Replay: Texas falls to Oklahoma State in their Big 12 football matchup
Texas and Oklahoma State meet in Stillwater on Saturday and the stakes couldn't be much higher. Consider this: the winner controls its Big 12 destiny and the loser becomes backed into a conference corner.
Neither the 20th-ranked Longhorns (5-2, 3-1) nor the 11th-ranked Cowboys (5-1, 2-1) can afford a second Big 12 loss, not with so many games to go. After this week, Texas closes with Kansas State, TCU, Kansas and Baylor; Oklahoma State has Kansas State, Kansas, Iowa State, Oklahoma and West Virginia.
Both are Big 12 title game contenders. Both are coming off last Saturday nailbiters — the Longhorns staved off upset-minded Iowa State 24-21, and the Cowboys fell to TCU in Fort Worth in double-overtime.
Follow along below for live updates this morning and throughout the contest:
It's over: Texas falls in Stillwater
Texas has lost to Oklahoma State 41-34.
Fittingly, it was a Quinn Ewers interception that ended it, though that third one of the day wasn't his fault.
The Longhorns had one final chance: no timeouts, one minute on the clock, and at their own 36-yard line to start the drive. Ewers found Tarique Milton for 12 yards to the sideline, then Ja'Tavion Sanders for 10 yards to the 46 with 40 seconds left. He took a deep shot to Xavier Worthy down the left sideline, but it was overthrown. On second-and-15, he missed Jordan Whittington. On third-and-15, he found Sanders for 21 yards to the Cowboys' 38. But on the very next play, Ewers threw to Sanders over the middle inside the 20, but it bounced off the tight end's hands and was intercepted by Kendal Daniels at the 11. Had Sanders made the catch, Texas would have had possibly two shots into the end zone to end the game.
Texas (5-3, 3-2) has next week off.
Texas commits a costly turnover (1:23)
Quinn Ewers just threw his second interception of the day, this one coming with 1:23 left in the game and Oklahoma State leading 41-34. It came on a fourth-and-8 play from Texas' own 36, and Ewers' pass to Bijan Robinson down the sideline was picked off by Jason Taylor, his second interception of the game. The real killer of the drive, though, was Ewers' big 33-yard scramble to the 35-yard line was called back by a holding penalty from right tackle Christian Jones. That led to a second-and-22 (a Ewers incompletion). On third-and-22, Ewers found Ja'Tavion Sanders for 19 yards to Texas' 41, but then Sanders cost the Longhorns five yards on the next play with a false start penalty. That led to the fourth-and-8.
Cowboys go up by a touchdown (4th, 3:09)
Does the sputtering Texas offense have a comeback up its sleeve? Oklahoma State has taken a 41-34 lead on Bryson Green's 41-yard touchdown catch. It was more misery from the secondary on the play, as D'Shawn Jamison failed to wrap Green up after the catch and Jerrin Thompson misplayed the angle on the tackle right after.
Auburn miss keeps things tied up (4th, 4:57)
Bert Auburn just missed a 46-yard field goal, keeping this a 34-34 game. It was a severe hook. On third-and-7 from OSU's 28, Quinn Ewers couldn't connect with Xavier Worthy in the end zone. Worthy had a step on his defender. The drive started with tight end Jahleel Billingsley's 20-yard snag from Ewers; it was the Alabama transfer's first catch as a Longhorn.
Texas needs to wake up (4th, 8:38)
Oklahoma State has tied this game and now has momentum, too. Texas answered the Cowboys' touchdown drive with yet another punt, and Daniel Trejo's 23-yard effort has Oklahoma State with the ball again at its own 36, the game tied 34-34.
The Longhorns' second-half drives: punt, punt, punt, field goal, punt, punt.
We're all tied up (4th, 9:54)
Oklahoma State has tied this game 34-34 on Spencer Sanders' 10-yard touchdown pass to Brennan Pressley, who took advantage of a blown coverage in the secondary. It was a 12-play, 66-yard drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock. Sanders' 16-yard scramble and a 14-yard pass to John Paul Richardson on the very next play were the two big plays of the drive.
