Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 9)

satyanash · October 28, 2018

Collecting all the post-game analysis articles, including those behind paywalls, regarding the OSU game here:

Jeff Howe: Rally comes up short as Texas falls to Oklahoma State, 38-35

Quote

STILLWATER, Okla. — A second-half rally came up short as No. 6-ranked Texas fell to Oklahoma State, 38-35, on Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium. The loss for the Longhorns (6-2, 4-1 in the Big 12) in the team's first in conference play and fourth in a row to the Cowboys (5-3, 2-3) who are now one win away from bowl eligbility.

Trailing by 17 points at halftime, which was tied for the largest deficit the Longhorns have faced all season, the Longhorns finally found their footing in the second half. Keaontay Ingram ended a 6-play, 78-yard drive when Sam Ehlinger, in his return from a shoulder injury suffered two weeks ago in a win over Baylor, hit him on a delayed release wheel route for a 22-yard touchdown to cut the Oklahoma State lead to 10, 31-21, with 2:15 remaining in the quarter.

With the ball back in his possession to start the fourth quarter, Ehlinger went to work. On an 8-play, 59-yard drive, Ehlinger had a 10-yard run and was 4-for-5 passing for 44 yards, including a beautifully-designed 10-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Beck where the action looked like the power stretch Ehlinger has had success running, but Beck squirted free in the clear and Ehlinger hit him with a jump pass to make it a one-possession game, 31-28. That's when mistakes the Longhorns made all night caught up with them and resulted in the program's six-game winning streak getting snapped.

The defense forced a punt on Oklahoma State's ensuing drive, but Brandon Jones fielded the punt and was ruled to have had his forward progress stopped at the 2-yard line. A three-and-out by the offense and a short punt put the defense on a short field and while the Cowboys needed six plays to cover the distance, Taylor Cornelius did as his 10-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal from the 10 put Oklahoma State ahead, 38-28, with 5:44 to play.

Texas then drove the ball 75 yards in 13 plays, a march that ended with a 1-yard Tre Watson touchdown run with 1:46 to play. The Cowboys, however, were able to run out the clock and came away with a win on Homecoming weekend in Stillwater. The first half couldn’t have gone worse for Texas, especially on defense. Oklahoma State racked up 378 total yards over the first 30 minutes and averaged 7.1 yards per play en route to a 17-point halftime lead where big plays allowed in critical situations killed the Longhorns.

The Cowboys finished the first half with seven passing plays of 15 yards or more, three of which went for touchdowns. Additionally, Todd Orlando’s desire to see the third-down defense get cleaned up was all for naught in the first half as the Cowboys were 6-for-12 moving the sticks on third down and 2-for-2 on fourth down as four of the explosive passing plays by Oklahoma State happened on the money downs.

Another trend unsavory trend the defense saw continue was opposing offenses getting points on their opening series. Oklahoma State made it six of eight times this season where the defense has surrendered points on their opening drive as Cornelius connected with Tylan Wallace for a 40-yard touchdown to finish off an impressive 4-play, 53-yard drive that staked the Cowboys to an early lead, 7-0.

Texas answered as Ehlinger moved the offense down the field 65 yards in seven plays. Ehlinger ended the drive by calling his own number and scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to tie the game. Oklahoma State, however, would then take control of the game. The Cowboys scored on three of their next four possessions, including a 10-play, 64-yard drive where Cornelius scored on a 1-yard run to put Texas down by 17 points, 24-7, which the largest deficit Texas has faced since it trailed Maryland by the same score in the season opener.

As was the case when the Terrapins pulled ahead of the Longhorns at FedEx Field on Sept. 1, Texas answered quickly. A 39-yard completion from Ehlinger to Lil'Jordan Humphrey and a 37-yard strike from Ehlinger to Beck down the seam highlighted a 4-play, 75-yard scoring drive that culminated with a 2-yard touchdown run by Ehlinger. The lead, however, would go back to a 17-point margin in favor of the Cowboys by halftime. Wallace concluded an impressive first half where racked piled up 167 receiving yards on eight receptions by hauling in a 36-yard touchdown pass over Kris Boyd. The touchdown hookup on a fourth-and-1 capped a 10-play, 70-yard drive and gave the Cowboys the lead at intermission, 31-14.

Post-game commiseration thread: Oklahoma State 38, Texas 35

satyanash · October 28, 2018

(Bobby Burton) Snap Judgments: Miscues and Missed Opportunities

In some respects, I can't remember a worse game for the Texas secondary than the one we just witnessed. Sure, there have been teams that have thrown for more yards against the Horns. But the Texas DBs looked lost at times, overwhelmed at others and a couple of times simply didn't make the plays that they were in position to make. The miscues started early. Davante Davis and Kris Boyd were out in the first quarter. And Kobe Boyce, Boyd's first quarter replacement, is clearly not ready to play in the Big 12 - or maybe anywhere.

But this was a team effort; it wasn't just about the first quarter or the two replacements. Several members of the secondary had multiple plays where they looked either lost or overwhelmed. Brandon Jones, on multiple occasions, misjudged the flight of the ball which led to more yards after the catch. On the TD catch by Tylan Wallace, Jones watched the play happen instead of actually doing anything. And finally, the decision to catch the punt over his shoulder and try to return it was a costly mistake.

