Colt Mc Coy - College Career - 2008 Season

2008 Season

On January 2, 2008 UT running back Jamaal Charles decided to forgo his senior season with Texas in favor of joining the NFL as a professional football player in the 2008 NFL Draft. With Charles' departure, McCoy became the leading returning rusher for the 2008 Longhorns.

McCoy rose in the record books during the first four games of the season. On August 30, 2008 McCoy passed for 222 yards and rushed for 103 yards against FAU, becoming the 2nd player in UT history to pass for 200 and rush for 100 yards in more than one game; the other being Vince Young. On September 20 Colt McCoy surpassed the Texas All-Time record for the most passing TD's with 62 while beating Rice 52–10. The record was previously held by Major Applewhite. Through the first four games of 2008, McCoy completed 80% of his passes and had a quarterback rating of 209.71.

The Longhorns opened conference play against the Colorado Buffaloes and UT won 38–14. McCoy threw for two touchdowns and moved past Ricky Williams into second on Texas' all-time list for touchdowns responsible for (passing, rushing, receiving). McCoy at that point had 77, while Williams had 76 with the Horns. UT continued conference play by defeating #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the 2008 Texas vs. Oklahoma football game. McCoy was 28 for 35 for 277 yards and one touchdown, bringing Texas to the position of the #1 in the AP poll for the first time since 1984. (passing Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, and LSU.)

On October 18, against Missouri, McCoy completed the game with 337 yards on 29-of-32 passing with two touchdowns, rushed for two more and at one point completed a school-record 17 passes in a row. His completion ratio of 79% coming into the game improved as he completed 91% of his passes in this game. His four touchdowns put him alone in first place for the most career touchdowns scored at Texas (82), passing Vince Young (81).

UT lost to Texas Tech with one second remaining in the game. McCoy gave a good performance but came up short as his Red Raider counterpart, Graham Harrell had an outstanding day. Following that loss, UT fell to #4 in the BCS rankings. They climbed to #3 the following week as the Horns beat Baylor and former #3 Penn State lost. The win over Baylor was the 829th win for the UT football program, which tied Notre Dame for 2nd in the list of college football's ten most victorious programs.

McCoy led the Longhorns to a 35–7 road victory over the Kansas, ensuring their eighth consecutive season with ten or more wins per season. That is the longest active streak in the nation and it ties them with Miami (1985–92) for the second-longest streak of all-time. It was Colt McCoy's 30th career win, which tied him with Vince Young for the school record. McCoy completed 24 of 35 passing attempts (71%) for 255 yards and 2 touchdown passes. He was also the leading rusher for both schools, rushing for 78 yards and a touchdown. McCoy's two touchdown passes put him at 31 for the season, breaking his own school record.

McCoy had another great performance against in-state rival Texas A&M in the final game of the regular season. This is the longest running rivalry both schools and the biggest margin of victory in the history of the rivalry occurred when Texas beat A&M 48–0 in 1898. McCoy and the Longhorns nearly equaled that record this year by producing a 49–9 victory, the second-largest margin of victory for this rivalry series.

The win was the 31st for Colt McCoy, setting a new school record. McCoy rushed for 2 touchdowns and threw for 2 more. He completed 23 of 28 attempted passes (82%) for a total of 311 yards. That yardage put him at 3,594 yards for the season - another school record. His longest pass of the evening, 68 yarder on a post route to Jordan Shipley late in the third quarter, ended up a yard short of being McCoy’s fifth touchdown of the evening.

On January 5, 2009, McCoy led the Longhorns to 24–21 victory over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. McCoy completed 41-of-59 passes for 414 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He was named the Offensive Player of the Game for his performance.