Five questions: Texas football looks ahead to Baylor

By Steve Habel, Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas – Make no mistake; the Texas football team is much improved and appears to be taking the steps it needs to return to the top of the college football heap. But moral victories are getting really stale, and the latest example — a 13-10 loss Saturday afternoon to No. 10 Oklahoma State — illustrates that the Longhorns, no matter how much they have progressed, can’t get out of their own way long enough to get over the hump.

UT’s defense did its part against the Cowboys before a crowd of 92,506 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, holding the high-powered, nation-leading offense at bay with a smash-mouth, bend-but-don’t-break performance that had Oklahoma State on its heels all game.

Cue Oklahoma State safety Ramon Richards, who intercepted a [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]pass from Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger in the end zone in overtime to grant the Cowboys the win. The loss dropped the Longhorns’ record to 3-4 overall and 2-2 against Big 12 opponents.

Oklahoma State took the lead in overtime with a 34-yard field goal by Matt Ammendola, who had missed late in regulation from 29 yards. Texas, in field goal range to tie the game at the OSU 6, got greedy as Ehlinger tried to lob a pass to Jerrod Heard, who had been bumped off his route and out of bounds, leaving Richards in position to haul in the interception.

The Cowboys (6-1 overall, 3-1 in Big 12 games) entered the game atop the FBS rankings for total offense, averaging almost 611 yards and 49 points per outing, but they were stymied by a Texas defense that was hell-bent on stopping the pass, especially the deep strike — the tactic that has pushed Oklahoma State into the upper echelon of college football.

Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph, who led the nation before Saturday with a 394.7-yard per game passing average, managed just 282 in the win, 66 of which came on a pass to Marcell Ateman early in the fourth quarter when Texas defender Brandon Jones tripped over his own feet in coverage.

“A monumental effort by our defense — to hold the No. 1 (offensive) team in the country to 10 points in regulation is something to be proud of,” Texas coach Tom Herman said. “We gotta help them more on offense. We’ve got to fix what’s wrong. We have flashes but we are not consistent enough.”

It was UT’s third overtime game this season. The Longhorns lost, 27-24, Sept. 16 at USC and beat Kansas State at home Oct. 7, 40-34.

Oklahoma State outgained the Longhorns, 428-283, including a 146-42 edge in rushing. Texas got 90 of its total yards on one pass or things would have been much more lopsided in the statistics, if not the scoreboard.

The Cowboys got the scoring started with a 7-yard run by J.D. King at the 4:51 mark of the first quarter that culminated a 96-yard march in 10 plays.

A fumble by running back Justice Hill at the UT 14 early in the second quarter denied the Cowboys another scoring chance; Texas quickly took advantage. Ehlinger (who completed 22 of 36 passes for 241 yards) hit John Burt on a 90-yard catch-and-run against the right sideline that moved the Longhorns to the OSU 2. Ehlinger powered his way into the end zone on the following snap to tie the game at 7-7 with 13:59 to play before halftime.

Ehlinger fumbled while he was being sacked by the Cowboys’ Trey Carter at the seven-minute minute mark of the second quarter but got off the ground and ran down the loose ball, falling on it for a 34-yard loss but avoiding real disaster for the Longhorns on the play.

Texas took the second-half kickoff and drove 71 yards in 13 plays but had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Joshua Rowland and a 10-7 lead.

The Cowboys countered with a 12-play, 74-yard drive that ended with Ammendola’s 19-yard field goal with 12:31 to play in the fourth quarter that tied the game at 10. But even that score was tempered by the fact that Oklahoma State had a first-and-goal situation from the Texas 1-yard line and was pushed back a yard in three subsequent snaps.

The 66-yard pass from Rudolph to Ateman set up the Cowboys for a 29-yard field goal attempt with 4:15 remaining in the fourth quarter but Ammendola pushed the kick wide right, setting the table for overtime — and, ultimately, heartbreak for the Longhorns.

“We’re not really worried about our record,” Texas cornerback Holton Hill said. “We will focus on our next opponent and going into them 100 percent, full-speed and working on execute our jobs.”

Texas returns to play with a road game at Baylor next Saturday in Waco. Kickoff is at 11 a.m. CDT at McLane Stadium.

This and that: UT’s youth has shined through in the starting lineup. The Longhorns’ last two recruiting classes (true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and true sophomores) have combined to make 41 starts this season, including 34 on the offensive side of the ball. … Saturday’s game was third time in five contests that Texas played an opponent ranked inside the top 12 in the polls. … Oklahoma State’s Rudolph entered the game with 24 completions of more than 30 yards, and led the nation in that category. … The Texas defense continued its recent stingy streak. In its past five games entering play Saturday, the UT defense allowed an average of 19.4 points, 361.4 total yards and 87.4 rushing yards per game.

