Texas Clinches Swc Title

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Freshman Ricky Williams scored two touchdowns against the nation’s top defense Saturday and No. 9 Texas snapped No. 16 Texas A&M’s 31-game home winning streak with a 16-6 victory at College Station, Texas, that clinched the last Southwest Conference championship.

The Longhorns (10-1-1, 7-0 SWC) will play in either the Orange or Sugar bowls while the Aggies (8-3, 5-2) get the consolation prize of meeting Michigan on Dec. 29 in the Alamo Bowl at San Antonio. The final bowl lineups will be announced today.

Texas snapped a four-game losing streak to the Aggies and gave John Mackovic his first win in the series after three losses. It was the first Texas triumph at Kyle Field since 1983. A&M had won 10 of the last 11 games.

Both A&M and Texas join the Big 12 Conference next year and this was their last SWC meeting in a series that started in 1894.

Williams, who broke Earl Campbell’s school rushing record for freshmen, scored on a 21-yard run in the first half, then produced 62 of the 79 yards in a critical third-quarter scoring drive. He bolted 44 yards and then tore off a 17-yard run before Williams scored from 3 yards out.

In the fourth period, Williams got 23 yards on a screen pass to position Texas for Phil Dawson’s 26-yard field goal.

The 6-foot, 225-pound Williams, one of California’s top high school running backs two years ago in San Diego, rushed 24 times for 163 yards. He has 990 yards rushing to Campbell’s 928 in 1974.

Texas led 6-0 after a first half of lost fumbles, interceptions, penalties, and stirring defense.

Texas finally cracked the Aggies defense, which had allowed only 244 yards per game, late in the second quarter, aided by a key pass-interference penalty.

A 29-yard pass from James Brown to Justin McLemore got the 70-yard drive under way. Then cornerback Ray Mickens was flagged for interfering with Mike Adams in the Aggies end zone.

Texas then caught the Aggies in an all-out blitz as Williams escaped around right end behind the clearing block of Wane McGarity on a 21-yard TD run. Texas blew the extra point attempt when Jay Humphrey made a bad snap.

Houston 18, Rice 17

In Houston, the once-glorious Southwest Conference closed its 81-year history in exciting fashion. The Cougars scored 15 fourth-quarter points, then saw the Owls miss a 38-yard field goal with 12 seconds left to give Houston a victory.

In a game overshadowed by Texas’ victory over Texas A&M - jokingly referred to as the last SWC game that mattered - the Owls and Cougars played the league’s true finale.

Rice officials intentionally scheduled kickoff 90 minutes after the start of Texas-Texas A&M to make sure it was the league’s final game.

Only 28,400 people bothered coming to the 70,000-seat Rice Stadium for the finale. Rice (2-8-1, 1-6) led 17-3 going into the fourth behind two short TD runs by Jamey Whitlock.

QB Chuck Clements began the Houston (2-9, 2-5) rally by hitting Damion Johnson on a 20-yard TD pass with 11:36 to play. Then, with 1:19 left, Clements lobbed a pass down the right sideline that Larkay James ran under for a 43-yard TD. Down 17-16, Houston went for two. Clements scrambled right, then saw Johnson breaking away from single coverage in the middle of the end zone. Clements threw the ball to Johnson’s right and he caught it to give Houston its first lead of the game.