Texas got the ball, down by three, but because of Jones' decision the team was backed up to its own two. BJ Foster, uncharacteristically, was routinely beaten on run plays. RB Justice Hill gave him fits, and Foster's decision to go high on the TD run by the Oklahoma State QB gave the Cowboys a critical two-score lead in the game's final minutes. PJ Locke continues to get beat in both the pass and run game. Locke's play on the game's final third down of consequence, this one against the run, was inexcusable. He didn't stay outside against a simple zone-read keep. That's poor play from a senior. The moment was just too big for him.

Boyd got beat on the big catch on fourth down by jumping too early and was beaten deep once. But his biggest mistake came by missing the first quarter because his replacement was simply no match for Wallace. I've seen some poor performances. But this was one of the worst I've seen from an entirety standpoint. I'm not sure how Locke keeps his job after this week.

**

The Texas defense had a real problem with the two-back set that the Cowboys ran so often tonight. Anthony Wheeler looked slow. That's partly the speed of the RB Hill and partly Wheeler just not being quick enough to do much about it. Don't get wrong. The Cowboys' success in the run game wasn't all on Wheeler. I feel like Todd Orlando's decision to only put five in the box in the first quarter bordered on the insane. Mike Gundy showed him that by walking the ball down the field the first four times they had the ball. And other Texas defenders let Hill get extra yardage multiple times after first contact.

**

Texas completely abandoned its own run game early in the third quarter and it hurt the Horns' attempt to get back into the game. Sam Ehlinger is a quarterback who is growing. But he's also not going to be a guy who can chunk it down the field on a consistent basis without the threat of a run game and play-action passes.

**

How many mistakes did Texas make throughout the game? There was the jump offsides by Ta'Quon Graham. I know it should have been a penalty on O-State, but the defense still needs to be disciplined enough not to jump. That ended up costing Texas seven points. (Again, I don't put that entirely on Graham, but it's indicative of how the night went for the Horns.) Then there's the multiple offsides penalties by two senior defensive ends.

There was the completely blown coverage on the first fourth-down TD catch. There was De'Shawn Jamison inexplicably attempting to return the first kick of the second half for all of 13 yards. There was the drop by LJ Humphrey with nothing but green ahead of him. There was Jones fielding the punt and losing eight yards after catching it. There were a lot of plays where Texas simply didn't fit the run well on defense. Too many mistakes. Most of them were mental ones, which is particularly disappointing since the team had limited those so well so far this season.

**

Ehlinger looked and played like he was knocking the rust off for the first half. The entire team did, actually. The Horns too often abandoned what got them to a leadership position in the Big 12. Texas didn't really use the QB run until it was much too late in the contest. Maybe that was Tom Herman's decision to make sure Ehlinger could take the hits. But this offense has a major problem running the ball without that threat at QB. No matter the reason, Texas didn't control the ball at all in the first half and had way too many three and outs overall.

**

I felt like several OLs had relatively good games, particularly Sam Cosmi and Calvin Anderson, although it was Anderson who should have been called for holding in the end zone and not Pat Vahe. I also felt like Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay had solid games. LJ Humphrey dropped one pass early and didn't;'t hustle to get lined up on time at the end of the first half, But he made a terrific catch on the sideline, as well as a few others for first downs. Ehlinger played relatively well once the rust got knocked off. But the defense, for the most part, was abused by the mix of the two-back power run game and by Wallace in the receiving game on the perimeter.

**

At the end of the day, Texas came back but it just wasn't enough. It's yet another one-score game the Horns have played this season. That's a total of six one-score games this season. Texas played five one-score games a year ago. What does that mean? Maybe it means that mistakes, even small ones, are often the difference between winning and losing. Too many miscues and missed opportunities doomed the Horns in Stillwater tonight.

satyanash · October 28, 2018

(Ian Boyd) 5 Quick thoughts: Stopped in Stillwater

That game had the makings of another classic in which Texas gave up a big lead to OSU early only to rip their hearts out late. Of course at other points in the game it had the makings of a Cowboy blowout victory. Ultimately OSU had just enough juice in the tank, and an absurdly effective trump card, to hold on for dear life when the Texas offense finally showed up. That game cost Texas a shot at the playoffs and killed some of their margin for the Big 12 title race. Obviously the playoffs...that wasn't something most people really wanted to talk about anyways. This Texas team is strong enough to pull off a Big 12 championship but the league is down this year and the teams waiting in the playoffs would inevitably have given Texas a rough awakening to how much work is needed to compete at that level.

The Big 12 title race is now a three-way tie at the top between Texas, OU, and West Virginia with Texas Tech and Iowa State hanging around just below (3-2) hoping to get into the picture and possessing some opportunities to do so. Texas has yet to play any of those teams save for OU so obviously this season isn't over yet by a long shot. In the meantime we can break down some of what happened tonight.

Quick thought no. 1: Texas didn't seem prepared to take a post-bye week haymaker

Oklahoma State had a very thorough gameplan for this contest, which for myself at least was probably the most overlooked factor in their victory in this game. They knew how they wanted to attack the Texas defense and Taylor Cornelius knew where they wanted to go with the football in different situations, regularly attacking Texas' weak spots for crucial conversions and some big plays.

Meanwhile their defense had a plan for handling the Texas offense, which ultimately gave way once the Longhorns found some rhythm late, but they certainly did enough. Texas took a couple of shots from the officials as well, who were certainly not biased in favor of OSU but did burn Texas with the call on the fake, fake punt as well as the absurd holding call on Andrew Beck. Maybe there were solid reasons for either of those calls but they looked bad and both of them were immensely costly for Texas. The first setting up an eventual TD drive and the latter turning a deep shot to Collin Johnson into first and 20.

