echeese
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View from the Cheap Seats-Oklahoma State
Winning ugly always better than losing pretty
WHEW, CTH and TEXAS can breath a huge sigh of relief. Cowboys came to town with the top runner in the nation, the top WR and a freshman QB who is going to be a major thorn in our side for 3 more years. A kid that CTH did in fact try to get to TEXAS and easy to see why. The last time TEXAS beat OSU in Austin was 2008 with Colt McCoy. Now that is a sad statement to type. Over all, the Mullett was 7-2 since 2010 dominating TEXAS. As Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend. This game shaped up to be a YUGE test for Coach Todd's D and outside of some VERY untimely penalties and a couple of big special teams miscues, the D played their best game since 2017. Nation's leading RB coming to town? Coach O & crew got this. OSU thought their OL was pretty salty? Coach O & crew got this. While TEXAS' O looked better vs LSU, they certainly played well enough to win though we have the impression this morning, we left too many points on the field. So if you are a glass half full guy, TEXAS won. If you are a glass half empty guy, TEXAS did not put OSU away when it could have. Little something for everyone heading into a well timed bye week.
Coach O & crew have taken some well deserved heat this season. They answered the bell well this week setting the tone with the opening drive. 1st play they stuffed the nation's leading rusher for a 4 yard loss. OSU would drive to a 1st down on the TEXAS 4 and the D would bow up to force a FG. OSU would be held to 3 Touchdowns on the night. Interesting that 2 of them came off muffed/fumbled punts and the other aided by penalty. That penalty a borderline questionable but turned a 2nd down TFL into a 1st and 10, 15 yards up the field. TEXAS faced one of the best WRs in the nation and after a nice but not spectacular 1st half, he was pretty much shut down in the 2nd half. Bigtime shout out to the DL lead by Malcom Roach and Ta'Quon Graham. They dominated the OSU OL and held the nations leading rusher to 3.3 yards per carry. OSU tried to beat TEXAS rushing the ball and without their contributions from Freshman QB Spenser, largely failed. And the contributions of the DL were critical as TEXAS came into the game without BJ Foster and Overshawn then losing Caden Sterns and Jalen Green during the game. In the 2nd half, the D would stop OSU on 4th from the 4, force 3 Punts and record an INT while limiting an explosive Cowboy O to 10 points. That's a good showing. Bye week coming at a great time as we need some players to heal. We had said this would be a great test for OU and the Red River War. They will have more weapons and challenge our D even more. This type of defensive effort will be needed to win what is shaping up to be the 1st of two matchups with OU again this season. For those triggered by the criticism of Coach O vs LSU, seems even Coach O admitted the problems and made adjustments to bracket Wallace this week.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a RB. Keonaty Ingham with a break out game. He ran tough, used his vision well and logged 115 yards and a 5.4 yards per carry average. On top of that he added a nice 26 yard reception. Not sure if we have just not noticed it this year but really liked the use of the counter play with him. He is a very patient runner who sets up his blocks well and has teh vision to find the crease in the D. Another week, more accolades for the 2 key players on this offense. Devin Duvernay is simply a bad azzed football player who's making himself some money this year. 12 catches, of with 9 of them were either 1st downs or Touchdowns and 5 of them coming on 3rd down resulting in moving the chains. He plays like a tough running back with the ball in his hands and finished with 12 catches and 108 yards/2 TDs. This wasn't a "Heisman Highlight" type game for Sam but it was a very good game for him. 20 of 28 through the air for 287 and add 4 passing TDs. Rushed 10 times for over 70 yards. Just enough with his legs to keep the D off balance. We would be remiss if we did not point out that Sam simply does not throw a good "bombs away" ball, missing on both attempts to open WRs and each time putting the Horns behind the chains. Eagles' 73 yard pass was more of the "catch and run" variety. Largely unheralded, major props to the offensive line who dominated the OSU front. Only 1 penatlty on the OL all night, which came in the 1st quarter and had not impact on the drive. Sam had loads of time to survey the field and carve up an OSU D dropping 8. And clearly the RBs recorded a good night so high five to the big ugglies. TEXAS had 5 drives in the 1st half, clearly the game plan was built to be methodical most of the time, 3 of the drives lead to touchdowns. One 6 drives in the 2nd half, TEXAS would punt 3 times, lose a drive on an INT and score 2 TDs. Needs to be better.
Offensive player of the Game:
This will likely be a broken record this year but a 4 TD night from Sam puts him again as the player of the game. Honorable mention: Keaotay Ingram with a career night and Devin Duvernay with yet another excellent performance.
