Oklahoma State Defense Falls Short in Big 12 Championship
ARLINGTON, Texas— After a rocky start to the season, the Oklahoma State Cowboys weren’t expected to make it to the Big 12 Championship. They were hardly expected to secure a bowl game.
The Cowboys have a history of proving people wrong, though. In the preseason polls, Oklahoma State was projected to finish ninth in the Big 12. After an embarrassing loss to South Alabama early in the season, OSU beat Oklahoma in the last scheduled Bedlam game. Now, they finished the season with a chance to win the conference championship.
The No. 7 Texas Longhorns proved to be too much for the Cowboys to handle. After a 49-21 loss, OSU finishes the season at 9-4 and can begin to prepare for the upcoming bowl game.
Several factors played into the OSU loss, but it can be boiled down to this: Texas is more athletic and has more at stake in this game. With the win, the Longhorns are in the running for a college football playoff berth and continue to strengthen their case for a spot week after week.
“I wouldn’t say their speed was unexpected,” Linebacker Nick Martin said. “We knew what type of team they were, we knew they had speed and we knew they had some good wideouts. Ultimately, I just think that we just came up short. We took some heavy blows early in the first quarter... we had our backs against the wall coming out.”
A glaring issue for Oklahoma State was the defense’s performance. Yes, the Longhorns have some freak athletes and play at a very high caliber. However, busted coverage and missed tackles from the Cowboys should not happen as frequently as they did.
“It’s never an excuse,” Martin said. “But, we just took some blows and tried to fight back and we just couldn’t fight back in time.”
In the first half, Texas used the screen pass to pick apart Oklahoma State’s defense. The Longhorns scored a touchdown on their first four drives without much resistance from the Cowboy defense.
Things were looking up for the defense in the second half, but not enough to interrupt the Longhorns' momentum. Defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo made adjustments at half to slow down the screen pass, but UT just turned to the run game.
Both Texas touchdowns in the second half were rushing touchdowns. Compared to the five touchdowns OSU allowed in the first half, holding Texas to two is a win for the defense.
Martin continued to impress, like he has all season, and had an interception halfway through the second quarter. He returned the interception to the Texas 3-yard line, which led to a touchdown from Alan Bowman to Rashod Owens. Martin finished with 13 tackles and finished the season as the Big 12 tackles leader.
On the Longhorn’s starting drive of the second half, the Cowboy defense forced a punt for the first time in the game. Things started to look up for OSU from here, but the momentum didn’t last long.
UT played quickly, consistently and more competitively. With the way they played in this championship game, they appear to be well-equipped to transition to the SEC next season.
“I don’t want to take away from Texas,” coach Mike Gundy said. “Today, they were really well-coached and they played good. They have good players, and they have good coaches. So, I don’t want to take anything away from anybody, but I still like my team.”
For Oklahoma State, bowl game selection is at stake. After the loss in the championship, OSU could play in the TaxAct Texas Bowl or the Pop-Tarts Bowl, among others. Official bowl placement is revealed Dec. 3 on ESPN.