These things happen but Texas really struggled to adjust to them. They struggled to adjust to Oklahoma State's tempo, their stretch-read play, the speed of Tylan Wallace, and the overall fire and physicality that the Cowboys brought into this game. This team isn't good enough to give away big leads to opponents, that was the lesson in the Maryland game. Once again they made a very game comeback but you win this game if you regain composure early or don't come out so flat.

Quick thought no. 2: Corn reads and Tylan Wallace

In my preview I noted that Texas would probably have some rust and give up a TD when they forgot Taylor Cornelius is effective and frequently utilized on read-keepers and another when they lost track of Tylan Wallace. Instead each of those factors yielded predictable early returns but then also later ones after Texas should have adjusted. Wallace is a good player but Kris Boyd largely had him under wraps once he entered the game and could have just as easily picked off that TD pass before the half had he timed that jump better.

Texas' losing Cornelius on zone-read keepers was the most egregious sin of this game. He's been doing that to teams all year, as ungainly as he sometimes looks running the football he's also clearly effective thanks to a long stride and some legitimate toughness. There were at least four big plays for Oklahoma State where they turned to Cornelius to pull the ball in crucial situations where Texas lost track of him and he came through.

There was the early TD read, when OSU called stretch zone with a backside read on the 4i-technique right after Breckyn Hager and Charles Omenihu had been pulled for breathers, and Taquon Graham dived for the back and allowed Cornelius easy access to the end zone. Then there was another one on Omenihu where OSU mixed in a FB cut block on him. The second score came when they ran the play while blocking the DL but having Cornelius read B.J. Foster, who was focused on covering up Dillon Stoner (who'd been torching Texas on third downs matched up against P.J. Locke) and wasn't able to come off to make a good tackle on the big QB. Then finally that third down run that iced the game, I didn't get a clear view of who bungled that assignment.

It's unacceptable for the defense to lose the game by a margin that is probably erased had they played any single one of those big Cornelius keepers better. It was all or nothing for OSU, the D should have been better prepared for him to pull the ball. Especially at the end of the game when forcing Texas to burn a timeout with another run would have been a worthy aim. The zone-read was the perfect balance of "let's try to get this first down but let's not take any big risks" and Texas didn't see it coming.

Quick thought no. 3: DB issues for the loss

I'm sure plenty of people will be curious at Tom Herman, Davante Davis, Kris Boyd, Kobe Boyce, and/or Anthony Cook for the fact that Tylan Wallace wreaked havoc early in that game while Texas' starting cornerbacks sat out for the first quarter. It was obvious enough that Herman wanted to send a message to this team about the level of focus that was going to be necessary and expected from the team. After that interminable quarter of disaster I imagine the message probably came through loud and clear. You'd have hoped that the benching would do the trick without taking an L as well but Texas has proved resilient to learning painless lessons this decade.

Kris Boyd's performance against Tylan Wallace after he came in was imperfect and included a few more big plays to the OSU wideout but Texas probably wins that game if Boyd is in there to start the first quarter.

Kobe Boyce has been very well reviewed in practice for his coverage skills but he clearly isn't ready for the bright lights of playing the top WRs of the Big 12. Jason Washington will have some work to do this offseason getting the next batch of young CBs up to speed and probably Todd Orlando will give them more help as well, but they are currently not quite there. It's an unforgiving league for CBs and just imagine if Taylor Cornelius was more accurate? Next year's slate of opposing QBs and passing games will be much rougher than what Texas faces this season.

Cornelius isn't that strong a passer but he is a 5th year senior who knew where to go with the football coming off a bye week. In the future Texas draws senior Will Grier but then also true freshmen Alan Bowman and Brock "pump fake" Purdy. Next year's league will include returning starters at five other schools while OU and West Virginia will likely be plugging in upperclassmen.

Quick thought no. 4: The wrench in the offensive gears

Texas' offense didn't play all that well either. The main concern going into this game was Sam Ehlinger, or whether he'd be 100% and ready to play at the level Texas has become accustomed to. That wasn't the issue at all in this game as Ehlinger threw for 283 yards and two scores while running for two more. Ehlinger kept the team loose, had them ready to win the game late, and would have had huge passing game stats had his wideouts not dropped several big plays early or his blockers not negated some gains with costly penalties. No one would have been eager to bet against Texas marching down the field and kicking a FG to force overtime had they not fallen for that final Cornelius zone-read.

It's bizarre to me that Lil'Jordan Humphrey ever struggles with drops, particularly in light of that absurd grab he had on an Ehlinger rollout pass in the fourth quarter. Collin Johnson struggled with the physicality of the Oklahoma State CBs who clearly came into this game on a mission.

The plan for OSU in this game was to load the box and get free hitters around the ball to limit the damage of the run game while leaning on their CBs to hold up against Texas' big wideout tandem. They were rewarded for that daring strategy when Keaontay Ingram was held to 11 carries for 52 yards and Texas managed only 6.7 ypa forcing the issue either against run-stopping calls or the max coverage calls that OSU was able to mix in as a result of playing with a big lead and getting to defend an inordinately large number of passing downs.

Collin Johnson dropped a slant on third and three, Humphrey dropped an early crossing route that could have stalled out OSU's early momentum, and the two combined for nine catches for 134 yards while Andrew Beck and Keaontay Ingram stole the glory of catching TD passes. Texas needs more from their star wideouts in games where opponents dare them to win in the air.