FIVE QUESTIONS

What happened on the final play?

Ehlinger, for all his moxie, desire and pride in being a Longhorn, is still a freshman quarterback with just five games of college football experience. There is no doubt he wanted to make a play to win the game on the final snap rather than settle for a field goal that would have sent the game into double overtime.

But things went wrong from the start.

“We were supposed to throw it out in the flat on five steps — get it out as a little sprint pass,” Herman said. “For whatever reason, (Ehlinger) didn’t throw it early to the flat, so he scrambled around. In that situation, with (UT) only needing a field goal, we need to throw the ball away.”

Ehlinger had a different take on the play and said he expected Heard to read things the same way he did and extend things through the back of the end zone.

“It was a spread left and we ran a switch route, but Oklahoma State switched it out well on defense,” Ehlinger said. “I made a mistake. I thought that Jerrod (Heard) was going to circle back up to the back of the end zone for a jump ball. That’s why I put it up there for him and for a chance to win.”

With the game on the line, Ehlinger should not have even attempted that pass. Instead, throw it away and live another day — a lesson learned for the quarterback, and a costly one.

How was the defense able to limit Oklahoma State?

Texas dropped eight defenders into pass coverage, got enough rush with its three down linemen and blitzed in selective situations — tactics all designed to keep the Cowboys from hitting big plays.

That worked, for the most part. Oklahoma State did have its 66-yard pass late in the game, but that came when Jones fell down; the rest of the defense reacted quickly enough to get the Cowboys’ Ateman on the ground. That possession for Oklahoma State ended without a score when Ammendola missed his short field goal.

“It was a heck of a game plan and heck of an execution of that game plan by our players and defensive staff,” Herman said. “We knew we needed to stop the pass, which is a bit unconventional. We figured we had enough athletes for when they decided to run; we could get off blocks and didn’t need the extra hat, as you say, in the run game.

“We knew we were going to give up some yards on the ground. But as long as we got them down we lived to play another down.”

Who was the player of the game for Texas?

Two players stood out in this game: cornerbacks Holton Hill and Kris Boyd.

Hill drew the assignment to shadow Oklahoma State wide receiver James Washington, one of the top pass catchers in the nation and a sure-fire NFL star-in-waiting. Hill was splendid in the job, limiting Washington to four catches for 32 yards.

“(Oklahoma State) beats most teams with its vertical game, so stopping that that was our main focus going into the game,” Hill said. “I took it as a challenge. I knew that James Washington’s offense was a big threat. So I took it upon myself to work hard this past week and give it my all this weekend.”

Because Hill did his job so well (and has become the closest thing Texas has to a lockdown corner), the Cowboys moved away from Washington and tried to hit plays to the receiver working against Boyd.

Boyd responded with his best overall game as a Longhorn, breaking up two passes and making 13 tackles — 11 of them solo.

What’s keeping Texas from breaking through?

The series of close-but-no-cigar games is starting to take a toll on everyone. Each week Texas is one or two plays away from winning and earning the confidence it needs to keep doing so.

UT’s four losses this season have come by a total of 21 points. Throw out the defeat against Maryland in the season opener, and each of its three losses to ranked teams (USC in double overtime, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in overtime) was decided on the final play by a combined margin of 11 points.

“It’s definitely not effort,” Herman said. “The effort, intensity, physicality, togetherness and accountability are palpable on this team … and that’s step No. 1.

“Step No. 2 is we do our job with laser-like focus every single time the ball is snapped, and in order to do that, we have to be confident and sure of what we’re doing. We’re not a confident group on (the offensive) side of the ball. We need to play better to win some games down the stretch.”

What’s next for the Longhorns?

At 3-4 after seven games, Texas has to win three of its final five contests to earn a bowl game bid. That stretch begins when the Longhorns face Baylor next Saturday in Waco.

“(Making a bowl game) is the big picture right now,” Herman said, “and when we get to work this week, it will be to beat Baylor. That’s the only goal we need to have right now: to win the next one.”

Herman also said his team hasn’t shown any signs of quitting or waver in determination.

“They’re as hurt as I am,” he said minutes after the loss to Oklahoma State. “That’s a good thing. That means they’re invested. It means they’re not used to losing — they’re unaccepting of losing. They’ve had plenty of opportunities to jump ship and they haven’t yet.

“We have a chance to achieve something that hasn’t been done in a few years — and it starts this week in preparation for Baylor, and I have no doubt in my mind that our guys will wake up (on Sunday) ready to work again.”

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