Colorado

at No. 2 Texas 38, Colorado 14: Earl Thomas returned an interception 92 yards for a touchdown and Ben Wells recovered a blocked punt for another score to help the Longhorns (5-0 overall, 2-0 in Big 12 Conference) pull away from the Buffaloes (1-4, 0-1) in the second half. Jordan Shipley returned a punt for a touchdown in the fourth quarter for the Longhorns. Colt McCoy completed 32 of 39 passes for 265 yards with one touchdown and one interception for Texas, whose 313 yards was its lowest output this season and 200 yards below its average.

As the silvery UFO-shaped balloon sailed over the high plains and a national television audience watched transfixed Thursday, the Colorado Army National Guard scrambled combat helicopters for a possible rescue of the 6-year-old boy reportedly inside. Flights in and out of Denver International Airport were rerouted. On the ground, would-be rescuers with eyes skyward chased the craft along winding back roads. CNN upped its tape delay to 10 seconds, lest it broadcast a tragedy live.

Reporting from Fort Collins, Colo., and Los Angeles -- The strange case of Falcon Heene took another twist Sunday when a Colorado sheriff said the boy's parents had staged the runaway balloon saga as a publicity stunt to score a reality television show. "There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that this was a hoax," Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said at a news conference in Fort Collins. Richard and Mayumi Heene planned the caper for at least two weeks, he said, and are likely to face felony charges.

As investigators consider whether to file felony charges against the Colorado couple suspected of crafting the riveting boy-supposedly-in-the-balloon story, attention is focusing on the boy himself -- specifically the line that many people have taken to be a ratting out of his father. Falcon Heene, all of 6 years old and at the center of a sudden and overwhelming media frenzy, commented to father Richard Heene during a CNN interview: "You had said that we did this for a show." With that sentence, what had seemed like an extraordinary accident came under intense scrutiny as law enforcement, forensics experts and the public tried to figure out if the child was telling the truth or conjuring something up from his imagination.

Hikers who climb Pikes Peak but don't feel like walking the 12 miles back down could soon have to pay for their ride. The Colorado Springs City Council is expected to vote on a proposal that would charge up to $500 for each uninjured hiker who calls 911 for a ride down.

Phillies lead best-of-five series, 1-0 Game 1: Wednesday at Philadelphia 5, Colorado 1 Game 2: Today, 11:30 a.m. Colorado (Aaron Cook, 11-6, 4.16) at Philadelphia (Cole Hamels, 10-11, 4.32) Game 3: Saturday, 6:30 p.m. Philadelphia at Colorado Game 4: Sunday, TBA Philadelphia at Colorado Game 5: Tuesday, TBA Philadelphia at Colorado All times Pacific if necessary

Balloon graphic: A graphic with an article in Friday's Section A about a boy believed to be in the basket of a mylar balloon that became untethered from a home in Colorado said the balloon traveled at an air speed of 30 mph. That was its ground speed.

It was a heck of a drive for a plate of pasta. Visiting friends in Colorado for the holidays, Mike Watts and his father decided on a whim to take a spin to the mountains for lunch. They made it to a Ruby Tuesday's about 60 miles west of Denver. Then the winds kicked up. Twenty-four hours later, they were still stranded.

Scott Anthony Gomez Jr. made his first break from the Pueblo County Jail two years ago. He pushed up a ceiling tile, hoisted himself into the ventilation system and climbed until he reached a roof. Then he shinnied down the wall on bedsheets fashioned into a rope. Caught two days later, he was back in his cell. The next time, Gomez again pried loose a ceiling tile and vanished into the guts of the building. But as he tried to rappel on bedsheets down the side of the 85-foot building, he fell.