Quick thought no. 5: The margin is gone but the sky isn't falling

Good on Texas to adjust in game, get their legs under them, and make a strong effort to win that game. This kind of observation often sounds and feels hollow at this point but for Texas to be 6-2 on the year and in a three-way tie for first place in the Big 12 with the head-to-head tiebreaker over Oklahoma is good positioning.

They have three truly challenging games left on the schedule and two are at home, so that helps quite a bit as well. I'm sure Herman would have liked to head to Lubbock in a few weeks with a loss to give in the standings but all of the games left on the schedule are eminently winnable. Texas matches up well against the remaining teams, none of whom run the ball quite as well as Oklahoma State or who have as much experience at QB (other than WVU). Efforts in the coming weeks in which Texas' gameplan is and focus matches or exceeds their opponents should mean the Longhorns playing in the Big 12 championship game at the end of the year and fulfilling the best reasonable goal for this season.

Edited October 28, 2018 by satyanash

satyanash · October 28, 2018

Manny Acho, who is now an ESPN analyst, is heavily criticizing the players on Twitter

https://twitter.com/thEMANacho/status/1056365495132270592

maninblack · October 28, 2018

My response to Emmanuel

satyanash · October 28, 2018

Justin Wells: Pokes pull off upset of promising Horns, 38-35

STILLWATER, Ok -- Texas entered tonight's nationally televised contest with OSU on a six-game winning streak and a No. 6 ranking in the country. They left with a one-game losing streak and a lot of heartache. Oklahoma State compiled 502 total yards of offense, over half (260) of which happened in the first quarter, on its way to a 38-35 win over the Longhorns at T. Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday night.

The slow start doomed the No. 6 Longhorns who, despite being down 17 midway through the third quarter, almost produced a comeback for the ages. Down 10 to open the final stanza, Texas QB Sam Ehlinger hit Andrew Beck on a 10-yard jump-pass touchdown toss and got the Horns within three, 31-28. But a series of penalties and bad decisions allowed OSU to hang on late.

"Extremely proud of the way that our guys fought in the second half," said Herman. "There were times in this program when going down by 17 and a few 3-and-outs on offense, and we didn't look like we could stop anybody on defense, that we probably would have checked it in. But we didn't and I was really proud of that." Oklahoma State wasted little time with the opening possession. Four plays, 53 yards later, Taylor Corneilus hit Tylan Wallace for a 40-yard strike and a 7-0 lead at the 13:12 mark.

With Kris Boyd and Davante Davis out for the first quarter, Kobe Boyce and Anthony Cook started and were tested often, especially Boyce. Wallace, who tallied 222 yards on 10 catches, was the first WR to eclipse the 200-yard mark vs UT since OU's Dede Westbrook in 2016.

"That's a really upset and dejected locker room," Herman said. "But they are very, very together. I love the fact that one loss hurts that bad. We had guys in tears. To think how far we've come, to where one loss matters, and it should. That means we are headed in the right direction as far as the attitude of this team and the belief in the way we do things. I told them this is probably the only time, because when you lose a game like that, you have to have some kind of hope. The hope is actually really bright."

Texas quickly responded with its own opening march, culminating on Ehlinger's 5-yard scoring scamper, and 7-7 draw at the 9:58 mark of the first quarter. Ehlinger finished 22-of-42, 283 yards, and two TDs, plus 51 yards on the ground and two more scores. OSU was just getting started. Cornelius hits Jelani Woods on a 4th-and-1 for a 16-yard TD strike at the 6:13 mark in the first. After holding UT to a three-and-out, the Cowboys drove the field ending in a Matt Amendola 25-yard field goal. It gave the Pokes a 17-7 advantage with only minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

What happened to the team that hadn't lost in almost two months? "What didn't happen," said Herman. "We didn't stop the run, which we've done so well here for a year and a half. When the ball was in the air, we didn't play it properly, we misjudged balls and took poor angles. Their guys made plays on the ball in the air." The second quarter opened with a Amendola missed 42-yard FG attempt. But after a pair of Texas three-and-outs, the Cowboys got back on the scoreboard when Cornelius punched it in from 1-yard out and gave the Cowboys a 24-7 lead, 10:00 remaining in the second quarter.

Ehlinger wouldn't be denied. He led a 75-yard charge in five plays, finished off the march with a 2-yard scoring run. It brought Texas back within 10, 24-14, at the 8:48 mark. It was a fitting end of the first half when Cornelius, who was 23-of-34, for 321 yards and three TD passes, as well as 53 yards on the ground and two more scores, hit Wallace, again, this time between Kris Boyd and Brandon Jones for a 36-yard TD toss.

The two defensive backs misjudged the ball that went through both of them, and was symbolic of UT's first half as the Cowboys went into the half up, 31-14. "We are in a point in our program right now where we can not play our best, especially on the road, especially against a really good football team and expect to win," Herman said. "It's not going to happen."

A sluggish third quarter from both teams until Ehlinger hit Keaontay Ingram on a 22-yard scoring toss to get the Horns back within 10, 31-21, at the end of three quarters. "We've got our whole season in front of us, but we have to learn from what happened and make sure it never happens again," Herman said. What's next for the Longhorns despite a date next Saturday vs West Virginia? "Very, very eager to get back out there," said Charles Omenihu, who tallied six tackles, 2.5 TFL, and a sack. "Ready to get this taste out of our mouths."

phdhorn · October 28, 2018

7 hours ago, satyanash said:

Manny Acho, who is now an ESPN analyst, is heavily criticizing the players on Twitter

https://twitter.com/thEMANacho/status/1056365495132270592

Apparently Emmanuel's bookie is happy.

