by Matthew Zemek

Bowl season roundup

Bowl recaps and analysis:

EagleBank: Wake 29, Navy 19 | CFN
New Mexico: Colo. St. 40, Fresno St. 35
St. Petersburg: S. Florida 41, Memphis 14
Las Vegas: Arizona 31, BYU 21 | CFN
New Orleans: SMU 30, Troy 27 (OT) | CFN
Poinsettia: TCU 17, Boise St. 16 | CFN
Hawaii: Notre Dame 49, Hawaii 21 | CFN
Motor City: FAU 24, Cen. Mich. 21 | CFN
Meineke: W. Virginia 31, UNC 30 | CFN
Champs Sports: Fla. St. 42, Wis. 13 | CFN
Emerald: Cal 24, Miami 17 | CFN
Independence: La. Tech 17, NIU 10 | CFN
Papajohns.com: Rutgers 29, N.C. St. 23
Alamo: Mizzou 30, N'west. 23 (OT) | CFN
Humanitarian: Maryland 42, Nevada 35
Texas: Rice 38, W. Michigan 14
Holiday: Oregon 42, Oklahoma St. 31 | CFN
Armed Forces: Houston 34, Air Force 28
Sun: Oregon St. 3, Pittsburgh 0 | CFN
Music City: Vandy 16, BC 14 | CFN
Insight: Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
Chick-fil-A: LSU 38, Georgia Tech 3
Outback: Iowa 31, South Carolina 10 | CFN
Capital One: Georgia 24, MSU 12 | CFN
Gator: Nebraska 26, Clemson 21
Rose: USC 38, Penn St. 24 | Analysis
Orange: Va. Tech 20, Cincinnati 7
Cotton: Ole Miss 47, Texas Tech 34
Liberty: Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19
Sugar: Utah 31, Alabama 17
International: UConn 38, Buffalo 20
Fiesta: Texas 24, Ohio St. 21 | Analysis
GMAC: Tulsa 45, Ball St. 13
BCS title: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14
Complete bowl schedule

Photo gallery:

• Fiesta Bowl snapshots
• Snapshots from Saturday's bowls
• Best from bowl season's 1st weekend

Shopping:

• Get your '09 BCS bowl gear!

In the state of Texas, fewer mythical figures carry more weight in the popular imagination than the cowboy, the gunslinger who rides into town and picks off bad guys from all angles to enable justice to prevail.

John Wayne and Clint Eastwood made this figure famous in the world of cinema. Saturday afternoon in Dallas, an even better real-life sniper made the state of Texas — and its flagship football program — his very own.

Colt McCoy.

The name is Texas through and through, and the game is the best in college football right now. Forced to come back time and again in the face of five Sooner touchdowns, McCoy — who spent most of this day on the run and behind on the scoreboard — refused to flinch. His cool head and rifle arm carried No. 5 Texas over the team that will no longer occupy the top spot in the national rankings ... or, for that matter, the Big 12 South standings.

Yes, Brian Orakpo led a resurgent defensive line for the Longhorns, who buckled down in the fourth quarter to stymie Sam Bradford when the game's outcome hung in the balance.

Yes, receivers like Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley were able to beat the Sooner secondary in ways that past Texas receivers couldn't in the early part of this decade, when the Crimson and Cream ran roughshod over the 'Horns.

Yes, Chris Agbonnaya provided the running attack Oklahoma could never muster in this game. Texas did receive a resourceful effort from a number of performers who all chipped in to make a difference.

But the key to this game was McCoy, who scored his second win over Oklahoma and improved his place in the pantheon of Texas-sized Longhorn legends. Running with a swiftness that his counterpart Bradford lacked, and throwing lasers into small openings in numerous third-down situations, McCoy produced under pressure in every imaginable circumstance, but particularly when his team trailed.

Because Bradford wasn't exactly chopped liver in this game, the Sooners' offense — controlled just enough by Texas in the final quarter — still moved the ball with considerable ease for most of the day. OU's potency enabled the Sooners to gain 7-0, 14-3, 21-10, 28-20, and 35-30 leads. The uphill fighting fell to Texas in a contest where the Sooners set the pace early on.

The record will show, then, that McCoy — with the sole exception of Texas' first touchdown, on a kickoff return — brought his team back after the Longhorns fell behind in each of those instances. His performance was amazing enough in its own right; that McCoy could deliver the goods, however, while constantly facing a scoreboard deficit is the element of his effort that towers above the rest.

McCoy was up to the challenge that stared him down in Dallas. That's why Texas will face Missouri next Saturday with its national championship aspirations still very much intact.