College Football Poll, 2006 Alamo Bowl Recap

Texas Overcomes 14-0 Deficit
by Mike Mitchell
12/30/06 8:20 pm est

Colt McCoy threw two touchdown passes to help rally Texas past Iowa 26-24 in the Alamo Bowl. In doing so, McCoy tied the freshman touchdown pass record set by Nevada's David Neill in 1998.

Iowa raced to a 14-0 lead on Drew Tate's 63-yard pass to Andy Brodell with 8:30 still left in the first quarter. But McCoy's first touchdown pass, with just 45 seconds left in the first half, cut the margin to 14-10 at halftime.

In the third quarter, a second Ryan Bailey field goal and McCoy's second TD pass put the Longhorns in front 20-14. However, Iowa wasn't prepared to roll over and play dead.

After an exchange of punts, Tate led Iowa on a 4-play, 67-yard touchdown drive at the end of the third quarter and Iowa regained the lead at 21-20.

Texas got the lead back for good on the next possession. McCoy's 8-yard run on fourth down set up Selvin Young's 2-yard touchdown run that proved to be the game winner. An attempted two-point conversion pass failed.

After the ensuing kick-off, Iowa marched to a 38-yard field goal to trim the Longhorn lead to 26-24 with 6:20 remaining in the game. The Hawkeyes got the ball back at the Texas 48 with 3:16 left, but three plays lost eleven yards. After the punt, Texas ran off most of the clock and only two seconds remained when Iowa got the ball again at its own 15-yard line.

The rally prevented Texas from ending the year on a 3-game losing streak after the Longhorns had fallen to Kansas State and Texas A&M to close out the regular season.

Texas concluded the season 10-3 while Iowa lost for the sixth time in its last seven games to finish the year at 6-7.