Texas introduces new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Will Muschamp says his wife thinks he's crazy.
Anybody who's watched the YouTube clips of the new Texas defensive coordinator and his rather, um, "animated" style can see why. He's cursing, yelling and whooping it up on the sideline with his players in a show of fiery enthusiasm.
"I think the players take on the personality of their coach," Muschamp said Friday as he introduced himself to Texas reporters. "I want the kids to play hard, I want to play relentless and I want to play with toughness."
Muschamp was defensive coordinator at Auburn the past two seasons before he was hired last week at Texas.
He will be Texas coach Mack Brown's fourth defensive coordinator in five years. Since his name first surfaced as a candidate for the job, Texas fans have been watching Internet clips of Muschamp's sideline antics.
"He's high energy, he's tough," Brown said. "This was a natural hire."
Muschamp was defensive coordinator for six seasons at Auburn and LSU. During those seasons, his defenses ranked among the nation's top 10 in total defense four times and scoring defense three times. In 2005, he was the Miami Dolphins' assistant head coach for defense.
Already considered one of the top young assistants in the college game, many view Muschamp's move to Texas as stepping stone to becoming a head coach.
Former Texas coordinators Greg Robinson (Syracuse) and Gene Chizik (Iowa State) left Texas for head coaching jobs. Duane Akina, who called defensive plays for Texas last season, will remain on staff as assistant head coach and will coach the secondary. Akina has been mentioned as a possible candidate to replace June Jones at Hawaii.
Brown called Muschamp "one of the really bright young guys who will be a head coach someday when he wants to be .... his long-term goal is to win a national championship here and I would hope that would present an opportunity for him to be a head coach."
Muschamp said he's not eyeing a head coaching job at the moment.
"I took the job to be the defensive coordinator at Texas," he said. "Too many guys in my profession worry about the next job."
The Texas defense faltered last season as the Longhorns finished 10-3 with a victory in the Holiday Bowl. The Longhorns were among the worst in the country in pass defense and struggled to create turnovers.
Brown said he considers the defense a "blank slate" for Muschamp to develop. Texas begins spring practice Feb. 22, and Muschamp suggested he'll spend most of his time until then evaluating talent and drawing up schemes.
"I don't have a lot of hobbies," Muschamp said. "I coach ball. That's about it."
Asked why he would leave Auburn, Muschamp said he respects Brown and Texas' run of seven consecutive 10-win seasons. He also noted his relationships with other Texas assistants.
Longhorns offensive coordinator Greg Davis and offensive line coach Mac McWhorter were on the Georgia staff when Muschamp played for the Bulldogs from 1991-1994.
"Everybody's on board. Everybody wants to be successful and they see the vision of winning the Big 12 championship and winning the national championship. That really excited me," he said. "I felt personally it was the best decision for the Muschamp family."
This is the second time Brown has raided Auburn's staff. He hired Chizik away from the Tigers in 2005. Brown said he appreciated that Tigers fans were upset to see Muschamp leave.
"It's a great compliment when people don't want you to leave," Brown said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Sequel looks like a horror film the second time around to Ohio State
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The sequel to Ohio State's horror film ended up looking an awful lot like the original.
About the only thing the Buckeyes seem good at is making sure there's no controversy over who is really the national champion.
For this, the most unpredictable of college seasons, that would be LSU, thanks to an Ohio State meltdown that was strikingly similar to the one that occurred a year ago in Arizona. The opponents were different and so were the domes, but in the end Monday night, this one felt as if we had all been here before.
This time, quickness wasn't the issue. Execution was, despite the best efforts of Jim Tressel to keep his Buckeyes focused in the Big Easy and keep an inherited No. 1 ranking that always seemed as shaky as the Ohio State passing game.
Blame it on a cupcake schedule or on a conference that simply wasn't as good as most people thought.
Blame it on a crisp game plan executed by Les Miles and his staff or on too many glaring coverage mistakes by the Ohio State secondary.
Those looking for deeper reasons might even blame it on a video that had to be even more depressing to Ohio State players than having to stay in their rooms all week in this party town.
Tressel passed out a copy of it to every player as a gift just before Christmas, and it was met with less than rave reviews with good reason. It included scenes of last year's blowout loss to Florida along with commentary by television analysts around the nation saying the Buckeyes were too slow, didn't deserve their ranking, and were lucky they had academics to fall back on.
