Longhorns Football Bowl Eligible with Victory Over Oklahoma State

By Steve Habel/Associate Editor

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STILLWATER, Okla. – Any list of doubters about the fast-forward direction of the Texas football team in its first season under the staff of coach Charlie Strong is a lot shorter after the Longhorns plastered Oklahoma State 28-7 on Saturday night in the chill and wind of the north-central Oklahoma.

The win was Texas’ sixth of the season and fourth in the past five contests and granted the surging Longhorns a spot in a bowl game —the specifics of which will be determined at the end of the regular season— for the 53rd time in school history.

All that is pretty heady [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]stuff for a team that began the season with four losses in its first six games.

But the Texas team that dominated Oklahoma State –and West Virginia and Texas Tech in the two weeks before the win in Stillwater– has become a clutch, hard-nosed squad, just the type of team Strong envisioned when he began to put his stamp of the Longhorns when he was hired in January to replace Mack Brown.

“A few weeks ago nobody thought we would be here – everybody just wrote us off,” Strong said after win. “I tell our players all the time not to let outside forces control this football team. I’m just so happy for the seniors to get to a bowl game.”

Texas (6-4 overall and 5-3 in Big 12 play) took charge of the Cowboys from the beginning, scoring on four of its five possessions in the first half on the way to a 19-0 lead at the half. Then the Longhorns, as they did in their win Nov. 8 against West Virginia, became a little more conservative in the third quarter and pulled back on the offensive throttle.

But the Texas defense was like a rock, stymieing the Cowboys for 51 minutes before allowing a fourth-quarter scoring drive that ended up being little more than window dressing.

“To come on the road and go get the victory we got here was really special,” Strong said. “There was so much individual effort, but it was also a team effort. To just watch how hard they played (is exciting), and defensively we had a shutout going for a long time.”

The Longhorns moved 57 yards in 10 plays on their first possession and lit the scoreboard with a picture-perfect 19-yard touchdown pass from Tyrone Swoopes to John Harris. Holder William Russ mishandled the snap on the extra-point kick leaving Texas ahead 6-0 before most of the crowd of 52,495 at Boone Pickens Stadium had settled into their seats.

Texas added to its lead on its next opportunity, marching 81 yards in nine plays to Johnathan Gray’s 6-yard TD run around left end.

Nick Rose ripped a wind-aided, career-long 51-yard field goal on the Horns’ next possession to move the lead to 16-0 at the 9:33 mark of the second quarter, but then clanged a chip-shot 21-yard attempt off the right upright that ended Texas’ ensuing drive.

Rose made some amends by nailing a 34-yard kick in the waning seconds of the first half that was completely controlled by the Longhorns. Texas had 262 total yards in the first half while Oklahoma State had just 51 – with 25 of those yards coming on a pass in garbage time at the end of the half – as the Longhorns led 19-0 as the bands hit the field.

Texas gained just 69 yards on three possessions in the third quarter, but 53 of those came on an eight-play drive that ended with a 44-yard Rose field goal, his third of the game and a 22-0 Longhorns’ lead at the 7:37 mark.

Oklahoma State (5-5, 3-4 in Big 12 play) fashioned its only sustained drive early in the fourth quarter when it moved 61 yards on 10 plays to James Washington’s 8-yard touchdown pass from Daxx Garman that cut the Horns’ lead the 22-7 and created a small scare in the Texas faithful.

But the Horns’ victory was assured on their next possession as Swoopes directed a sterling 91-yard, eight-play march that culminated in a flawless 45-yard TD pass to Armanti Foreman. Rose then had his PAT blocked, but Texas had already deposited plenty in the bank.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said it was really simple to explain how the Horns dominated his squad, which has now lost four games in a row, all in conference play.

“(UT’s defensive) front is really good right now, and it’s not a good matchup for us,” Gundy said. “When you get whipped, you can’t run the ball and you struggle in pass protection, it’s really hard to kind of identify things. We tried to move the ball around with some different formations, but Texas was able to contain us.”

Texas cornerback Quandre Diggs said he was proud of his teammates and how they’ve responded after their tough first half of the season.

“We’ve been resilient all year – we could have easily packed it in three games ago,” Diggs said. “These guys have continued to fight, and we’ve worked out way into a great opportunity to continue to build on something that will get us going in the right direction next year.”

And so the Horns hit their 12-day window before their Thanksgiving night battle with No. 4 TCU on a real high and hungry to continue the success they’ve forged the past three weeks.

“TCU is a great team, and I cannot express how well we are going to have to play just to stay in the ballgame with them,” Strong said. “We’ve come a long way and just to get bowl eligible speaks volumes of the hard work that our team has put in.”

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Highlights of Texas vs. Oklahoma State

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