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Simms is heart of Texas

With a win today, the QB can help Longhorns forget last season's bitter loss to Oklahoma.

By BOB HARIG

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 6, 2001

DALLAS -- The heat is nothing new. Chris Simms has been feeling it since he was a kid who excelled at sports while his father starred as quarterback for the New York Giants. He endured it as a quarterback at Ramapo (N.J.) High. And it continued through a high-profile recruiting process.

Today offers something different for the University of Texas quarterback. The annual Red River Shootout between Texas and Oklahoma hasn't seen such stakes in a generation, and Simms will have the eyes of the Lone Star State upon him.

Not to mention those of the Oklahoma Sooners, the defending national champions who humiliated the Longhorns a season ago.

"This is the biggest game of my career," Simms said. "They're coming off a national championship. We're trying to win one. There's more fuel to the fire this year. And it's up to me to lead this team."

Whether he is able to do so today at the Cotton Bowl has been the subject of considerable debate since Simms arrived at Texas -- after originally committing to Tennessee -- two years ago.

The fifth-ranked Longhorns are 4-0 for the first time since 1983 and made it through September undefeated for the first time since 1985, the last time these teams met undefeated.

The winner will emerge as the favorite to capture the Big 12 South title, and the loser will be all but eliminated from the national championship race.

The third-ranked Sooners (4-0) enter with a 17-game winning streak, including last year's 63-14 victory over the Longhorns.

That game is still on the minds of Texas players, who saw the Sooners score on their first five possessions and mug for the cameras afterward. Simms didn't start that game, but when he did get in, he promptly threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown. Simms was sacked four times and had less than 3 yards per pass attempt.

"It was unbelievable we got our butts kicked that badly," said Simms, who entered the game with the Longhorns trailing 28-0. "It's something you couldn't forget if you tried. And when you finally did forget about it, people brought it up again.

"We were just in shock. We didn't know what to think, what to say, didn't even know what happened. It was unbelievable. It was so out of my control, just sitting there watching the game. We couldn't stop them, and we couldn't get anything going."

The Longhorns, however, seemed to pull together after that defeat. They have gone 10-1 since, their only defeat coming to Oregon in the Holiday Bowl. Despite four interceptions in that game, Simms was named the Texas starter in spring practice by coach Mack Brown, in part to end the controversy and also to give him a boost of confidence.

That was no small decision. Backup quarterback Major Applewhite was the 1999 co-Big 12 offensive player of the year and holds 40 Texas school records. He's a senior, and more than a few Texas followers believe he should be leading the team. But Applewhite has had two knee surgeries, and Simms is considered more mobile.

"It was really painful," Brown said of the decision. "But it's more painful for a coach not to have a quarterback. I've also been in that position. I was hired at the University of Texas to win football games."

After a slow start, Simms has excelled in the past two games as the Longhorns opened up the offense. Last week, he completed 21 of 26 passes, including his first 10, in a 42-7 victory over Texas Tech.

That caused Oklahoma co-defensive coordinator Mike Stoops -- brother of coach Bob Stoops -- to remark that Simms is "10 times better than last year." That comment raised some eyebrows in Texas, especially in light of Stoops' preseason words about Simms. He wondered why Simms was on the cover of a 2001 college football magazine, questioned whether Simms was even the best quarterback at Texas and said magazine editors "must think he's Phil Simms."

Much like Peyton Manning, Simms has the bloodlines for football. A 6-foot-5, 225-pound junior left-hander, he finished last season as the Big 12's passing efficiency leader. Receivers Roy Williams, B.J. Johnson and Sloan Thomas combined for 90 receptions and 14 touchdowns last season.

"Chris has grown up with a football background," Brown said. "He is a tough guy who has seen his dad receive a lot of praise and a lot of criticism. Chris has tough skin, which you need to have in order to play quarterback at this school. I think the more people who challenge him, the better he plays."

Longhorn fans hope so. This is the sort of game for which Simms was recruited.

"It'll be different, but it's something I'm ready for," Simms said.

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