TexasGolf · October 28, 2018

Take it out on the field vs WV

Edited October 28, 2018 by TexasGolf

satyanash · October 28, 2018

Chip Brown: Good, Bad, Ugly from Texas' 38-35 loss to Oklahoma State

The Longhorns weren’t prepared. They weren’t prepared to play without cornerbacks Kris Boyd and Davante Davis for more than one quarter. The rest of the defense wasn’t prepared to stop Oklahoma State’s two conversions on fourth-and-1— both for long touchdowns through the air). The defense wasn’t prepared to stop the run (OSU’s Justice Hill ran 23 times for 92 yards, and Chuba Hubbard ran nine times for 80 yards).

After Todd Orlando made a point last week that UT’s third-down defense needed to get better, Texas wasn’t prepared to stop OSU and get off the field, giving up 10 of 20 conversions, including a third-and-six on a quarterback run with 1:31 left. The Longhorns weren’t prepared to help gutsy quarterback Sam Ehlinger as receivers dropped nearly a half-dozen passes, including a potential big-gainer by Lil'Jordan Humphrey and two drops by Collin Johnson - one on third down and the other when Texas could’ve moved into field-goal position in the final minute of the first half.

When Boyd got on the field in the second quarter, he wasn’t prepared for OSU receiver Tylan Wallace, who had 10 catches for 222 yards and two touchdowns, most all of it against Boyd. Tom Herman said after the game, Texas’ “long-term goals are all still ahead of us,” referring to UT’s ability to still reach the Big 12 title game despite falling to 6-2 and 4-1 in Big 12 play. As usual, here’s the GOOD, BAD & UGLY from the Longhorns’ 38-35 loss at Oklahoma State Saturday night in Stillwater.

The Good

Sam Ehlinger overcame a sprain of his right throwing shoulder and helped lead a furious comeback that fell short in the fourth quarter, when Ehlinger was 11 of 15 passing, including a 10-yard touchdown strike to tight end Andrew Beck. Beck had three catches for 51 yards, including the TD as well as a 36-yard grab to the OSU 2 that helped set up a touchdown in the second quarter. Keaontay Ingram had 11 carries for 52 yards (4.7 ypc) as well as three catches for 30 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown grab on a wheel route with 2:15 left in the third quarter.

But Daniel Young replaced Ingram on UT’s first two drives of the fourth quarter, running twice for 2 yards as Ingram’s only touch in the fourth was a 6-yard reception. Gary Johnson led the defense with 10 tackles (6 solo) with 2.5 tackles for loss, including a 15-yard sack on third-down, along with two pass breakups. The Longhorns didn’t turn the ball over, and Ehlinger’s school record for pass attempts without an interception is now at 210.

TEXAS’ 13-PLAY TD DRIVE CUTS OSU LEAD TO 38-35: Ehlinger was masterful - going 7-of-8 passing while running three times for 12 yards - in a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by Tre Watson’s 1-yard TD run. The drive took 3:58 off the clock and helped the Longhorns cut OSU’s lead to 38-35 with 1:46 to play.

TEXAS CUTS OSU LEAD TO 31-28: Ehlinger was spectacular on an eight-play, 59-yard touchdown drive that ate 3:13 off the clock. Ehlinger ran the ball once for 10 yards and was 4-of-5 passing, including a 10-yard, jump-pass touchdown to tight end Andrew Beck, who caught two TDs in the game. Breckyn Hager hit Taylor Cornelius, making him double over, and Charles Omenihu then pulled Cornelius to the ground for a 9-yard sack, helping to force a punt with 5:17 left in the second quarter.

TEXAS CUTS OSU LEAD TO 24-14 IN SECOND QUARTER: Ehlinger hit Lil'Jordan Humphrey for 34 yards on UT’s first play of the drive to the OSU 41. Two plays later, Ehlinger threw a perfect deep ball to tight end Andrew Beck for 36 yards against good coverage to the OSU 2. That set up Ehlinger’s second TD run of the night — from 2 yards out — cutting OSU’s lead to 24-14 with 8:48 left in the second quarter. Gary Johnson dropped Taylor Cornelius for a 15-yard sack on third-and-6 from the Texas 9, forcing a 41-yard field goal attempt that was hooked wide left by Matt Ammendola early in the second quarter.

TEXAS TIES GAME 7-7 AFTER FIRST DRIVE: Keaontay Ingram ran four times for 15 yards, including an 11-yard run on UT’s first offensive play, and Sam Ehlinger completed his only pass of the drive (for 14 yards on third-and-9) before running the ball into the end zone from 5 yards out, tying the game, 7-7, with 9:58 left in the first quarter. On third-and-9 from the OSU 22, Ehlinger found Collin Johnson for 14 yards to the 8 on the Longhorns’ opening drive.

Ehlinger’s first pass of the game was a deep shot to Collin Johnson that fell incomplete, but Oklahoma State cornerback A.J. Green was flagged for pass interference, wiping out the play and moving the ball to the OSU 23. Keaontay Ingram opened the game with an 11-yard run. A run by Ingram for a loss of 3 yards on the next play was wiped out by a holding call on the Cowboys.

The Bad

The Texas defense, which looked gassed to start the game, almost like they didn’t have their legs, didn’t force a turnover and couldn’t contain OSU quarterback Taylor Cornelius when it mattered most. The Longhorns were penalized 11 times for 86 yards. Breckyn Hager and Tom Herman were both called for personal fouls on the second-to-last play of the game after Hager went aggressively into the OSU backfield when the Cowboys were in victory formation. Herman was flagged for going onto the field to complain about Mike Gundy going onto the field after the two teams began to get heated on the field.