Cowboys answer with a field goal (3rd, :29)
We'll head into the fourth quarter with Texas leading 34-27. Oklahoma State has just added a 40-yard field goal from Tanner Brown. D'Shawn Jamison had a big third-down pass breakup into the end zone to force the kick. Earlier in the drive, Ollie Gordon had a 14-yard catch, and two plays later Bryson Green burned Jahdae Barron (who was beaten on the route) and Michael Taafe (a sophomore safety from Westlake who's getting a lot of snaps today, but misplayed the angle on a tackle) for a 36-yard catch to Texas' 25. ... Dominic Richardson, who has scored three rushing touchdowns, hasn't been in the Cowboys' last two drives. We last saw him on the receiving end of a big DeMarvion Overshown hit earlier this quarter.
Finally: points (3rd, 2:10)
Texas is now up 34-24. Bert Auburn has hit his second field goal of the day, this time from 33 yards out, to break what has been a third quarter dry spell for both offenses. Xavier Worthy set the Longhorns up in great position with a 29-yard punt return to OSU's 20. And even before that, it's Texas punter Daniel Trejo that played a part: he uncorked a 52-yard punt that went out of bounds literally inside the 1-yard line. It led to a Cowboys punt deep in their own territory, which allowed Worthy to run it back to the 20 on the big return. Complementary football, right?
A battle of punts (3rd, 7:04)
We're halfway through the third quarter and it's still a 31-24 game. Texas has punted twice. Oklahoma State has punted three times. The Cowboys just drove into UT territory, but it stalled at the 45-yard line and OSU coach Mike Gundy opted to punt rather than go for it. Oklahoma's first drive went nowhere and its second drive, helped a bit by another pass interference penalty, this one from D'Shawn Jamison, stalled as well. Jaylan Ford had a sack to force the first-drive punt and Keondre Coburn's pressure forced Spencer Sanders into an incompletion on third down on the second drive. Ryan Watts was shaken up on the first drive and limped to the sideline; he was injured at the end of the first half, and of course left the Iowa State game with a stinger.
The Longhorns just got the ball. They're starting at their own 20.
A missed OSU field goal has Texas up 31-24 (halftime)
It's halftime. Texas' final drive stalled at its own 31 and Oklahoma State's Tanner Brown missed a 48-yard field goal on the final play of the first half. The Longhorns are up 31-24; the Cowboys will get the ball to start the second half. Brown had made 16 straight field goals, which led the nation.
It's been a pretty close game of big plays and defensive mistakes. Texas was favored by 6.5 points and is up by 7. But there are three things to be concerned about if you're rooting for Texas: (1) The Longhorns aren't looking good on third down; they're only 2-of-8 so far on third-down conversions; (2) Quinn Ewers has looked off, particularly on deep throws. Maybe that's partly due to the winds today in Stillwater, which are hovering in the 18-20 mph range and are swirling, but Xavier Worthy has been targeted nine times but has only three catches; (3) the secondary is giving up significant passing plays and is getting flagged for lots of penalties. That needs to get cleaned up for the final two quarters. On OSU's drive, cornerback Ryan Watts and linebacker/edge rusher Ogie Oghoufo both were shaken up on the same play. Watts was able to get up and walk off on his own; Oghoufo took a little longer, and it appeared to be a right arm injury.
But things that are going right: the offensive line is protecting Ewers, Bijan Robinson is shredding the Cowboys and Texas is making big plays on special teams.