Defensive Player of the Game:
Brandon Jones continues to make plays and many of them coming at key points. Only thing marring his performance was his special teams muffed punt. Honorable mention: the defensive line which physically dominated what was supposed to be a good OSU OL while they held the nation's leading rusher (he's still #1 btw) to 3.3 ypc. They have a similar game vs OU, we win.
Conclusions:
Winning ugly much better than losing pretty. TEXAS faced it's 2nd real opponent of the year and this time pulled out the win. But TEXAS miscues allowed OSU to hang around, the biggest of which was a Jake Smith muffed punt at our 15 which closed the gap from 21-13 to 21-20 in the last minute of the 1st half. TEXAS' offense simply wasn't as sharp in the 2nd half logging 6 drives, 3 ending in punts and one in Sam's 1st INT of the year. TEXAS would score 15 (2 point conversion) in the 2nd half to OSU's 10. Muffed punts were the story of the night as Brandon Jones would run way up to try an outfielder slide to catch another punt when he should have simply let it bounce. This lead to a short field for OSU and their sole TD of the 2nd half and making the game close enough that if the on side kick had gone the other way, the D would need a short field stop. TEXAS needs to learn to put their boot on the throat of an opponent and not keep giving them a chance.
Key Plays of the game
#1 Jake Smith's muffed punt. Hate to lead with a negative but it made the game close right before halftime.
#2 Brandon Jones' muffed punt. OSU converted for a TD giving them a shot to win with an on side kick which they did not accomplish.
#3 Montell Estelle with a big INT and return. Set TEXAS up for a TD and a 14-3 lead.
#4 Flea Flicker to Conner Brewer. OSU had taken a 23-21 lead after forcing a punt on TEXAS opening 2nd half possession. . . and face it, it was a fun play to watch.
#5 73 yard catch and run to Brennan Eagles putting TEXAS up 21-13 late in the 2nd
#6 Fade to Duvernay in the corner of the end zone. Timing was impeccable and Duvernay with the double foot tap. This gave TEXAS a 7-3 lead.
#7 4th and goal from the TEXAS 3. our D steps up huge in the 3rd quarter
#8 Chris Brown's INT in teh 4th quarter to protect a 36-23 lead. Let's be honest, young man was not having a good night but this play would be critical in the end.
Stats that matter
8/14 v 9/19 3rd down conversion rates TEXAS #5 in the nation with a 57% rate on offense while the D held OSU below 50%.
9 Devan Duvernay catches resulting in either 1st Down or TD, 5 of those coming on 3rd down
3.3 Yards per carry allowed by TEXAS D vs nation's leading rusher
6.1 Yards per carry allowed by TEXAS D vs Freshman QB Spenser. Kids going to be a handful for the next 3 years
2 Personal foul penalties on TEXAS' D, both aiding OSU TD drives.
3-3 TEXAS red zone trip leading to TDs
Shameless shout out to Shane Buechle for his 288 yard 2 TD performance leading SMU to an upset of once ranked TCU. Class act who did great things for the Horns. Wish him all the best.
NEXT
Bye week and trap game
Our bye week comes at a great time in a season where the schedule breaks down really well for the Horns. In fact schedule breaks down with 4 games, bye week and then 4 games bye week. A week to heal and coach up some young DBs as we are suddenly very thin. A classic trap game awaits next week as the Horns will be traveling to a WVU team that will be hard to overlook considering the Red River War awaits the following week. We shall see how the 1-0 philosophy is tested. TEXAS will need to combine the offensive effort of LSU with the defensive effort of OSU. Game is huge as it puts TEXAS in a "game to give" situation with a win, securing a spot in the goofy/let's make some money BigXII title tilt. TEXAS has been test twice now by good teams (one very good), OU has not.
Mack Brown Watch
Mack Mack Mack. you simply cannot lose to D II programs even if they are good. UNC on a 2 game skid instead of being half way to bowl eligible. Gotta pick up the pace.
Ranking the BigXII
#1 TEXAS Beating tomato cans does not make you the best team in the conference.
#2 OU Will be curious on 13 Oct if OU or LSU is the best O TEXAS will face.
#3 OSU Amazing to see what the mullet can do with some high quality athletes. If he recruited better, he might win the conference
next 4 you can rank in about any order
#4 KSU, bye week after their MSSt win, they face OSU this week.
#5 Baylor 21 points vs Rice???????
#6 ISU Props I guess for running up the score on a tomato can
#7 TCU Frogs go from ranked to 3rd tier in the BigXII
#8 WVU 1-0 in conference play with a win over Kansas
#9 TT Bye week to get ready to be the next tomato can OU runs up the score on
#10 Kansas When does basketball season start.
