Colt McCoy, Texas Not Messing Around

If one of the Big Three in college football this year was lacking (almost wholly unnecessary) style points entering this week, it was Texas. The Longhorns had failed to score more than 41 points since a blood-letting of UTEP in September, a series of slow starts had mitigated the enthusiasm for eventual routs and their Heisman candidate quarterback had been letting the spotlight shift to his speedy roommate with uncharacteristic interceptions.

Today, Texas and Colt McCoy fixed those problems, with a little help from Baylor.

A 40-0 first half is impressive by score alone, but Texas' domination ran deeper. The Longhorns' offense scored five touchdowns, and had seven drives of 25 yards or more, rolling up 326 yards on 49 plays for a healthy 6.65 yards per snap. Their defense was even better: After ending a frisky initial drive of 68 yards with a pick, the 'Horns gave up no drives of more than nine yards for the rest of the half, and forced the Bears into negative yardage on four separate series.

So far, this is also McCoy's only game with multiple touchdowns and no picks this season, which may help him break out of an uninspiring Heisman field.

No, Texas doesn't need to win convincingly: A zero in the loss column, and there will be burnt orange in Pasadena come January. But imposing their will like this makes the prospect of a championship game against Florida or Alabama seem more like a title bout and less like an SEC coronation.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.