First-half stats:
Passing: Texas' Quinn Ewers 11-24-190, 2/1. OSU's Spencer Sanders 19-30-202, 0/1
Rushing: Texas' Bijan Robinson 13-93-1, Roschon Johnson 4-68-1. OSU's Dominic Richardson 10-18-3, Jaden Nixon 1-51, Sanders 7-39
Receiving: Texas' Xavier Worthy 3-51-1, Ja'Tavion Sanders 2-19, Johnson 2-5, Robinson 1-41, Brenen Thompson 1-32, Jordan Whittington 1-23, Keilan Robinson 1-19. OSU's Stephon Johnson 4-60,
Another short touchdown run for Dominic Richardson (2nd, 2:41)
Oklahoma State keeps answering when the Longhorns threaten to put the Cowboys in a real corner. Dominic Richardson has scored his third short touchdown run of the day, this one from 2 yards out, to cut Texas' lead to 31-24. The big play of the drive was Jaden Nixon's 51-yard run down to Texas' 11. Nixon's shoe came flying off at the 35 and he finished the final 24 yards with one sock. And Jahdae Barron, who was flagged for pass interference on Oklahoma State's last drive, got called again; his mistake moved OSU to the 2, and Richardson scored on the very next play.
Roschon Johnson strikes from 52 yards (2nd, 3:43)
Texas now leads 31-17 in the closing minutes of the first half on Roschon Johnson's 52-yard touchdown run right up the middle, sprung at the line of scrimmage by blocks from Cole Hudson and Ja'Tavion Sanders. Johnson then accelerated right through the heart of the Cowboys' defense for the score. Sanders should also share in the celebration; his 14-yard snag between two defenders kept the drive alive on third-and-10. Johnson scored on the very next play.
The secondary bounces back (2nd, 5:15)
Texas' secondary got roughed up on Oklahoma State's last drive, when Anthony Cook had a personal foul penalty and D'Shawn Jamison had a key missed block that set up a touchdown, and things weren't going much better for the defensive backs on the Cowboys' next drive: Ryan Watts was beaten for a 25-yard catch and Jahdae Barron was flagged for pass interference, moving OSU to Texas' 13-yard line. But Watts made up for everything with his first interception as a Longhorn, a juggling catch in the end zone that took points away from Oklahoma State and preserved the Longhorns' 24-17 lead.
Bert Auburn pads Texas' lead (2nd, 8:04)
Texas has taken a 24-17 lead on Bert Auburn's 37-yard field goal. But two false starts — one from Andrej Karic, and one from Ja'Tavion Sanders — hijacked what was a prime scoring situation: a first down at Oklahoma State's 12. Things ended up third-and-22 from the 24, and a screen pass to Roschon Johnson produced only five yards. Of note, though: Brenen Thompson, the true freshman from Spearman, caught his first pass as a Longhorn on the drive, and it was a big one: a 32-yarder down the right sideline to Oklahoma State's 12. He looked as fast as advertised (our own Cedric Golden wrote a column on Thompson at this spring's UIL state track meet). ... Bijan Robinson already has 87 rushing yards and a touchdown on 11 carries; he has 128 yards of total offense.
Cowboys score, cut into the Texas lead (2nd, 11:16)
Oklahoma State has scored on Dominic Richardson's second short touchdown run of the game — this one from 1 yard out, after his 4-yarder in the first quarter — to cut Texas' lead to 21-17. It was a rough drive for the secondary. Anthony Cook was flagged for targeting as he dived for a tackle on a sliding Spencer Sanders. Replays showed Cook hit the quarterback's shoulder, which drove Sanders hard to the turn. His head bounced off the turf and the flag was thrown. After the replay, the targeting call was taken back but Cook was penalized for a 15-yard personal foul. It moved the Cowboys to Texas' 36. On the very next play, Dominic Richardson caught a pass from Sanders out of the backfield and he was stopped by a nice open-field tackle by ... Cook. And D'Shawn Jamison missed a tackle on a quick pass to Brennan Pressley, who then scampered down the sideline for a 20-yard gain to the 1.
The touchdown came at a great time for the Cowboys, who were in an offensive funk. Their previous three drives had gone punt, punt, punt.
Another long touchdown from Robinson (2nd, 13:28)
Bijan Robinson, who burned Oklahoma State for a 42-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, has given Texas a 21-10 lead on a 41-yard touchdown pass out of the backfield. It was a blown coverage from OSU, which had no one pick up Robinson as he flared out of the backfield. And the touchdown drive was set up by the second big special teams play of the day from Texas; Morice Blackwell blocked a Cowboys punt, setting the Horns up at OSU's 41.
