceptions in a game for the first time since Nov. 3, 2007.
The Cornhuskers also sacked the Texas star nine times. Ndamukong Suh, the league’s top defensive player, was responsible for 4 1/2 sacks.
“It’s not just Suh,” McCoy said. “You’ve got to give their defense a whole lot of credit. We knew coming into the game they were going to be tough.”
Coming into Saturday’s game, McCoy made his Heisman push by throwing for 16 touchdowns with just two interceptions since Oct. 24.
Nebraska picked McCoy off twice in Texas’ first three possessions. His final interception led to the field goal that gave Nebraska a 12-10 lead with 1:44 left.
McCoy, who had eight touchdown passes the past two games, did not throw one Saturday. He had thrown for a score in 29 straight games.
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EXTRA POINTS: Nebraska’s Alex Henery kicked a 52-yard field goal in the first quarter, a Big 12 championship game record. … Texas and Nebraska have played two other times in the conference title game. In 1996, the Longhorns knocked off the Cornhuskers 37-27 in the inaugural contest. Nebraska turned the tables three years later, knocking off Texas 22-6 in San Antonio. … There was an announced attendance of 76,211. It was the third-largest crowd in the 14-year history of the game. … The closest Big 12 title game before this one was when Colorado beat Texas 39-37 in 2001. … A team from the South division had won the previous five games by a combined score of 233-51.
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