No. 12 Texas 36, Oklahoma State 30: It was sloppy, but it was a win in the opening match of the Big 12

Posted on 22 September 2019

Texas coach Tom Herman is convinced that as long as the Longhorn play their best game, "our best is good enough." Saturday was a showcase of what happens when they do not do it.

There was a terrible execution on the fourth try, followed by senseless sanctions. Two men were crushed by safe men back, parts so bad that even Herman called it "embarrassing".

In the end, the 12th ranked Longhorns did something they had not done in years, and it's very bad. Remove all mistakes and the defense finally slowed down the country's leading scorer and scorer.

Texas should be happy with its 36-30 win at the Royal Memorial Stadium, as sloppy as it has been. The Horns (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) won their first game of the league, broke a series of four losses in the series and proved that they still had to fight. In recent years, giving up sometimes seemed like a viable option.

Ugly or not, the 96,936 spectators present will take it.

"I always imagined that it's someone you love," said defender Malcolm Roach. "You see your mum in a fight, you're going running to that fight, I see my guys, I'm going to run for them because I love defense."

It was Texas' first win over OSU (3-1, 0-1) in Austin since 2008. Quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who had four touchdown passes and his first interception of the year, was not won.

"I think it showed a lot about who we were as a team," Ehlinger said. "We never gave up, never said," Oh, we made a mistake here. Game over. What do we do? 'He showed the struggle in us.'

Everyone inside Moncrief knew that it had to contain running back Chuba Hubbard and receiver Tylan Wallace of the state of Oklahoma, statistically the best threat in America for the run after three weeks.

The defense was everywhere on Hubbard, swarming at every turn. He came on average 7.9 yards per race. Against Texas, it averaged 3.3. It took him 37 runs to get 121 yards.

The Texas defense was credited with 12 tackles for the loss. Malcolm Roach literally pushed an OSU lineman into the back of the pitch in the fourth period and on purpose, forcing Hubbard to stumble on his teammate's leg and fall for a loss of a meter . Earlier, cornerback Jalen Green pushed his man back, Hubbard struck the traffic and found himself overwhelmed.

"We discovered that he liked the linebackers to float and crash into the ground before going the other way," said UT linebacker Joseph Ossai. "So we worked hard during the week to play with the technique and fundamentals, stay upright, move our feet and not commit ourselves before he got engaged.

Wallace had 222 yards rushing against Texas last season. This time, apart from an impressive 35 yard rush, he was basically a non-factor. Wallace was targeted eight times and finished with five catches for 83 yards.

Ossai and Juwan Mitchell have both fired quarterback Spencer Sanders of OSU. Keondre Coburn raised his hand and helped out Sanders' arm, causing the ball to move and land him in the arms of UT's Chris Brown for an interception. Montrell Estell also had a pick, the high school having scored six missed passes.

"The coach has put together a great plan to keep a man from knocking us out, and we've executed him to the best of our ability," Brown said. "We came out victorious."

With the arms of the OSU contained, Texas deployed its own firepower. Receiver Collin Johnson (hamstring) had to play, but was scratched hours before kickoff. Ehlinger kept aiming for his two favorite recipients, Devin Duvernay and Jake Smith.

Duvernay caught a 6-yard touchdown pass in the northeast corner. Then, after Estelle's interception, Texas cashed Smith's 17-yard touchdown. After that, things went wrong.

Texas has been trying to push the pace on its next drive. In the fourth and third round of the OSU 28, Ehlinger shouted to his guys to line up quickly, but Roschon Johnson was slow to come back from the previous play. Instead of calling the timeout, the Horns launched an unfortunate racing game that ended in nothing.

This sloppy game was not so bad in itself. It was then that things turned in favor of OSU. Mark Bimage (UT) has thrown Hubbard unnecessarily, resulting in a personal penalty. Two games later, Sanders took a 55-yard throw to Braydon Johnson, who reached the Texas 3-yard line.

Three games later, Spencer rolled to his right and avoided the tackles of Caden Sterns and Ossai for the score. Suddenly, Texas's lead was reduced to one.

The Horns have spent the entire season looking for big games. Look no further than Brennan Eagles. The sophomore Alief Taylor ran down the east side line, grabbed the ball and ran 73 yards to the northeast corner to get the Texas score. It was the longest hit of Ehlinger's career and gave a 21-13 lead to Texas.

The Horns were about to retrieve it within one minute of the end of the first period. Jones, who manages the training of "punt jumpers," was on the field to catch an OSU puck inside the 20-yard line. But after Texas called timeout, Smith, a freshman, was sent to the field.

With several Cowboys pushing him away, Smith stumbled at the ball. The Pokes jumped all over Horns' 15-yard line. Four games later, Hubbard ran in the middle of the field to score.

A first half that could have been the whole of Texas ended in a score of 21-20, which makes it a game apart.

In the second half, Texas unveiled a gadget game for Cade Brewer's 25-yard touchdown. Keaontay Ingram just looked sensational on a 26 – meter reception in the center where he was moving away from a tackle and was getting ahead. This allowed Roschon Johnson to make a two-yard touchdown.

Ingram finished with a career record of 114 yards in 21 races, which is undoubtedly his best night of the season. "I'm just going to say that the corset is off. I'm going to stop there, Ingram said.

The game would probably have been over if Jones caught – or better yet, avoided – a kicking end with 3:44 left. He tried to slip to catch a tricky problem, but blocked it and OSU got the figure. The Cowboys turned that into a 13-yard touchdown that made the final score and stats closer than they should have.

However, a victory is a victory, lousy or not. It's been a long time since Texas could play so sloppy and win.

"I do not advocate this by an effort of imagination," said Herman. "But if you want to find a positive point, it's that we are fighting a very good football team."

Contact Brian Davis at 512-445-3957. E-mail [email protected].