Texas leads 14-10 after first quarter (end of 1st)
We're at the end of the first quarter. Texas is leading 14-10, and the Cowboys will have a second-and-9 at their own 29 to open the second quarter. First-quarter stats: Passing — Quinn Ewers 5-of-12 for 84 yards, 1 TD and 1 pick; Spencer Sanders 6-of-12 for 65 yards. Rushing — Bijan Robinson 8-73-1, Roschon Johnson 3-16; Dominic Richardson 7-14-1. Receiving — Xavier Worthy 2-42-1, Jordan Whittington 1-23, Keilan Robinson 1-19; Bryson Green 2-51.
Xavier Worthy puts Texas back up (1st, 3:29)
Texas is back up 14-10 on a 12-yard touchdown catch from Xavier Worthy, who caught a short quick pass from Quinn Ewers in the backfield and made one nice move on a defender to get in. Totally appropriate that Worthy scored that touchdown: it was very much a Xavier Worthy drive. He set Texas up near midfield with a 25-yard punt return, then hauled in a 30-yard pass from Ewers on the first play. ... And then on OSU's ensuing drive, the Cowboys had to punt, so Texas is back in business at its own 12.
Keilan Robinson strikes again(1st, 8:37)
The first two big plays of the game have both gone Texas' way. First, Bijan Robinson scored on a 42-yard run to make it 7-3 and just now, Oklahoma State's Brennan Pressley led Daniel Trejo's punt bounce off his leg on the return and it was recovered by, who else, special teams ace Keilan Robinson. The game was stopped for a few minutes while officials looked at the review. It has set Texas up at OSU's 35-yard line, trailing 10-7.
Cowboys retake the lead (1st, 9:39)
Spencer Sanders' injured right shoulder? Looks fine so far. The Oklahoma State quarterback hit Bryson Green for a 40-yard completion past D'Shawn Jamison to get inside Texas' 20-yard line, and Dominic Richardson bounced off Jahdae Barron for a 4-yard touchdown run. The Cowboys now lead 10-7. Ryan Watts, who left last week's Iowa State game with a stinger, got flagged for a pass interference early in the drive; he was all over wide receiver Stephon Johnson, but was flagged because he didn't look back toward the pass.
Well, that didn't take Texas long (1st, 12:01)
Texas has taken a 7-3 lead on Bijan Robinson's 42-yard touchdown run, allowing the Longhorns to answer OSU's field goal with one of Robinson's more impressive runs of the season. Kudos to tight ends Ja'Tavion Sanders and Jahleel Billingsly, who sealed off an opening at the line for Robinson, who then juked past a would-be tackler in the second level and then sped past three Cowboys defenders for the score. It's Robinson's 11th rushing touchdown of the season and his 12th score overall, which leads the team. And it's the longest run of the season allowed so far by Oklahoma State.
Cowboys get on the board first (1st, 13:21)
Oklahoma State turned the Quinn Ewers interception into a 3-0 lead. Tanner Brown was good on a 48-yard field goal try after the Cowboys' drive went backward. And Spencer Sanders, who was iffy because of a shoulder injury he's been dealing with the past two weeks, is playing for the Cowboys. His 39 career starts leads the team as do his 20 consecutive starts. He's No. 5 in the country in points responsible per game and is No. 12 in total offense per game. He threw for 300 yards, three touchdowns and added two rushing touchdowns in the first half alone against Baylor, joining Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes as the only Big 12 players to have done that. He has 2,444 yards of total offense and 25 total touchdowns that he's accounted for through seven games, and is four wins away from bumping Mason Rudolph as the winningest quarterback in Oklahoma State history.
Quinn Ewers starts things off with a pick (1st quarter, 14:12)
Texas' first drive of the game has ended in disaster: a Quinn Ewers interception that John Paul Richardson picked off. Ewers threw two passes on the drive. Both were off the mark. The Cowboys have now held teams scoreless on their first drive in 28 of their last 38 games. Texas had scored points in two of its seven opening drives this season — a field goal against Alabama and a touchdown at Texas Tech — and also had three punts, an interception (ULM) and a missed field goal (Iowa State).
