Big XII football Roundup

No. 9 Nebraska 31, Troy St. 16 <br><br>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ The way DeJuan Groce played, Nebraska could afford a bad performance by its offense. <br><br>Groce returned two punts for touchdowns and grabbed

Monday, September 2nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

No. 9 Nebraska 31, Troy St. 16

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ The way DeJuan Groce played, Nebraska could afford a bad performance by its offense.

Groce returned two punts for touchdowns and grabbed two interceptions to help the ninth-ranked Cornhuskers defeat Troy State 31-16 Saturday night.

Nebraska had 313 yards of offense, its lowest total since gaining 270 against Notre Dame in the third game of last season. The performance followed a sporadic effort in last week's opener against Arizona State.

``There is no question that we need to improve as an offense. We are young at some spots, and these were two very important games for us,'' coach Frank Solich said.

Nebraska: 2-0.

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No. 3 Texas 27, North Texas 0

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ It was steady at times, ugly at others.

Either way, No. 3 Texas' 27-0 victory over North Texas in the opener Saturday night was good enough.

Chris Simms passed for one touchdown and ran for another as Texas scored all of its points in the first half before bogging down in the second.

``Overall, I thought we looked like a good football team, not a great football team,'' coach Mack Brown said.

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No. 23 Texas A&M 31, Louisiana-Lafayette 7

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) _ Texas A&M's ``Wrecking Crew'' defense started the season by forcing more turnovers than any other team in Big 12 history.

Brian Gamble recovered two fumbles and had an interception as the 23rd-ranked Aggies came up with 10 turnovers in a 31-7 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday night.

``I don't every remember that many turnovers, and we had a couple of more interceptions that were possibilities,'' said A&M coach R.C. Slocum. ``This will be such a good teaching reel for our defense. All of the interceptions, guys were flying to the ball.''

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Louisiana Tech 39, Oklahoma St. 36

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) _ Luke McCown passed for 448 yards and three touchdowns, including a 23-yarder to Erick Franklin on fourth down in the final minute as Louisiana Tech defeated Oklahoma State 39-36 Saturday night.

Tech began a furious comeback after Oklahoma State took a 36-18 lead late in the third quarter.

McCown found Ahmad Harris for a 36-yard touchdown with 22 seconds left in the third quarter, then pulled Tech within 36-31 on a 99-yard drive that ended with a 4-yard bootleg by McCown with 4:30 to play.

McCown completed 38 of 66 passes. Harris had six catches for 98 yards and two scores.

``We were dropping balls all over but then we started clicking and came back. It is so easy to give up when you are down, but we kept coming back,'' Tech coach Jack Bicknell said.

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Iowa St. 45, Kansas 3

AMES, Iowa (AP) _ This time, there was no debate.

Seneca Wallace didn't get into the end zone. But his teammates did _ six times _ as Iowa State routed Kansas 45-3 on Saturday, spoiling Mark Mangino's debut as the Jayhawks' head coach.

``I have no problem with not scoring, not when we get the victory,'' said the Cyclones' quarterback, who was stopped twice at the 1-yard line in the closing seconds of last week's season-opening 38-31 loss to No. 3 Florida State.

The Iowa State defense had four sacks and set up three touchdown drives with interceptions.

``Three turnovers _ that puts us right on track,'' Iowa State coach Dan McCarney said. ``We want to get three or more every game.''

Iowa St.: 1-1, 1-0 Big 12. Kansas: 0-1, 0-1.

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California 70, Baylor 22

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) _ Jeff Tedford concocted a bit of trickery for the first play of his head coaching career at California.

Just like almost everything Cal did in the blowout victory that followed, that play was a complete, surprising success.

Beginning with a picture-perfect 71-yard double pass for a touchdown, the Golden Bears scored 35 points in the first quarter of a 70-22 victory over Baylor on Saturday that was nothing less than shocking for a team that went 1-10 last season.

``We wanted to pretty much start out the game with a bang and get the crowd into it,'' Tedford said. ``I don't think it was statement of anything except, 'We think this will score a touchdown.'''

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Kansas St. 48, Western Kentucky 3

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) _ In his first start Saturday night, Kansas State sophomore Darren Sproles ran for 130 yards on just 15 carries in the first half alone, dazzling Western Kentucky and leading the Wildcats to a 48-3 victory.

Sproles carried sparingly in the second half and wound up with 135 yards as the Wildcats recovered from a ragged start to score 31 points in the second quarter.

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Colorado St. 19, No. 7 Colorado 14

DENVER (AP) _ The Colorado State Rams no longer get intimidated when they play their more famous in-state rival. Three wins over Colorado in the last four years is evidence of that.

Bradlee Van Pelt ran 23 yards for a touchdown with 6:20 left as the Rams outlasted a second-half Colorado rally to beat the seventh-ranked Buffaloes 19-14 Saturday.

Rams coach Sonny Lubick said his team showed toughness, especially on defense.

``Defensively, we tried to make them earn every yard they got,'' Lubick said. ``We gave away some points with the missed extra point and some field goals. They're a pretty good defense, but we moved the ball in spurts.''

Colorado St.: 2-0. Colorado: 0-1.

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Missouri 33, Illinois 20

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ After a dazzling debut for Missouri, Brad Smith acted like it was no big deal.

Smith, a redshirt freshman, ran for 138 yards and passed for 152 in his first start, leading the Tigers to a 33-20 upset of Illinois on Saturday.

Smith, who became the first freshman in school history to start an opener, beat out senior Kirk Farmer for the No. 1 job in the spring and was difficult to contain all day. He sealed the victory with a 24-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run that gave Missouri a 33-14 lead. He also had a 39-yard run in the third. Throwing the ball, Smith was 15-for-26.

``That was remarkable,'' coach Gary Pinkel said. ``He's a very well-grounded young man, but we'll be critical enough of his performance to keep him working hard.''

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No. 1 Oklahoma 37, Tulsa 0

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Oklahoma's opener wasn't pretty, only successful.

The top-ranked Sooners stumbled through the first half Friday night, failing to score a touchdown against a Tulsa team that gave up 35 points per game last season.

They got on track in the second half, scoring five TDs to finish with a 37-0 victory and plenty of things to work on before Alabama gets to Norman next weekend.

``We fumble inside the 10, we throw two interceptions going in,'' coach Bob Stoops said. ``I think we'll learn from that.''