It was supposed to instill and us-against-them attitude, a tactic favored by coaches from the days of Knute Rockne. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Last year they scored on the opening kickoff only to get blown out by Florida. This year they jumped to a quick 10-0 lead only to watch the Tigers score the next 31 points.
Even worse, LSU beat Ohio State at its own game, running Jacob Hester up the middle and having Matt Flynn throw conservative short routes. The Buckeyes boasted the best defense in the country coming into the game, but LSU converted eight of 10 third down situations in the first half and barely broke a sweat in scoring 38 points.
"Third down is the biggest down in football," Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston said. "They just seemed to execute well."
It's little wonder Michigan wanted Miles to come to Ann Arbor and take on the task of beating Ohio State. He managed to do it rather handily without ever leaving Louisiana, triggering a clause in his contract at the same time that could be worth more than $3.5 million over the next few years.
"Very humbly (LSU is) one of the great programs in college football," Miles said while celebrating his first national title. "It's a great place to get an education, great place to win a championship."
It's also a great place to celebrate a championship, something the Tiger fans, who outnumbered Ohio State supporters by a 2-1 margin, got a head start on long before they got to Bourbon Street.
LSU came to this game with issues of its own, including two overtime losses that in most seasons would be enough to relegate them to a lesser bowl.
However, the Tigers eliminated any pretenders to the crown in a dominating performance that had to be making the people who run the convoluted BCS system a lot happier. USC and Georgia had their moment to crow with big wins last week, but the ease with which LSU won left no doubt in this crazy college year.
"My team is the No. 1 team in the land," Glenn Dorsey said. "Right now it's great to be an LSU Tiger. I love it."
Tressel wasn't going to argue with that, even though for the second straight year he had to explain why his team wasn't competitive when it counted the most. He struggled to do that almost as badly as his team struggled on the field.
"We just didn't do the things you need to do to win a ball game of this nature. We're very aware that LSU's a deserving champion," he said. "That was a tough football game, very demanding. I'm sure there were moments we weren't perfectly on cue like we ought to be."
Tressel will find those moments when he watches the game again, and another horror film unfolds.
At least this time he'll have the feeling he's seen it all before.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Down a coach and national title berth, W.Va. heads to Fiesta Bowl
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The hurt is still there for No. 11 West Virginia.
The Mountaineers were so close to locking up a spot in the national championship game. Fans had already bought travel packages to New Orleans. All West Virginia had to do was beat Pittsburgh on Dec. 1 and the trip would have become a reality.
The 13-9 loss to the Panthers, who were 28-point underdogs, shocked the program. But there was more to come.
A bigger surprise came Dec. 16 when coach Rich Rodriguez told his players that he was taking the job at Michigan.
The pain still lingers as the Mountaineers (10-2) head to Arizona on Wednesday without Rodriguez to continue preparations for the Fiesta Bowl against No. 3 Oklahoma (11-2).
"We're still playing a BCS bowl and I think that's pretty much our team's mood," said offensive lineman Ryan Stanchek. "You set out at the beginning of the year to win the Big East and play in a BCS bowl. And that's where we're at. So I think we just need to move on."
If the Mountaineers are looking for motivation, they can become one of three teams to win 11 games in each of the past three seasons. The others are LSU and Southern Cal. It is also the Mountaineers' second trip to a BCS game in three years.
WVU also can earn a third straight top 10 finish.
"We don't expect anybody to feel sorry for us. That's just the nature of this game," West Virginia safety Ryan Mundy said. "Nothing is forever. We would have liked Coach Rod to stay here, but we realize there is a different side to this and there are other assets that we just don't know about.
"So we just focus on what we can control, and that's preparations for Oklahoma right now."
The Pitt loss will be hard to forget, but former coach Don Nehlen believes the players won't let it spoil their Fiesta Bowl experience.
"That game was a disappointment, but first of all, this was a young team. If these were all seniors, it might be different. But this is a young team. I think they'll bounce back easily," said Nehlen, who coached the Mountaineers in their most recent Fiesta Bowl appearance after the 1988 season. "They don't have anything to hang their heads about. They're going to the Fiesta Bowl. That's a pretty daggone nice bowl."
Rodriguez's decision seemed to bother the fans more than the players. He has been criticized on online message boards and by hecklers at the Morgantown airport.
His former players are treating it as a business decision.
"We've still got one game to play. We're going to put all our effort into that game," running back Steve Slaton said.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Appalachian State wins third straight title
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE (TICKER) -- Appalachian State made history in its first game of the season, and did so again in its last.