Texas attempted an onside kick with 1:46 after Tre Watson’s touchdown run cut OSU’s lead to 38-35. But Josh Rowland kicked it right to an OSU player, giving the Cowboys the ball at the UT 45. After Brandon Jones’ decision to field a 60-yard punt near UT’s goal line flipped the field, OSU drove 35 yards, converting third-and-goal from the UT 10 with a designed quarterback run to Taylor Cornelius that included a missed tackle by B.J. Foster and Kris Boyd getting mauled

Oklahoma State punter Zach Sinor boomed a 60-yarder that drove Texas’ Brandon Jones back near UT’s goal line to field the ball (when he should’ve let it go into the end zone), pinning Texas at its 2 with 9:23 left. UT probably should’ve been called for holding on Calvin Anderson in the end zone, resulting in a safety. But Texas ended up punting from the end zone, and OSU’s next possession started at the UT 35.

Breckyn Hager made a great move into the backfield and tried to wrap up Justice Hill for what would’ve been a 3-yard loss, but Hill spun out of Hager’s tackle and ran for 5 yards on third-and-6 with 10 minutes left to play. Collin Johnson was lucky to get a pass interference call against Oklahoma State cornerback AJ Green on UT’s first drive, because Green started dominating Johnson after that. Johnson also had two big drops in the first half — on third-and-three and with a chance to get into field-goal range with 21 seconds left in the first half. Johnson Breckyn Hager was pacing the sideline midway through the third quarter, holding his abdomen, but continued to play.

Senior cornerback Kris Boyd cost his team dearly with a suspension that ended up being more than one quarter long to start the game. Boyd might’ve also cost himself some money Saturday night by repeatedly getting burned by Oklahoma State receiver Tylan Wallace for huge plays of 27, 11, 10 (on third-and-9), 36 (TD) and 49. Midway through the second quarter, Boyd had an interception in his hands on a deep post, but couldn’t hold on.

After deferring to the second half, Texas took the ball, down 31-14, and drove eight plays. But those eight plays covered only 27 yards on a drive that ended in another Ryan Bujcevski punt. For Texas, the drive also included the fourth drop of the night (this time it was Duvernay), followed by a great third-and-11 conversion pass from Ehlinger to Duvernay as well as Ehlinger nearly getting intercepted on a forced pass to Jerrod Heard

OSU TAKES 30-14 LEAD ON TD PASS WITH 1:17 IN HALF: After a questionable offsides call on fourth-and-1 from the 50 against Ta'Quon Graham (because of motion by OSU’s punt team linemen), the Cowboys were able to extend a drive to a touchdown. OSU went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Texas 36, and for the second time in the first half, threw deep on fourth-and-short for a TD — this time to Tylan Wallace for a 36-yard score after Kris Boyd miss-timed his jump to break up the pass. The score gave Wallace eight catches for 167 yards and two TDs in the first half and put Oklahoma State up, 31-14, with 1:17 left in the half.

Oklahoma State’s punt team shifted its linemen, who were in a two-point stance, and drew Ta'Quon Graham offsides on fourth-and-1 from the 50 for an automatic first down. An irate Tom Herman used a timeout to complain to officials that the shift (and movement of the up-backs toward the line of scrimmage) illegally simulated action at the snap. Texas suffered its third three-and-out in its first six possessions, using up only 1:04 before a Ryan Bujcevski punt with 4:13 left in the second quarter. P.J. Locke left the game with 8:37 left in the second quarter after his left leg appeared to stick in the turf on a sideline tackle of Justice Hill.

OSU GOES UP 24-7 AFTER DOMINATING ON THIRD DOWN: The Cowboys converted third-and-7, third-and-3 and finally third-and-4 from Texas 8 on a 7-yard run by Taylor Cornelius. That set up a 1-yard TD sneak by Cornelius that put OSU up, 24-7, with 10 minutes left in the second half. The second dropped pass of the game — this one by Collin Johnson on third-and-3 (after an earlier drop by Lil'Jordan Humphrey in the first quarter) — led to UT’s second straight three-and-out with 13:28 left in the second quarter.

OSU GOES UP 17-7 ON COWBOYS’ THIRD POSSESSION: On the opening play of OSU’s third drive, Taylor Cornelius hit Landon Wolf for a 20-yard gain. That was followed by runs of 6, 14, 12 and 7 yards (for an average of 11.8 yards per play) to the Texas 7. Fortunately for the Longhorns, Cornelius misfired on two passes into the end zone, forcing a 24-yard field goal, putting OSU up 17-7 with 3:59 left in the first quarter. Lil'Jordan Humphrey dropped a first-down pass on a crossing route with 5:59 left in the first quarter that would’ve gone for a big gain, because Humphrey had nothing but empty turf ahead. Ehlinger couldn’t connect with Collin Johnson on the next two plays, and Texas was forced to punt.

OSU GOES UP 14-7 ON FOURTH-DOWN TD PASS: The Cowboys lined up with two tight ends on the right side on fourth-and-1 from the Texas 16, and the inside tight end — Jalani Woods — released downfield into nothing but open space for a 16-yard touchdown as the Texas defense bit on a play-action run fake, putting OSU up 14-7 with 6:43 left in the first quarter.

