Special teams error dooms Texas in 30-27 loss

It happened again.

This time it wasn’t Nick Rose’s leg that failed the Longhorns, it was Texas punter Michael Dickson’s hands.

With the score between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma State Cowboys tied at 27, the true freshman punter mishandled a snap with thirty-six seconds left deep in Texas territory. Dickson managed to get the kick off but it wobbled only 7 yards before going out of bounds. Oklahoma State’s offense took over in field goal range and sealed the deal with a 40-yard winning field goal.

Texas starts the season 1-3 for the first time since 1956.

There were positives in this game, notably the play of the Texas defense, which stepped up the run defense and intercepted Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph twice. Texas backup quarterback Tyrone Swoopes appears to have found his niche in the offense. Offensive playcaller Jay Norvell used Swoopes at quarterback in 3rd and short situations, and it paid off. Swoopes scored a touchdown and averaged 11.7 yards per carry in the game. And Hassan Ridgeway appears to be healthy after nursing an injury. The 6-3, 320 lb. defensive tackle’s presence was felt on the field as he made numerous tackles and returned a fumble for a touchdown. Holton Hill scored the other defensive touchdown in the game with an interception for a touchdown off of Cowboy quarterback Mason Rudolph.

Offensively, the line struggled again and was hit with a number of penalties. Quarterback Jerrod Heard finished the night with 119 yards passing and 48 yards rushing.

After an opening drive by the Longhorns that resulted in three and out, Oklahoma State wasted no time in marching down the field 69 yards to put seven on the board. Quarterback Mason Rudolph capped the drive off by hitting Brandon Sheperd for 17-yards and a touchdown, giving Oklahoma State a 7-0 lead. The Longhorns would add a Nick Rose 41-yard field goal on the next possession to cut the Cowboy lead to 7-3. Operating from an up-tempo offense, Rudolph would orchestrate another drive that would stop briefly at the Texas 4-yard after a roughing the passer penalty call on Texas defensive tackle Poona Ford. Oklahoma State backup QB JW Walsh found the end zone unscathed on the next play and the Cowboys led 14-3 at that point. With :52 left in the first quarter Nick Rose nailed a 46-yard field goal trimming the Oklahoma State lead to 14-6.

Texas DT Hassan Ridgeway scooped up a Mason Rudolph fumble and rumbled into the end zone to score the first points of the second quarter. Five minutes later Oklahoma State placekicker Ben Grogan made good on a 34-yard field goal, extending the Cowboy lead to 17-13.

The first lead of the game for the Longhorns came at the 5:02 mark by a familiar face. Backup quarterback Tyrone Swoopes took a 4th down snap at the Oklahoma State seven yard line and rumbled seven yards into the Oklahoma State end zone, giving the Longhorns a 20-17 lead.

Texas would hold this lead into the locker room at halftime.

Midway through the third quarter, Mason Rudolph led the Cowboys on another long drive, this time 98-yards before JW Walsh struck again for the Cowboys. On third down at the Texas one yard line, Walsh would find fullback Jeremy Seaton in the end zone and Oklahoma State regained the lead 24-20.

The Cowboys maintained the lead until the 1:34 mark in the third quarter when true freshman Holton Hill returned a Mason Rudolph interception 41 yards for a touchdown giving Texas a 27-24 lead.

Oklahoma State would score twice in the last 1:33 of the 4th quarter, courtesy of placekicker Ben Grogan. Grogan’s first field goal of 41-yards tied the game at 27 while his last of 40-yards would win the game for the Cowboys.

The Longhorns are a handful of seconds and a handful of points from being 3-1 instead of 1-3. Texas head coach Charlie Strong says finishing is something the team needs to learn.

“We have to play better and just learn how to finish. We just can’t finish right now. We gotta learn how to finish and fight through it. We sat there with a 3‐point lead and probably shouldn’t have got the call I got, but I got upset and gotta learn to you to just control my composure we just gotta be able to bounce back, go back to work tomorrow, and just get ready for TCU, and that’s going to be a big one.”

Notes, Stats and Tidbits‘”

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[*]Oklahoma State racked up 395 yards of total offense to the Longhorns’ 290 yards

 

[*]Texas was hit with 16 penalties for a total of 128 yards.

 

[*]Johnathan Gray led all rushers with 55 yards on 11 carries

 

[*]Texas scored two defensive touchdowns in the same game for the first time since 2009

 

[*]The Texas offense didn’t score in the 3rd & 4th quarters of this game

 

[*]Tight End Caleb Bluiett had the longest reception of his career today (29 yards)

 

[*]Peter Jenkins led the team in tackles (9)

 

[*]Texas senior Marcus Johnson returned from injury and caught two passes for 50 yards which led the team

 

[*]Right tackle Kent Perkins left the game with an injury in the first half. The severity of his injury is unknown.

 

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Texas (1-3, 0-1) will face TCU (4-0, 1-0) at Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth next Saturday.