Quarterback Armanti Edwards amassed 287 total yards and tossed three touchdown passes to lead the Mountaineers to a 49-21 victory over Delaware in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) title game on Friday.
Fifth-ranked Appalachian State set the tone for an upset-filled year in college football with its season-opening shocker over Michigan. It closed the season on Friday with an unprecedented third straight national championship.
The Mountaineers are the fifth team to reach three straight FCS title games, joining Eastern Kentucky (1979-82), Georgia Southern (1988-90 and 1998-2000), Marshall (1991-93) and Youngstown State (1991-94).
Edwards completed 9-of-15 passes for 198 yards, but the Mountaineers did most of their damage on the ground against the Blue Hens, rushing for 360 yards and four touchdowns on 51 carries - an average of 7.1 yards.
Kevin Richardson led Appalachian State with 121 yards on the ground and Edwards rushed for 89, while both Trey Elder and Devon Moore topped 70 yards and found the end zone.
The Mountaineers opened the scoring when Edwards hit Richardson with a 19-yard pass at the 10:47 mark of the first quarter. They made it a 14-0 advantage when Moore broke off a 46-yard touchdown run 6 1/2 minutes later.
Appalachian State moved ahead, 21-0, on their first drive of the second quarter and led, 28-7, at the half.
Edwards passed for another score in the third quarter, and Richardson and Elder found the end zone on the ground in the fourth to complete the rout.
The Blue Hens were led by senior quarterback - and NFL prospect - Joe Flacco, who completed 23-of-48 passes for 336 yards and one touchdown.
"We weren't so fortunate early on," Flacco said. "They jumped ahead pretty quickly. They are good. Things didn't go well early. It was tough to fight back from that, and they wouldn't let it happen."
Fifth-ranked Appalachian State (13-2) has had just one losing season in the last 23 years, while Delaware has had two since 1988. The Blue Hens also claimed a national championship in 2003.
After beating Michigan, 34-32, in Ann Arbor, the Mountaineers posted a 9-2 record during the regular season, losing Southern Conference games to Wofford and Georgia Southern.
In the playoffs, they defeated James Madison, Eastern Washington and Richmond.
Ranked 13th, the Blue Hens made a surprising run to the final after a two-year absence from the playoffs. One of Delaware's losing seasons in the last two decades came last year, when it finished 5-6.
"We lost to a great football team today," said Delaware coach K.C. Keeler, who lost for just the second time in 10 NCAA postseason appearances since taking over the helm of the Blue Hens in 2002. "We didn't make some plays early, and that put us behind. Things just steamrolled from there.
"Whatever went wrong for us tonight was because of Appalachian State. Give them all the credit, they are a deserving national champion. I'm disappointed we didn't convert early, but so much was about how they played."
The Blue Hens (11-4) did not even know if they would make the playoffs after losing their last two regular-season games to Richmond and Villanova.
But Delaware routed Delaware State, 44-7, in its playoff opener and cruised into the championship game. In their previous two contests, the Blue Hens rallied from 10-point deficits in the first quarter to oust top-10 teams on the road.
In the quarterfinals, Delaware upset top-ranked Northern Iowa, 39-27, then eliminated No. 4 Southern Illinois, 20-17, in the semifinals last week. The combined record of the three playoff teams they beat to reach the finals was 34-2.
"It's been an amazing journey," Keeler said of a season that ended in a berth in the national championship game after going 5-6 the previous year. "This loss doesn't change the way I feel about this team and these guys. It was a great season. We overcame a lot of obstacles to get here, and it was a great season."
Copyright 2007 PA SportsTicker. All Rights Reserved
Ducks' Dixon has no regrets despite injury
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon has every reason to wonder what could have been. He could spend the entire winter cursing fate or second-guessing himself.
He refuses to take the bait.
Three weeks after suffering the injury that changed the course of the 2007 season, Dixon maintains the same optimism that helped make him arguably the nation's best player this season.
"This team doesn't regret anything," Dixon said Wednesday on the eve of the College Football Awards Show at Walt Disney World, "and me personally, I don't regret anything."
Dixon had emerged as the Heisman Trophy front-runner before he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee Nov. 3 during a 35-23 victory over Arizona State that made the Ducks the second-ranked team in the nation.
Instead of missing any games, Dixon chose to continue playing while keeping the severity of the injury a secret. But the knee buckled on him two weeks later against Arizona, forcing him to sit out the rest of the season. Oregon hasn't won a game since, going from 8-1 to 8-4.
