Colt McCoy – Quarterback for the Texas Longhorns

By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas

I've seen a couple of good games in Lubbock between the Red Raiders and Longhorns.

One of the best was a back-and-forth whopper in 1976 that Texas Tech won 31-28 ... only because Earl Campbell was injured late.

I've never seen one in Jones Stadium where the opposing quarterbacks will get this much scrutiny.

Colt McCoy and Graham Harrell are almost carbon copies of each other - same weight, same height. Graham is one year older, but both led their high school teams to great heights.

Colt set all kinds of Class 2A records at Jim Ned, and Graham did the same thing at Class 4A Ennis.

But that was then and this is now. Cue the stats, please.

Each has played in 8 games, and Graham holds the edge in just about all Big 12 statistical categories. He's ranked No. 1 out of 10 quarterbacks. Colt is No. 9

Graham is 245-of-356 for 2,505 yards, 25 TDs, 7 interceptions and a 313.1 yard average on a 68.8% completion rate.

Colt is 126-of-186 for 1,449 yards, 20 TDs, 3 interceptions and a 181.1 yard average on a 67.7% completion rate.

Of course, the philosophy of offensive attack has a lot to do with those numbers. The Red Raiders are a little more pass-happy than the Longhorns.

Colt does lead Graham in one category - passing efficiency. That's where they give all the stats to a bunch of geeks who multiply and divide until they have a number.

That number for Colt is 165.4, placing him third among Big 12 quarterbacks, while Graham's number is 147.2, making him fifth. Oklahoma State's Bobby Reid leads the conference with 177.7.

I'm thinking passing efficiency might be the difference in this game. It will be close again - maybe even as close as the Nebraska game.

Yeah, probably overtime. Who knows who'll win after that.

Here's a bit of an irony - Colt's father Brad now coaches at Graham. And if we dug deep enough, I bet Graham (the quarterback) had a colt (a young horse) when he was growing up.

Spooky, huh? Well, Halloween is coming up.