Football
Associated Press 18y

League squads plagued by lack of offense

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Three games into his tenure at Colorado,
coach Dan Hawkins has yet to see the Buffaloes win -- or even score
in the second half.

He wasn't the only Big 12 coach to watch his offense struggle
this weekend.

Colorado fell to 0-3 Saturday, losing to Arizona State 21-3 in
Boulder. The Buffaloes have now lost seven straight dating back to
last season.

It hasn't been the start the former Boise State coach expected
when he took over for Gary Barnett after last season. Colorado has
scored 23 points in three games, its worst offensive stretch to
open a season since 1964.

"I know it's big boy football. Everybody is into wins and
losses and so am I," Hawkins said following the loss to the Sun
Devils. "But I've been in this thing long enough that I know what
it takes and I know what happens. The Buffs will be in the sun,
they will."

Iowa State, which will face Texas next Saturday, fell to
in-state rival Iowa 27-17 Saturday. The Cyclones led 14-3 late in
the first half, then watched quarterback Drew Tate slice up their
inexperienced secondary for a pair of second-half touchdowns.

After the game, coach Dan McCarney took heat for the lack of
touches junior wide receiver Todd Blythe, Iowa State's top threat,
saw against the Hawkeyes.

Blythe caught four passes, including an 8-yard TD pass in the
first quarter. But for the second straight week, Iowa State failed
to score a touchdown in the second half.

"It wasn't like we looked at our play-calling sheet (and
thought) 'How many times can I not throw it at Todd Blythe? There
was a lot of times we tried to get the ball to him because he's
such a quality player. Iowa's coverage really had a lot to do with
it," McCarney said.

Texas Tech scored just three points in its loss to TCU -- after
scoring 70 in its last meeting with the Horned Frogs -- and Nebraska
put up just 10 points at USC.

Coach Mike Leach is used to seeing his Red Raiders light up the
scoreboard. He wasn't too happy about his team's performance
following the game.

"I'll be nice about that and politically correct like you're
supposed to," Leach said. "But that was the sorriest offensive
effort I've ever seen. Today, I coached the worst offense in
America."

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops was in a different predicament. It
wasn't the Sooners offense he was mad at. It was the officials.

Stoops says he was "incredibly disappointed" after watching
tapes of a disputed onside kick and pass-interference penalty that
led to Oklahoma's 34-33 loss to Oregon.

"The instant replay was brought up to eliminate issues like
this. And here, there are a number of issues that are clearly --
looking at video -- wrong," Stoops said Sunday.

Of course, the news wasn't all bad. Texas rebounded from its
loss to Ohio State by holding Rice to minus-12 yards rushing in a
52-7 win, as freshman QB Colt McCoy threw for 124 yards and two
TDs.

"We're growing as a team. We're trying to figure out who we
are," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "I thought Colt did about
everything that he could right."

EXTRA POINTS: Kansas State beat Marshall, 23-7, as QB Dylan
Meier threw for 256 yards to help Ron Prince move to 3-0 in his
first season as head coach of the Wildcats. Missouri's Chase Daniel
completed 27 of 36 passes to lead the Tigers to a 3-0 start, and
Texas A&M QB Stephen McGee ran for 142 yards to help the Aggies
survive Army, 28-24, in San Antonio.

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QUOTABLE: "Big 12 competition begins, and lots of games left to
play, lots of football yet to be played. And I'm not going to let
my loss devastate this team," said McCarney following the
Cyclones' loss to Iowa. "We've got to refocus, correct our
mistakes, and get ready to move on and play Texas."

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