Dixon said Wednesday he'd do it all over again. He hasn't had any second thoughts about his decision to continue playing, even though the choice may have jeopardized his future.
He pointed out that his knee reacted fine during a 39-yard touchdown run he made in the Ducks' first series of the Arizona game.
"(The decision) wasn't difficult at all," Dixon said. "I wanted to go out there and play. I'm so much of a competitor. I saw it as my knee was stable. There was no swelling. I felt confident in running through the whole practice. We had two weeks to prepare for the game. I was totally confident going into it. It was just a freak accident."
Arizona cornerback Antoine Cason said he also didn't notice much of a difference with Dixon until he aggravated the injury late in the first quarter.
"A couple of people were watching him before the game, and they said he's a little tender," Cason said, "but when he got out there and started playing, you didn't think he was tender."
Dixon had managed to hide the magnitude of his injury before the Arizona game by relying on the same gift of guile that has made him such an effective quarterback. His teammates didn't realize the risk Dixon was taking, even as he wore a brace on the injured knee.
"I kept it a secret between me, the doctors, my head coach and my position coach," Dixon said. "Nobody else knew. I wanted to keep it that way because I didn't want my team to think anything negative. I wanted the team to keep positive."
Dixon managed to keep his teammates in the dark because he didn't perform much different in practice.
"I had full range of motion," Dixon said. "Nothing seemed like it was different. The only thing that was different was I was wearing a brace. I'd tell my teammates I was trying to protect it, but really I was trying to keep it stable at the same time."
Dixon's hopes of playing the remainder of the season with the injured knee vanished late in the first quarter of the 34-24 loss to Arizona. Oregon led 8-7 and had driven into field-goal range when Dixon hurt his knee again as he attempted to plant on an option play.
When he went down," Cason said, "you could tell it was bad."
Oregon hasn't been the same since Dixon went down. Dixon was directing an offense that averaged 42.8 points per game before his injury. The Ducks scored just one touchdown in their first seven quarters without him. A team that once was just three wins away from an appearance in the national title game had to settle for a Sun Bowl bid after ending the regular season with three consecutive losses.
"I'd love to be out there playing," Dixon said. "But my role now is to be a mentor, a coach for my young quarterbacks out there, to give them confidence."
The injury also had personal consequences for Dixon.
Once considered the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, Dixon isn't even one of the four finalists. He is a finalist for the Maxwell Award, which also goes to the nation's most outstanding player, and the Davey O'Brien Award, which is given to the nation's top quarterback.
Would Dixon have won the Heisman if he hadn't gotten injured?
"I think I'd have had a chance at it," Dixon said. "I wouldn't say I'd win it."
He still doesn't know how the injury might affect his long-term prospects. Before getting hurt, Dixon had boosted his NFL stock considerably this season by throwing for 20 touchdowns and running for nine more scores while being intercepted just four times. He ranks fourth in the nation in passing efficiency.
Dixon will have surgery next week and hopes to recover in time to participate in front of NFL scouts at Oregon's Pro Day in March.
He also must decide which sport he wants to play for a living. Dixon was drafted in the fifth round by the Atlanta Braves last summer and spent the summer playing minor-league baseball in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League and Appalachian League.
Dixon understandably is thinking more about football right now because it's that time of year, but he hasn't made a final decision between the sports.
"I'm so much of a competitor I can't really choose one," Dixon said. "But when that time comes, it's going to be real difficult for me to choose. I'm just trying to look at what's in my best interest at that time."
Copyright 2007 Rivals.com. All Rights Reserved.
Heisman Profile: Florida's superhero exceeds expectations, could make Heisman history
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- The night before a game typically goes like this for Tim Tebow: He attends a team dinner and walkthrough, retreats to his hotel room to finish up schoolwork, watches football, makes a smoothie, then gets about 10 hours of sleep.
Yes, even Florida's superhero needs rest.
It prepares him for a much-simpler routine: creating touchdowns, which he has done better than just about everyone else in the country this season.
Florida's too-good-to-be-true quarterback, the guy who couldn't possibly live up to all the hype, has exceeded expectations in his first year as a starter.
Tebow became the first player in NCAA history to run for at least 20 touchdowns and pass for at least 20 touchdown in the same season. He eclipsed the school's single-season record for total offense with 3,970 yards, and he broke the Southeastern Conference's single-season record for rushing touchdowns.
