No. 2 Texas 42, No. 24 Colorado 17

Saturday, October 15th 2005, 6:32 pm

By: News On 6

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Vince Young ran for three touchdowns, passed for two more and No. 2 Texas avoided any post-Oklahoma letdown with a convincing 42-17 win over No. 24 Colorado on Saturday.

Off to its best start since an 11-0 regular season in 1983, the Longhorns appeared ripe for an upset _ or at least a close game _ after their emotional win over Oklahoma a week earlier snapped a five-year losing streak to the Sooners.

Instead, Texas (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) played its best half of football of the season to put the quickly put the game away.

Young was flawless running and passing in the first two quarters, scoring on runs of 1, 16 and 9 yards. He also threw a 35-yard TD pass to Limas Sweed that made it 35-3. Sweed and Young hooked up for another touchdown in the fourth.

Joel Klatt led Colorado (4-2, 2-1) with 189 yards passing and two touchdowns.

Given plenty of time to throw behind a dominant performance by his offensive line, Young finished with 394 total yards with a career-high 336 passing. His 86.2 percent completion rate (25-of-29) set a Texas record. He was 16-of-18 in the first half for 258 yards.

Instead of a lingering hangover from the Oklahoma win, it was Colorado who had to deal with a 6-foot-5, 230-pound headache of a quarterback.

Offensive tackle Jonathan Scott danced and waved his arms to pump up the crowd before Texas' first snap and the Longhorns drove 90 yards in 16 plays for the game's first TD. Young capped the drive with a 1-yard dive over the line. The Longhorns were aggressive, converting three third downs on the drive and a fourth-and-4 at the Colorado 40 when Young hit Brian Carter for 24 yards.

Young's second touchdown came on a bobbing, weaving run after he faked left, turned right, broke a couple of tackles and reached the ball over the corner pylon.

After Klatt threw an interception, Young hit Brian Carter for 62 yards to set up Selvin Young's scoring run from the 5 that made it 21-0.

After his third rushing TD, Young then floated a perfect pass to Sweed, who beat Colorado's Tyrone Henderson in the end zone for the score.