Home » Sports » NCAA College Football » Texas to retire Williams' No. 34

Texas to retire Williams' No. 34

© Chuck Bednar

The University of Texas has announced that it will retire the No. 34 made famous by Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams.

Williams, the first-round draft pick of the New Orleans Saints, set the NCAA Division I career rushing record as a Longhorn. He is just the third UT athlete star to receive such an honor - Earl Campbell and Roger Clemens were the others. Williams, who also wore No. 11 and No. 37 during his career, will be recognized at a ceremony in Austin later this year.

"Everybody in the world knew we'd probably do this - it was nobody's bright idea," men's athletics director DeLoss Dodds told reporters on Wednesday. "Retiring his number is appropriate and it was earned."

Liberty Bowl to host Mountain West, C-USA champions - For the first time in the 40-year history of the postseason classic, the Liberty Bowl will guarantee a battle of conference champions.

On Thursday, Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart and Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson announced that the winner of the MWC will face the Conference USA champion in the Liberty Bowl for the next three years. This year's edition will be played Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. ET, and will be nationally televised on ESPN.

Penn State defeated Alabama 7-0 in the first Liberty Bowl, on Dec. 19, 1959. Tulane defeated BYU 41-27 in last year's game. The Mountain West Conference includes Air Force Academy, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah and Wyoming. Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Southern Mississippi and Tulane make up C-USA.

SMU star Wilson dead at 85 - Former Southern Methodist running back Bobby Wilson, who led SMU to the national championship in football in 1935, died Saturday night at the 85. Wilson had a heart condition for the past five years and suffered a mild heart attack on Wednesday.

Wilson caught the winning touchdown pass in SMU's 20-14 victory over Texas Christian on the final day of the 1935 regular season for the Southwest Conference championship. SMU then went on to the Rose Bowl, where the Mustangs suffered a 6-0 loss to Stanford. Both SMU and TCU finished the season with one loss, but it was the Mustangs who were awarded the Grantland Rice Trophy as national champions.

Wilson was both all-Southwest Conference and consensus all-America for two years, and played professionally with the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National Football League in 1936 and 1937. He was one of the first inductees of the Texas High School Hall of Fame and was also elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame.

The copyright of the article Texas to retire Williams' No. 34 in NCAA College Football is owned by . Permission to republish Texas to retire Williams' No. 34 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.