Now, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Tebow is going for another first: he could become the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy.
"It's unbelievable and it's an honor just to be mentioned for it," Tebow said. "It's a huge award. It's something I've watched my whole life. It has been a crazy season, so who knows what can happen?"
If Tebow does win college football's most coveted award, it wouldn't be an upset. In fact, Tebow is considered a front-runner along with Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden.
Tebow ran for 469 yards and eight touchdowns in a backup role last season, playing mostly in short-yardage and goal-line situations.
Could he throw? That was the big question surrounding Tebow this year, and he answered it emphatically.
Tebow ranks second in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) in passing efficiency (177.9). The left-hander has completed 68 percent of his passes for 3,132 yards, with 29 touchdowns and just six interceptions.
"I think everybody is surprised how well he threw the ball this year," Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen said. "You knew he could throw; he's got a very strong arm. But his accuracy? To complete over 65 percent of his passes and be second in the nation in passing efficiency, that takes some skill throwing the football. And I think that's where he really surprised everybody this year."
Tebow still did plenty of running, too.
He even ran with a sore shoulder -- he took painkilling shots before the last five games -- and played most of the second half against Florida State with a broken right hand.
Tebow has 838 yards rushing and 22 scores. Only UCF's Kevin Smith (30) and Tulane's Matt Forte (23) have more rushing touchdowns this season. Tebow can add to his numbers when the ninth-ranked Gators (9-3) play Michigan in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day.
For the last few weeks, coach Urban Meyer said he needed more information about the other candidates before he would say whether Tebow deserved the Heisman.
Meyer got his answer last weekend.
"I think Tim should win it," Meyer said. "I don't like to speak unless I have an opportunity to evaluate everything. I got to see guys play. And I never really looked at our statistics, but the money statistics are unbelievable this year. ... And then the numbers, just the touchdowns. I have to believe he deserves to win that Heisman."
Meyer is hardly alone.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said the only reason Tebow might not win the Heisman would be because he's a sophomore. Bowden also said Tebow could win it multiple times.
Georgia coach Mark Richt and Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer agreed that Tebow's rare combination of size and athleticism sets him apart from everyone else.
"When you're unique, you get people interested in watching you because you're different," Richt said. "That's definitely a plus in a Heisman race."
Added Fulmer: "There aren't very many of those guys around that are that big and strong and fast and can throw like that."
Not everyone is sold on Tebow's accomplishments, though.
Hawaii coach June Jones called Tebow a "system quarterback."
"Tim Tebow's system is a college system," Jones said. "He is a great quarterback who'll probably win a national championship. He's competitive; he's all those things. But a lot of his stuff comes off little dives, fades, things he is not going to do in the National Football League. That's my point."
Tebow brushed aside the comments Monday, saying he ran an offense similar to Hawaii's run-and-shoot in high school and "the numbers weren't too bad there."
Tebow threw for nearly 10,000 yards and 95 touchdowns at Nease High near Jacksonville and ran for more than 3,000 yards and 63 scores. He was a household name for Florida fans before he stepped foot on campus in January 2006.
ESPN even filmed a documentary about him titled "The Chosen One," partly because of his strong religious beliefs and missionary work in the Philippines.
Tebow's legend grew last year and has since reached folklore status.
There are numerous Internet sites dedicated to Tebow, including one that generates random facts about his greatness. Among them: "Superman's only weakness is Kryptonite. Tim Tebow laughs at Superman for having a weakness," and "What color is Tim Tebow's blood? Trick question. Tim Tebow does not bleed."
Tebow's favorite?
"Tim Tebow can believe it's not butter," he said.
Tebow laughs at all the attention, taking the same kind of humble approach that endears to him to friends, coaches, teammates and everyone else in his life.
Receiver Andre Caldwell tried to get him to strike the famed Heisman pose near the end of Florida's 45-12 victory over the Seminoles, but Tebow politely declined despite having accounted for five touchdowns. After all, that's not part of his routine.
"Whenever you say anything about the Heisman, he's like, yeah, whatever," Caldwell said. "He just brushes it off like it's nothing to him. I don't think it's close. By far, he's the best player in the country and the most productive and he should win the Heisman.
"I hope if he wins it he'll show some more emotion."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Central Florida RB Kevin Smith quietly turning in record rushing year
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The nation's leading rusher leaves practice just days before playing in a conference championship game without facing a swarm of reporters.
Such is life at Central Florida for Kevin Smith, who has quietly put together one of the best seasons for a running back in college football history.