After two Oklahoma State possessions, the Texas defense, playing without suspended cornerbacks Kris Boyd and Davante Davis, had given up passing plays of 40 (TD), 18 and 16 yards as well as a 27-yard run by Justice Hill as the Cowboys went up 14-7 with 6:43 left in the first quarter. Breckyn Hager got lit up on a stunt by Oklahoma State’s Shane Richards on third-and-8 as Taylor Cornelius found Tylan Wallace for an 18-yard gain on OSU’s second possession (a drive to a TD). Texas gave up opening drive points to an opponent for the sixth time in eight games this season. Oklahoma State’s opening-drive touchdown was the fifth opening-drive TD by an opponent and the third straight (OU, Baylor, Oklahoma State).

OSU TAKES 7-0 LEAD ON OPENING DRIVE: One play after picking up third-and-9, Taylor Cornelius threw a perfect, 40-yard strike on a post pattern behind the linebackers and in front of the secondary to Tylan Wallace for a touchdown, putting the Cowboys up 7-0 with 13:12 left in the first quarter. After Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando made a he Texas defense gave up third-and-9 on a 12-yard catch-and-run on OSU’s first drive. Cameron Dicker hit Oklahoma State’s return man 5 yards out of bounds, tacking on a 15-yard personal foul to a 30-yard return by Chuba Hubbard, giving OSU the ball at its own 47 to start the game.

UGLY

Really poor play across the board, but especially on defense, where cornerbacks Kris Boyd and Davante Davis were suspended for the first quarter.

ClubWhatever · October 29, 2018

http://insidetexas.com/coach-vs-grades-oklahoma-state-3/

Spoiler

Coach V’s Grades – Oklahoma State

October 28, 2018 by Coach Venable

Sam Ehlinger (Will Gallagher/IT)

We played well enough to win despite some minor miscues along the way. Sam bounced back with a solid performance and even better leadership. The Oline broke down in a few situations but overall played winning football. The receiving group wasn’t their usual dependable playmakers but managed to support the offense with a few key catches. The RB’s made the most out of their opportunities plus they blocked extremely well.

We scored 35 points and would have had more if not for costly penalties. On the rewatch it was obvious the effort was strong. Guys were throwing their bodies with reckless abandon. Stillwater is just a tough place to play. I think if we knew we could score 35 with zero turnovers we would have bet the ranch on a victory. We are not world-beaters but we dang sure ain’t shabby either.

Here are the grades:

11—Sam—A-

26—Ingram—A-

32—Young—B+

5—Watson—B

6—DuVernay—B+

9—Johnson—B+

13—Heard—B

84—Humphrey—B

47—Beck—B

52—Cosmi—B+

56—Shack—B

66—Anderson—B

72—Rodriguez—B

77—Vahe—B

A few notables:

Rodriguez (72) had a great pancake block on a blitzing backer about four plays into it.

Young (32) had a couple of terrific climb blocks.

DuVernay (6) had a good catch, shaky move, and run for a guy that only has straight line speed.

Cosmi (52) continues to impress with smooth technique and great feet.

Shack (56) has big problems on blocks in space (pulls, screens).

Jamison (17) needs a refresher course on return protocol.

Vahe (77) drew a holding call when he was denied the opportunity to pick up a blitzing backer.

Anderson (66) had a tough day at the office on pass protection.

Ingram (26) and Beck (47) had terrific over the shoulder catches in traffic.

Maybe it’s just me but I have a hard time finding the separation needed with our guys at times but our opponents somehow find a way to evade our coverages too damn often. It must be noted that we make more catches in traffic so I guess it all evens out in the long run. It sure would be nice to see us get a few more gimme’s though.

Buckle up—another challenge next week.

We didn’t play well. Our tackling lacked conviction—not to mention contact. Getting off blocks was Mission: Impossible. Getting lost was a sure bet. I sometimes think we depend on too much help (thinking) from the sideline and not near enough on our ability to figure crap out for ourselves. Our ability to understand down/distance and declaration (strong—weak) seems Lost In Space too often. Watching players racing from one side to the other (late) and/or huge cushions on short/medium downs continues to dazzle me.

We allowed the zone keep to basically win the game for them. It goes much deeper than that. We slant a ton with our T-N-T. We make a ton of plays with those three guys wrecking furniture. It’s the second aspect that kills us. If you slant a 4i inside (3-2) you must maintain leverage outside with the backside LB. He can’t follow the zone fake inside (he’s not needed there) and yet both of our LB’s (we only play two) were guilty of false-stepping inside every time on the ZR. They blocked themselves. No adjustment—no coaching point.

Sometimes we have the added pleasure of having our nickel/SS outside in the alley for the zone keep. Sometimes they play contain (correct assignment) but sometimes they suck inside (wrong decision). It’s the getting off of the block that appears to be our biggest problem in the alley and not having an inside-out scraping LB opens the gate.

I was disappointed that we abandoned the age-old technique of going thru the receiver for the interception. Watching our DB’s play the ball behind the WR (tip, overthrow,???) didn’t cut the mustard. We had several mis-timed blitzes from deep in the secondary that seldom got to the LOS before the ball was thrown. We still have problems identifying receiver assignments—the td pass to the TE on the GL was uncontested. The 8th game of the year. This is just Waylon Jennings Wrong.

Here are the grades:

90—Omenihu—B

44—Hager—B

49—Graham—B-

42—Bimage—C+

97—Nelson—B

94—Wilbon—B-

33—Johnson—C+

45—Wheeler—C-

2—Boyd—C

4—Cook—B-

7—Sterns—C

11—Locke—C

18—Davis—C

19—Jones—C

25—Foster—B+

29—Thompson—B

38—Boyce—B-

We gave up over 525 yards. 38 points and could have been more (two missed FG’s). We missed so many tackles—the effort was there but production wasn’t. We played 52 snaps in the first half (33, 45, 7, and 19 played every single one of them). Foster (25) was our best defensive player.