Texas' first drives so far:
ULM: Quinn Ewers interception
Alabama: Bert Auburn 26-yard field goal
UTSA: punt
Texas Tech: Keilan Robinson 35-yard touchdown pass from Hudson Card
West Virginia: punt
Oklahoma: punt
Iowa State: Bert Auburn missed 39-yard field goal
Oklahoma State: Quinn Ewers interception
Ugh: another road game for Texas?
We're about 10 minutes away from kickoff, which has been pushed back to 2:41 p.m. in Stillwater. The Horns are 1-5 in true road games under Steve Sarkisian. "But I'd put an asterisk by that woeful record," our own Kirk Bohls wrote this week in a column. He explained: "The biggest reason is that quarterback Quinn Ewers played in none of those losses. In addition, this bunch of Longhorns are so much more mentally tough than last year’s team that got scorched at Arkansas (Hudson Card’s second start and the Armageddon setting), at Morgantown (both Texas quarterbacks were banged up), at Waco (three turnovers by Joshua Moore), at Lubbock (a rare Bijan Robinson fumble in overtime) and at Ames (no excuse and a total second-half meltdown)."
For the record, Kirk — who's currently leading our staff season picks standings — picked Texas to win in Friday's paper.
Stillwater games have been tight recently
Texas leads the overall series 26-10, including a 9-3 advantage in Stillwater. Mike Gundy is 8-9 all-time vs. Texas. The Cowboys have won eight of the last 12 overall meetings, though, including last year's game 32-24 in Austin, when OSU was ranked No. 12 and Texas was No. 25. Bijan Robinson scored three TDs in the loss. The last couple of games in Stillwater have been close ones: a 41-34 overtime win in 2020 and a 38-35 loss in 2018.
Three Oklahoma State players to watch today
(1) QB Spencer Sanders, a four-year starter who's No. 12 nationally in total offense (324.7 yards per game); (2) LB Mason Cobb is the Big 12's second-leading tackler (behind Texas' Jaylan Ford) and is averaging 9.0 stops per game; (3) and K Tanner Brown is a perfect 12-for-12 on field goals and 42-for-42 on extra points, in case this game comes down to a kick at the end.
How the Horns, Cowboys match up
Statistically, remember how Texas had the country's No. 100 overall defense last year? The Cowboys' defense this week is No. 110, for some context. Teams are rushing for 136.3 yards a game and passing for 301, and the Cowboys are giving up 27.8 points a game. Texas is scoring 36.7 points a game. How the Longhorns and Cowboys match up, tale of the tape style:
Points per game: Texas T-20th, Oklahoma State 4th
Total offense: Texas 36th, Oklahoma State 21st
Total defense: Texas 33rd, Oklahoma State 104th
Passing: Texas 40th, Oklahoma State 17th
Stopping the pass: Texas 47th, Oklahoma State 126th
Rushing: Texas 47th, Oklahoma State 64th
Stopping the run: Texas 44th, Oklahoma State 38th
Golden: In this year's Big 12, Texas can expect another nailbiter in Stillwater
About Oklahoma State
Today's game kicks off at 2:30 p.m.
Oklahoma State is lighting up scoreboards. The Cowboys are the No. 5 scoring team in the country, averaging 44.3 points a game, including 49 points in four home games. They're passing for 300 yards a game and have put up 63 and 58 points already this season, though those came against Central Michigan and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Sanders is one of the Big 12's top quarterbacks and wide receiver Braydon Johnsonis averaging 19.9 yards per catch, third-best in the Big 12, and 66.3 yards per game, fifth-best.
Since 2017, OSU has produced the country's leading passer (Mason Rudolph in 2017), its leading receiver (James Washington in 2017) and its leading rusher (Chuba Hubbard in 2019).
Bohls: Meet Roschon Johnson, Texas' quarterback turned tailback turned ... linebacker?
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Replay: Texas falls to Oklahoma State in Big 12 matchup in Stillwater
