Regional College Football Previews

CAPACITY: 85,500

SURFACE: Grass

LINE: Texas by 13

KEY STATS: Texas leads the series with Stanford, 2-1, including a 69-17 victory over the Cardinal in Austin last year. ... Texas is 19-8 against Pac-10 teams. ... Stanford is coming off its third straight loss to San Jose State, a 40-27 setback in Stanford Stadium last week. ... Texas has gone three straight games without a 100-yard rusher. ... Stanford hasn't had a 100-yard rusher in four games. ... UT moved practice from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. this week to simulate the late kickoff in California on Saturday. ... UT is the first top 10 team to visit Stanford Stadium since No. 4 Arizona State on Oct. 26, 1996.

STANFORD UPDATE: The Cardinal hasn't beaten a top 10 team since knocking off No. 7 Colorado, 41-37, on Sept. 18, 1993. ... Stanford has scored 45 of its 51 points this season in the first half. ...Stanford has won just one of its last six out-of-league games in the last two-plus years. ... The Cardinal gave up 254 yards rushing to San Jose State RB Deonce Whitaker in a loss last week. ... Stanford has won its last five games after losses. ... The Cardinal, which led the Pac-10 in passing and total offense in 1999, has four pass plays of over 40 yards in its first two games.

TEXAS UPDATE: After averaging 6 yards on punt returns last year, UT has set a goal to average 10 yards this season. So far, the average is 9.3 yards. ... UT scored on seven of seven trips inside the opponent's 20-yard-line in a victory over Louisiana-Lafayette last week. ...Texas didn't give up a sack on 40 passing attempts in the victory over ULL. ... Opponents have averaged 2.7 yards per carry against Texas over the last 23 games. ... Texas had only one punt (of 48 yards) in its season opener last week. ... Texas has averaged 3.9 sacks over the past 20 games.

– Chip Brown

CAPACITY: 80,650

LINE: Texas A&M by 24½

SURFACE: Grass

KEY STATS: The Miners and Aggies will meet for only the second time. The teams' only previous meeting, in 1984, turned out to be an unexpected nail-biter. A&M won, 20-17, when a last-second UTEP field goal attempt bounced off the upright at Kyle Field ... The Aggies have won 20 straight at home, which ranks behind only Florida State, Tennessee and Kansas State as the longest in the nation ... A&M is 25-0 against non-conference opponents at Kyle Field, a streak that dates to 1988 ... The Miners have lost 10 straight games to teams currently in the Big 12. UTEP's last victory over a team currently in the Big 12 was against Texas Tech in 1957.

UTEP UPDATE: The Miners beat SMU, 37-20, last Saturday after suffering a season-opening 55-14 road loss to Oklahoma ... The Miners rolled up 410 yards of offense against SMU behind a 206-yard passing display from Rocky Perez, a 105-yard rushing effort from FB Rovann Cleveland and a 143-yard receiving performance from WR Lee Mays, who ranks No. 17 nationally in receiving ... UTEP's defense surrendered 495 yards to the Mustangs ... PK Ricky Bishop kicked three field goals against SMU and scored 13 points, the most by a UTEP kicker in 13 years ... LB Trey Merkens leads UTEP with 17 tackles ... Sammy Garza, who quarterbacked the Miners to their near-upset of the Aggies in 1984, is now UTEP's quarterbacks coach.

TEXAS A&M UPDATE: The Aggies pounded Wyoming, 51-3, last Saturday after opening the season with a 24-10 loss at Notre Dame ... A&M features a big-play offense pegged on new QB Mark Farris and a host of wide receivers. Farris is 30-of-49 after two games for 437 yards. ... Foremost among Farris' targets is junior college pickup Robert Ferguson, who owns 12 catches for 253 yards – most than one-third of A&M's total offense for two games. Ferguson ranks second nationally in receiving yards ... TB Richard Whitaker leads A&M rushers with 111 yards on 17 carries ... With FS Michael Jameson still nursing an ankle injury, the Aggies are expected to start two sophomores, a redshirt freshman and a junior walk-on in the secondary.

– Al Carter

CAPACITY: 50,500

LINE: Tech by 31½

SURFACE: Artificial

KEY STATS: The Red Raiders lead the series, 4-0. The teams first met in 1994 in Lubbock and again in 1996 and 1997 at Jones SBC Stadium. Tech won, 38-17, last season in Lafayette, La. ... Tech has averaged 48.0 points while holding ULL to 14.8 points in the four-game series. ... The Red Raiders have not trailed this season. ... The Red Raiders are riding a seven-game home winning streak that began with a 21-19 win over Texas A&M last Oct. 2.

LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE UPDATE: True freshman Jon Van Cleave, a highly recruited prospect from Pantego Christian in Arlington, will start at quarterback against Texas Tech now that junior Derek Dyer has left the team for personal reasons following last week's 52-10 loss at Texas. ... ULL yielded 52 unanswered points to the Longhorns after jumping out to a 10-0 lead. ...ULL coach Jerry Baldwin is 2-11 in his second year as coach. ... The Ragin' Cajuns have 59 freshmen and sophomores on their roster, including 22 true freshmen. ...ULL will shed its Division I-A independent status after the 2000 season in favor of the Sun Belt Conference. The Ragin' Cajuns left the Big West Conference after the 1995 season and have been an independent since. They will be joined in the Sun Belt by North Texas.

TECH UPDATE: Texas Tech is the only Division I-A team in the country with a 3-0 record. ... The Red Raiders have six passing touchdowns and just one rushing touchdown this season. That's in stark contrast to last season, when Tech had 17 rushing TDs and 13 passing TDs overall. ... The Red Raiders are averaging 385 yards of total offense this season, or 60.2 yards better than last year's 324.8-yard average. ... The Tech defense has allowed only two touchdowns, both to Utah State. ... Mike Leach is only the second head coach in Tech football history to win his first three games. Dell Morgan won his first five games during in 1941.

– Bart Hubbuch

CAPACITY: 51,500

LINE: N.C. State by 9

SURFACE: Grass

KEY STATS: SMU won the only game between these two, 35-14, at the Cotton Bowl in 1968. ... SMU QB Josh McCown leads the WAC and ranks ninth nationally in total offense with 307 yards per game. ... N.C. State QB Philip Rivers leads the nation in total offense. ... Rivers has passed for 798 yards in two games. ... The SMU pass defense is ranked 67th in the nation. ... The Mustangs have yielded 416 passing yards in two games. ... SMU's Chris Cunningham leads the WAC in kickoff returns with an average of 24.7. ... LB Vic Viloria had 11 tackles (7 solos) against UTEP. ... Viloria leads the team with 21 tackles.

SMU UPDATE: SMU gave up 410 yards of offense in its 37-20 loss to UTEP last week in El Paso. ... QB Josh McCown passed for a career-high 420 yards and posted a school-record 439 yards of total offense in last week's loss. ... Kicker Jacob Crowley missed field goals from 43 and 48 yards last week. ... Starting defensive tackle Lute Croy is out with a sprained MCL. Chris Post will start. ... Starting guard Thornton Chandler is doubtful and would be replaced by Kevin Gober. ... SMU has lost five of its last six road games.

N.C. STATE UPDATE: The Wolfpack won in double-overtime against Arkansas State and came from behind to beat Indiana, 41-38, on the road Saturday. ... Tight end Willie Wright caught nine passes and two touchdowns. He sat out last year with academic and personal problems. ... Freshman QB Philip Rivers tied the school record with five touchdown passes last week. ... The Wolfpack running game is led by Ray Robinson, who has 39 carries for 204 yards and two touchdowns. ... Free safety Terrence Holt, younger brother of St. Louis Rams WR Torry Holt, blocked a 37-yard field goal that would have tied the score as time expired.

– Rana L. Cash

CAPACITY: 44,008

LINE: TCU by 12 ½

SURFACE: Grass

KEY STATS: Northwestern defeated TCU, 17-7, last year, and 35 of the 44 offensive and defensive players who started that game will start again Saturday. The Wildcats have 17 back, and TCU has 18.

NORTHWESTERN UPDATE: The Wildcats have produced 412 and 472 total yards, respectively, against Northern Illinois (a 35-17 win) and Duke (38-5) the past two weeks. ... Junior Damien Anderson became the fourth Northwestern running back in the past five years to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing last season, and he's on his way to another big season. Anderson produced 81 yards in the team's opener before sitting out the second half, and he piled up 187 yards (on 21 carries) against Duke with TD runs of 56 and 66 yards. ... Junior QB Zac Kustok completed 16 of 27 attempts in both games without an interception for 373 yards and three TDs overall.

