Fort Worth, Texas– Saturday’s game was nothing short of a battle between Oklahoma State and TCU and the outcome came down to the work put in in the trenches.
The entire first half was mostly dominated by the Cowboys, who were up 24-13 going into halftime. The D-line was able to hold TCU’s offense, which leads the nation in average yards per play with 8.1, to 6.2 yards per play. The Frogs went into the locker room at the half with 235 total yards and an 11-point deficit.
Coming out onto the Amon G. Carter field to start the second half, the Cowboys were unable to continue their dominant play from the first half. After allowing only one touchdown and two field goals, Oklahoma State’s defense allowed TCU to score 30 momentum-altering points.
With only a few minutes remaining in regulation, TCU tied up the game 30-30, sending the teams into overtime. The Horned Frogs won the toss to receive the ball first and scored on a touchdown pass from QB Matt Duggan to WR Quentin Johnston on only the second play of the first overtime. This progression, in comparison to the first half of the game, revealed some areas that will be addressed in film and practice this week.
The Cowboys answered back with a 1-yard rushing touchdown from RB Dominic Richardson, tying the score at 37 and sending the game into a second overtime.
After the TCU defense was able to prevent the Cowboys from scoring another overtime touchdown, a 52-yard Tanner Brown field goal put the Pokes up by 3. However, OSU was unable to stop the TCU offense a final time, allowing a game-ending rushing touchdown from RB Kendre Miller bringing the final score to 43-40, Horned Frogs.
“We just have to hit the drawing board again,” OSU Cornerback Jabbar Muhammad said of the team’s shortcomings. “We’re going to look at the mistakes we had, and just come back next week not making the same mistakes again.”
One of the main issues that plagued the OSU defense tonight was the abundance of missed tackles on big plays. Linebacker Mason Cobb was the leading tackler for the Cowboys and finished the night with 16 total tackles and eight solo tackles.
“They made some good plays, but tackling was poor on everyone’s part, especially mine,” Cobb said as he explained the defensive mistakes. “As a defense, we hold each other to a high standard and we’re a much better defense than that. It’s just simple things that we can fix. There were a lot of opportunities that we had that we didn’t take advantage of. TCU made some great plays but, overall, we were where we needed to be, and we fell short I guess.”
The good news is that the mistakes the defense suffered tonight seem to be easy fixes and will need to be with another challenging match quickly approaching this weekend.
As for right now, the team, as a whole, will be reflecting on tonight’s performance. The good, the bad, and everything in between will be a major focus in the week leading up to America’s Greatest Homecoming and a showdown against the Texas Longhorns.
“I think we all know that a lot of people are frustrated and angry,” Cobb said of tonight’s loss. “That’s just what happens when you lose a game that you’re not supposed to lose. We know that we’re better than that and that’s where the frustration comes in. We still have a lot more games left to play so we’ve gotta move on.”
The loss against the Horned Frogs will likely light a fire under the Cowboys as the season progresses, which might not be so bad after all.
