5 ways the No. 6 ‘Horns can buck the Cowboys

By Steve Lansdale

The Texas Longhorns, owners of the only unblemished record (4-0) against Big 12 teams head north of the Red River this weekend for a matchup with a potentially dangerous Oklahoma State team. OSU isn’t having the kind of year to which it became accustomed during the Mason Rudolph-to-James Washington years, but it is a team that presents a legitimate challenge to Texas.

On paper, Texas should beat the Cowboys, who enter Saturday’s game with a 4-3 record overall record but just a 1-3 mark against Big 12 teams. OSU started the season with lopsided wins over Missouri State and South Alabama, but it wasn’t until the Cowboys took down Boise State in the season’s third week that people started to believe that this year’s Oklahoma State team might be a solid squad.

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That, however, was before the conference portion of the season started; through four games, the Cowboys sandwiched a victory over Kansas between losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State, and then jumped the tracks again Oct. 13 in a 31-12 loss to Kansas State.

So what can the Longhorns do in order to increase their chances for a win Saturday?

Pressure OK State QB Taylor Cornelius

The passer who has the misfortune of following the record-setting Rudolph can be a handful. Cornelius has completed 134 of 227 passes this season for 2,014 passing yards, and has thrown eight interceptions and 16 touchdowns. When he is left alone, he can pick apart a secondary, and when under duress, bringing the 6-6, 232-pound Cornelius to the ground is no easy task.

But not surprisingly, he fares better when he has time to set his feet and go through his reads. In two of OSU’s three losses, he failed to complete 50 percent of his passes, including his team’s 31-12 loss to Kansas State in which he completed 17 of 35 passes (48.6 percent).

Score … a lot

Rudolph and Washington might be gone, but the Cowboys always field a potent offensive team, and this season is no different. OK State is outscoring its opponents this season by exactly 11 points per game, 39.43-28.43, and only twice has failed to score at least 42 points.

Texas needs to score — often Saturday in Stillwater. Whether it’s Sam Ehlinger or Shane Buechele playing quarterback, Texas needs to score … and it wouldn’t hurt if the Longhorns can get some points from their special teams or defense, too.

Aim high

Whichever quarterback is playing for the Longhorns needs to take to the air, early and often. Oklahoma State’s defense can be described in many ways, but “greedy” is not one of them. Through seven games, the entire OSU defense has mustered just four interceptions, and opponents are completing more than 64 percent of their passes against OK State.

Whereas the Cowboys have a touchdowns-to-interceptions ration of just better than 2:1, with 17 scoring passes and eight interceptions, OSU opponents have enjoyed more success, finding the end zone with 15 scoring tosses and getting picked of just four times this season.

Avoid linebackers Justin Phillips (53) and Calvin Bundage (44), by far the team’s top two tacklers

Avoiding them altogether won’t be easy — Phillips leads the team with 53 tackles, followed by Bundage’s 44 for a reason: they both are smart players who run extremely well, and play in a defensive system designed to have defensive linemen tie up blockers so the linebackers can run free to the ball. Between the two of them, they have 97, while the rest of the entire team has 371. In other words, those two players have accounted for 20.7 percent of their team’s tackles.

Do not let the game come down to an Oklahoma State field goal attempt

OSU’s Matt Ammendola is, in a word, outstanding. The redshirt junior has hit 11 of 12 field goal attempts this season after hitting the last 11 he attempted last season. Ammendola made more field goals than any Power Five kicker in the country last season when he converted 23, the third-highest single-season total in program history. In addition to his 23 field goals last year, he also connected on 70 extra points — his 139 points in 2017 were the most by any player in the Big 12.

Amendola is not just a chip shot artist. His longest so far this season was a 48-yarder, and he twice has split the uprights from 53 yards out.

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