He broke into No. 12 Oklahoma State again from down 14 points in the second quarter to defeat No. 25 Texas 32-24 in Austin on Saturday. The Cowboys’ defense ramped up in the second half while maintaining a strong Texan attack to just 92 yards.
Texans had multiple chances to win in the fourth quarter but faltered each time. One point down at the Oklahoma State 35-yard line, the Longhorns went for fours and behinds to flip the ball on touchdown and give the Cowboys possession in midfield. Texas later let the touchdown go to give themselves one last chance to tie the game, but Longhorns QB Casey Thompson — who completed 15 of 27 passes for 179 yards, a touchdown and two picks in one of his worst performances since taking office — threw in an interception.
Oklahoma State’s waning Jaylen Warren quietly outplayed Heisman’s superior Pejan Robinson, especially in the second half. Warren carried the ball 33 times for 193 yards to create several major scoring drives at Oklahoma State. Robinson carried the ball 21 times and had 3 assists for 173 all-purpose yards and three goals.
With the win, Oklahoma State has now defeated three of the top 25 opponents in a row for the first time in the program’s history. Texas, Baylor and Kansas ranked 25th in the survey. Oklahoma State goes 6-0 and should enter the top 10 on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Texans are 0-5 in the weeks after playing Oklahoma in the past five seasons. The Longhorns drop to 4-3, including 0-3 against all three ranked opponents in the table. The loss also gives Oklahoma State a key tiebreaker while pressing for a Big 12 Championship appearance in December.
Oklahoma controls the fate of 12 adults
After winning all three non-conference games by only one notch, the Cowboys seemed unlikely to take the conference crown. But after moving to 3-0 with three straight victories over the then-seeded competitors, Oklahoma State shed control of the Big 12 race for the championship title.
The Sooner State duo of Oklahoma State and Oklahoma State are the only undefeated in the Big 12, both carrying the tiebreaker over Texas heading forward. The Cowboys also consolidated tiebreakers over Kansas State and Baylor, two of the other top contenders. Oklahoma State will be underdogs against Iowa State and Oklahoma to close out the year, but the Cowboys can take losses and still have a chance of winning the Big 12 title.
low fuel
For the second week in a row, Texas outperformed a No. 1 competitor. Last week it was 21 points against Oklahoma as the Sooners overcame the biggest deficit in Red River Showdown history. Now he’s giving up a 14-point lead to a less talented Oklahoma State team at home.
Texas coach Steve Sarkissian relied heavily on Robinson in the first half, but handed him the ball only eight times in the second. Whether it’s offensive line erosion, Robinson fatigue or play, the Longhorns don’t seem to have enough counters to create a consistent attack if anything but handing the ball to their rival Heisman. The only thing to be optimistic about is that the Texans have been able to put together great leads and play well against talented competitors. This should bode well for where this team and program can go under Steve Sarkissian.
Give Jaylen Warren some respect
Oklahoma State’s student newspaper O’Colly previously reported that Warren moved to Stillwater from Utah after The current Big 12 coach has not been named Tell him that he doesn’t have the traits of playing football in a power conference. After his fourth consecutive 100-yard performance, it’s safe to say Warren is proving the skeptics wrong.
Warren, who is 5 feet 8 and 215 pounds, carried the ball 33 times for 193 yards in the win over Texas. Despite throwing The Rock 95 times in the previous three games, Warren ran 20 times in the second inning against the Texans and had three lunges from 20 yards to freeze the game. The Big Unknown was entering the year, even at Stillwater. By now, Warren should be in the conversation of the conference’s top runners.
Struggling protection
Even mid-season, the Texans haven’t yet settled on a steady offensive line unit. A few different players took turns throughout the game to try to find a viable combination, but Oklahoma State’s intense Seven Front kept Unity in its wake. Oklahoma State broke through seven tackles for a loss and three sacks for a win. Even worse, the Longhorns played their worst football in their biggest moments, collecting only one yard – one! – In the fourth quarter. Conversely, Oklahoma State scored 170 yards behind a level offensive line.
Certainly some of this is the Oklahoma State Defense Force, easily one of the best Oklahoma State defenses. However, the struggles are bad news for the Longhorns who still have to contend with the best defenses of Baylor, Iowa State, West Virginia and Kansas. Status before the end of the season. This was only the first test.
Pokes need more than QB
It’s a strange experience to watch an Oklahoma State team lean so hard on the run, play intense defense…but can’t pass the ball at all. Quarterback starter Spencer Sanders completed 19 of 32 passes for 178 yards, but the numbers don’t do justice to how much the junior player has struggled.
Oklahoma State settled on field goals at key points and even shot the ball far into midfield because Mike Gundy didn’t trust the center midfield to make key games. In a major two-point diversion, Gundy requested a nice screen pass that the Texas easily spotted.
The Cowboys are in the driver’s seat to get to the Big 12, but there’s little chance they can compete with Oklahoma if playing in the middle is going to be a disaster. Oklahoma State has kept every team it faces with 24 points or less, but Sanders is the piece that clearly holds OSU down.