Oklahoma State Claws Back For 32-24 Road Win Over Texas
As they did last week against Oklahoma, Texas jumped out to an impressive lead over Oklahoma State. However, just like last week, the Longhorns allowed another comeback as the Cowboys came back and won 32-24.
With the win, the Cowboys move to 6-0 on the season for the first time since 2015, as well as recorded their third-straight win over an AP Top 25 opponent, marking the first time in school history.
“That’s what you have to do when you play a team like this, and our players understand, on paper, [Texas] is physically better than we are, based on just they’re bigger than us on both sides of the ball,” head coach Mike Gundy told the Cowboy Radio Network. “We’re still a little bit limited at wide receiver, we don’t have our guys, so you have to try to exchange punches with them until the fourth quarter. I’ll be honest with you, I told them two Sundays ago and I told them this last Sunday, you’re in better shape, we’re in better condition and if you’ll rush the ball in the second half, and you can be physical enough up front to stop they’re rush, you’re going to have a chance to win the game, and that’s what happened.”
After multiple stalled drives in the second half, the Cowboys finally got it going early in the fourth quarter. The Pokes combined for 54 yards on the ground and 26 through the air, finishing with a seven-yard touchdown to Brennan Presley from Spencer Sanders, bringing the Pokes back with two points after a failed two-point conversion, 24-22.
Jim Knowles’ squad came up with a huge stop, including a Collin Oliver sack on 3rd and long to force another Texas punt. The Cowboys drove the field with relative ease and while they failed to get into the end zone, Tanner Brown made his fourth field goal of the game to give the Pokes their first lead of the game, 25-24 with 4:37 left in the game.
After a penalty from kicking the ball out of bounds, the Cowboy defense came up with huge stops on second, third and fourth down, including two tackles for loss, one coming from Brock Martin on fourth down to get off the field.
“On third down, [Jim] Knowles called a play that kind of released me to kind of be aggressive,” Brock Martin told the Cowboy Radio Network. “If you watch film, you obviously, when it comes down to it, [Texas] wants to give the ball to [Bijan Robinson]. So, all I did was dive in and try to take him and the quarterback out. Obviously, I was more focused on taking Bijan down instead of Casey Thompson. Casey pulled [the ball], but with that defensive play call, we had a guy on the quarterback and No. 5. Then on fourth down, [Thompson] scrambled and I was dropping back into coverage but saw that he was going to run and just flew into the gap.”
After a 29-yard run by Jaylen Warren, Spencer Sanders gets into the end zone from 10 yards out to put the Pokes up 32-24 with just over two minutes left in the game.
On the ensuing Texas drive, Tanner McCalister picked off Casey Thompson to officially seal the game with just under two minutes.
Jaylen Warren finished the game with 33 carries for 193 yards, including the eight yards at the end of the game for a first down to officially end the game.
“It wasn’t too bad, it’s just what we do in practice; you work hard in practice, it’s easy on game day,” Jaylen Warren told the Cowboy Radio Network. “It wasn’t too much on me. I feel like if I take a break, it’s taking reps off which means I can’t exert myself and prepare for the game.”
Warren was impressive in the fourth quarter as he had 14 carries for 138 yards.
“All my o-linemen, I just follow behind them and trusted them,” Warren said of his fourth quarter performance. “They did what they did all week; these past two weeks they’ve been working hard and the same thing we did in practice showed up on game day.”
Spencer Sanders went 19-of-32 for 178 yards with one touchdown and one interception and 10 carries for 20 yards and one touchdown.
However, it was kicker Tanner Brown who put the game over for the Pokes as he was 4-for-4 on field goals.
Devin Harper led the way on the defensive side of the ball for the Pokes with eight total tackles, six of which were solo stops, and one tackle for loss. Jason Taylor II was second on the list with seven total tackles, including an 85-yard pick six.
The first half and second half for Texas on offense were very different. In the first half, the Longhorns combined for 225 yards, 72 on the ground and 153 through the air and scored 17 of their 24 points. In the second half, the Cowboy defense limited Texas to just seven points and 92 total yards.
The Longhorns open the game with an 11-play, 4:52 drive which resulted in a touchdown to go up 7-0. The Cowboys’ offense stalled out on their first drive going three and out, but Jim Knowles’ defense came up big forcing a three and out and a Texas punt. After a nearly another three and out for the Pokes, the UT defense was called for a horse collar tackle on Spencer Sanders, which gave the Pokes a first down. Sanders found Rashod Owens for 12 yards, followed by a 14-yard carry by Jaylen Warren and a 20-yard catch by Tay Martin. However, Martin dropped a fade in the corner of the end zone from Sanders which would’ve been a touchdown, but they had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Tanner Brown.
The Cowboys would struggle to move the ball for nearly the remainder of the first half as they combined for just 156 yards and three punts. It also included Sanders’ fourth interception in the past two games with just over eight minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Jason Taylor II got the Pokes back in the game in one play as he picked off a pass from Casey Thompson and took it back 85-yards for a touchdown, getting the Pokes back within seven, 17-10. After forcing a UT punt, the Cowboy offense had a chance to score going into half. With 12 seconds left in the half, Tanner Brown nailed a 39-yard field goal to get the Pokes with three, 17-13.
After a stalled opening second half drive for the Cowboys, Texas drove 80 yards and capped the drive off with a 38-yard touchdown run by Bijan Robinson, his third of the day and second on the ground.
Robinson finished the day with 21 carries for 135 yards and two touchdown, and three receptions for 38 yards and one touchdown.
Oklahoma State is back out on the road next week against Iowa State. Kickoff time will be determined with the remainder of the Big 12 games on Saturday and will be announced on Sunday.