He has run for 2,164 yards this season, fourth-best in NCAA history, and still has two games to play. The junior has 26 touchdowns, a 300-yard game and five more with at least 200 yards. At the rate he's going, only Barry Sanders' 2,628 yards in 1989 will stand ahead of Smith's total this season.
Smith gets to add to those totals Saturday in the Conference USA championship against Tulsa.
Playing in C-USA, at one of those 'other' Florida schools, the hype that usually goes to players with Smith's abilities and statistics has eluded him. He's got no shot at the Heisman Trophy and didn't even make the final cut for the Doak Walker Award, despite putting up better numbers than the finalists: Michigan's Mike Hart, Arkansas' Darren McFadden and Rutgers' Ray Rice. Earlier this week, only two reporters were waiting to interview Smith after practice.
All you can do is what he does on the field," UCF coach George O'Leary said.
Smith has done little to draw attention to himself. Spare with self-promotion, he gets good grades, keeps his head down and gushes about the offensive line. The junior believably insists he's not sure he'll skip his senior season for the NFL draft, and won't without O'Leary's blessing.
"It's the week of the (Conference USA) championship," Smith said. "Worrying about whether I'm going to be here next year is the last thing that should be on my mind."
The thing about Smith, O'Leary and teammates say, is he actually means that stuff.
"Some guys give it lip service, but he truly means that, and he's never talked about any individual honors," O'Leary said. "All he talks about is he's never won. He's never ever won a team championship."
Whatever he's doing, it's working. Smith already has had the best season ever by a college running back in Florida, and is only the second back in the state to top 4,000 career yards.
O'Leary considers himself lucky to have Smith.
The coach happened to catch the 6-foot-1, 211-pounder as a junior at Miami's Southridge High School, when Smith was still playing tailback.
He switched to safety senior year, against his wishes, and was recruited mostly for defense.
I talked to a lot of coaches, but I guess when I finally told them I really wanted to play running back they kind of fell off," Smith said.
O'Leary, trying to rehabilitate an 0-11 team from his first season, knew immediately where to put Smith.
"He had great vision. He cut in the hole, he did things you don't teach, and he had some range to him," O'Leary said. "We were fortunate he was moved to free safety. I'm sure he was under the radar because of that."
Smith made an immediate impact. He ran for 1,178 yards in 2005, second best in the country as a freshman, and helped UCF to one of college football's greatest year-to-year turnarounds. The Knights made their first postseason appearances and Smith set a Hawaii Bowl record with 202 yards rushing, including a record 79-yard TD run.
Still, Smith was not widely regarded as a marquee talent, and was slowed in 2006 by a shoulder injury.
This season, he's been all but unstoppable. Smith ranks first in the country in scoring and virtually all rushing categories. He has 11 100-yard games, including 149 yards and two TDs in September against Texas -- so it's not like he can't get it done against the big guys.
"His freshman year he couldn't wait to get the ball, to get to the line and be a running back," O'Leary said. "I think his sophomore year he started looking at the defensive line and reading things. This year ... besides the line, (he's) reading linebackers. He's gotten a lot more patient with the ball in his hands."
Smith has also gotten stronger. He called himself the program's puniest player when he started three years ago. Smith now squats more than 600 pounds and estimates his 40-yard dash at 4.4, though he hasn't been timed since he registered that in high school.
"I give credit to the strength coaches," Smith said. "My freshman year I was the weakest guy on the team by far. Couldn't bench press 225 even one time, now I'm up to 15."
Smith has above-average speed and strength, but it's timing and vision that have made him a big-yardage threat. He averages 180 yards, and is the first player in 63 years to run for three TDs of at least 80 yards in he same season. Smith has also scored from 56, 44 and 41 yards.
"It's definitely a big motivation," offensive tackle Pat Brown said. "I could be a backside blocker and know that holding on for that one extra second, Kevin might see something that nobody else sees and he's going to break through it and make the big play."
Smith has rushed for more yards than all but two previous Heisman winners -- Sanders and Marcus Allen, who is second all-time with 2,342 in 1981. In third-place is Iowa State's Troy Davis, who ran for 2,185 in 1996.
Smith should easily Davis on Saturday and then catch Allen in a bowl game. He would have to average 232 yards the next two games to pass Sanders, who put up his numbers in 11 games.
"I guess anything's possible," Smith said, laughing in disbelief.
He's quietly made it seem that way all year.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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