TCU UPDATE: The Horned Frogs look for their seventh consecutive victory dating to last season, which would be the school's longest since the 1959 team also won seven straight. ... TCU's defense has allowed 150 rushing yards (on 178 attempts) the past six games combined, including stopping Nevada for 11 yards on 36 attempts last week. The Frogs held Northwestern to 81 rushing yards in last year's meeting. ... Sophomore Joey Biasatti averaged 49.5 yards (aided greatly by a 79-yarder) on four punts in his first start last week. ... TCU is 1-2 against the Big Ten, but this is the first time one of the conference's schools has played in Fort Worth since 1969, when Purdue defeated the Frogs, 42-35.

– Dan Noxon

CAPACITY: 50,000

LINE: Minnesota by 8 ½

SURFACE: Grass

KEY STATS: The Golden Gophers are showing a propensity for big plays. Of their five TD passes, four have gone for more than 35 yards. Despite allowing a whopping 414 points last season, Baylor allowed only three scoring plays of more than 20 yards (passes of 22, 26 and 74 yards).

MINNESOTA UPDATE: Speedy junior WR Ron Johnson has caught 10 passes in two games for 224 yards and four TDs. He'll probably be matched up with Baylor senior CB Gary Baxter most of the day. ... Former Grapevine and Colleyville Heritage standout Tellis Redmon leads the Gophers in rushing with 176 yards. ... Redmon, a sophomore, is one of five players with Texas ties, including two transfers from SMU: senior WR Jack Brewer (Grapevine, SMU), junior CB Andre Brown (Carter), sophomore TE Scooter Baugus (FW Eastern Hills) and senior DE Karon Riley (SMU). ... Riley was a preseason All-America choice by Football News. He led the Big Ten and was second in the nation last year with 16 sacks and has two this season.

BAYLOR UPDATE: The Bears are 2-8-1 against current Big Ten members, but they've won the only game played in Waco (10-0 vs. Indiana in 1971). This is the first meeting for these two schools. ... Baylor's 20-7 victory at North Texas two weeks ago snapped a 16-game road losing streak and was the fewest points allowed by the Bears since a 34-6 victory over Rice in 1995. ... Baylor has not started a season 2-0 since 1996, its first in the Big 12. ... Minnesota is the first of five Baylor opponents that played in a bowl game last season.

– Dan Noxon

CAPACITY: 48,000

LINE: No line

SURFACE: AstroPlay

KEY STATS: First meeting between the two schools. ... Southwest Texas is OSU's first I-AA opponent since the 1996 opener against Southwest Missouri, whose head coach is current OSU offensive coordinator Del Miller ... Southwest Texas alumnus Lyndon Baines Johnson is the only U.S. president to attend a Texas university.

SOUTHWEST TEXAS UPDATE: Bobcats of coach Bob DeBesse have defeated Midwestern State (34-13) and lost to Cal State-Northridge (19-13) in overtime. ... Sophomore Lee Davis has run for more than 100 yards (104, 106) in each of Southwest Texas' first two games ... Secondary coach Chad Glasgow was a four-year letter-winner at Oklahoma State and was a graduate assistant under Bob Simmons in 1995. Injuries: RB Lee Davis (thigh bruise), questionable; RB Bronson Sanders (sprained knee), questionable.

OKLAHOMA STATE UPDATE: TB Reggie White enjoyed a banner opener with 187 rushing yards in 36-26 victory at Tulsa. ... QB Tony Lindsay hit 11 of 20 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. ... WR Willie Young caught two passes, both for TDs. – Charlie Smith

CAPACITY: 36,800

LINE: UNLV by 14

SURFACE: Grass

KEY STATS: UNT RB Ja'Quay Wilburn, who had 22 carries for 113 yards last year against UNLV, has only 21 attempts for 48 yards in two games this season. ... UNLV QB Jason Thomas the transfer QB from Southern Cal, completed 9-of-25 passes for 190 yards and twotouchdowns. He also rushed for 107 yards and another score in a 37-22 loss at Iowa State.

UNT UPDATE: After the offense scored a combined 14 points in losses to Baylor and Texas Tech, UNT head coach Darrell Dickey named freshman Scott Hall as the quarterback for Saturday's game against UNLV. Hall is the first true freshman to start under center since 1995, when Josh Gulley started against LSU in the seventh game of the season. ... Junior LB Brad Kassell was named Big West Defensive Player of the Week, and Jason Ball was honored for his punting (eight punts, 43.6-yard average).

UNLV UPDATE: Senior WR Nate Turner caught both touchdown passes and finished with 140 yards on six catches. ... The last time UNLV faced UNT was John Robinson's debut in the first game of the 1999 season. The Rebels' 26-3 win ended UNLV's 16-game losing streak and 26-game losing streak on the road.

– Richard Durrett