I sincerely hope the coaches grade this game with accountability. We have glaring errors that need attention to detail. It’s not effort (although it’s obvious some are playing too many snaps)—it’s all execution and a lack of assignment knowledge. Maybe a simpler game plan would benefit and reduce the mistakes. We definitely need to clean up—that was awful.

Home game this week—we need to put on a show.

LTtxfan · October 29, 2018

Anybody hear that Coach Washington lost his Dad during off week before Okie Lite??

Not sure if true or not.....

Edited October 29, 2018 by LTtxfan

El Hornarino · October 29, 2018

Coach V grades for defense... gee who would guess that he would be saying nearly the exact same thing about the same defenders for nearly every game.

LTtxfan · October 29, 2018

42 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Anybody hear that Coach Washington lost his Dad during off week before Okie Lite??

Not sure if true or not.....

PRAYERS to Coach Washington and Family & Friends of

his Dad.... 🤘

Edited October 29, 2018 by LTtxfan

Mother mopar · October 29, 2018

Boyce a B-
Jenniferlawrencegif

Red Five · October 29, 2018

Lovely tribute from our DBs Saturday night.

Viper · October 29, 2018

55 minutes ago, Mother mopar said:

Boyce a B-
Jenniferlawrencegif

isn't that a failing grade?

El Hornarino · October 29, 2018

57 minutes ago, Viper said:

isn't that a failing grade?

I think a long time ago they always including the key, but here it is:

Quote

GRADING KEY

My grading system is based on total points earned against number of plays played. The points are awarded individually on each and every separate play. There are five different possible grades for each play. Players may earn a plus three (3) for a five star type play—-plus two (2) for above average execution—-plus one (1) for doing their job successfully—-zero (0) for getting beat but knowing and attempting their assignment—-and minus 3 (-3) for a missed assignment.

Each player has a total number of points and a total number of his own individual plays. You divide the total number of plays into the total number of points which gives you scale. The grading scale is as follows:

Any player averaging one point per play (1.0) grades out a B which is winning football. If a player plays 60 plays with 60 total points he would earn a passing grade—each point he goes over the total number of plays raises his grade accordingly. The system is built around rewarding any player that doesn’t beat himself or his team with mental mistakes.

The system also punishes any player that knows what to do but loses too many individual battles. If a player plays 60 plays but loses 10 of those with zero special plays (60 plays—50 points) he falls below the 1.0 needed for a passing grade of B.

I use the plus/minus (A-, B+, etc,) when the numbers indicate a partial add or subtract from the grade. This system was used by my first coaching staff and I kinda carried it with me for thirty years—it’s not perfect but it gives the position coach a measuring stick for his individual players.
The only way to earn the highest grade of A is to play a perfect game. I’ve had exactly zero up to right now so great games still can be better so A- is a very popular second best. This system and my grades will always be subjective filled with agree and disagree opinions. It’s entirely fair for disagreement (without it we might not have horse races) but it’s important to remember that each play only counts once instead of allowing a big mistake to have major influence on an individual’s final grade.

So yes, for whatever reason you need a B to "pass."

edit, which means here is the list of guys on D with passing grade: Omenihu, Hager, Nelson, Foster, Thompson. And only Foster was above bare minimum pass with B+.

Edited October 29, 2018 by El Hornarino

Machinator · October 29, 2018

3 hours ago, El Hornarino said:

I think a long time ago they always including the key, but here it is:

So yes, for whatever reason you need a B to "pass."

edit, which means here is the list of guys on D with passing grade: Omenihu, Hager, Nelson, Foster, Thompson. And only Foster was above bare minimum pass with B+.

That sounds about right. Though Foster picked some terrible plays to look like a freshman.

Machinator · October 29, 2018

Scipio Tex: Texas-OSU Post-Mortem: Offense

If you're interesting in assessing primary blame as to why Texas lost in Stillwater, look to the defense and some key mistakes on special teams. Refer to that sentence if you mistake any criticisms here for a defense of the Texas defense. Or look at the title of the post.

If you concede the defense struggled and want to win the game anyway by exploiting a vulnerable and coverage predictable Cowboy defense, the Texas offense has to learn not to waste possessions. Four of the first six UT first half possessions encompassed 14 plays for a total of 22 yards. Times of possession? 1:20, 1:02, 1:02, 1:04. Including three failed possessions in a row after a score on the opening series while running tempo. While Texas did score 14 first half points, they had the ball on 7 individual first half possessions starting at the UT24 or better. So now we need to factor in pace and opportunity. A score on 28.6% of possessions against a Big 12 average defense just won't cut it - particularly when five of those possessions were effectively useless and didn't alter field position positively.

Our offense played OSU about as well as Kansas did.

By trying to focus on "ball control" and putting a natural cap on our offensive production with the kinds of routes our WRs were running (look at the early low reward/high risk far hash routes we had Ehlinger throwing) and a running game less interested in potentially gashing OSU's run blitzes, but in grinding away 2-3 yards at a time, Texas prevented itself from keeping the ball (or scoring points) and exposed a hapless Texas defense again and again.

Real ball control involves moving the ball. Not purposefully capping big play opportunity. And ball control shouldn't be your goal against a feast-or-famine defense to begin with. We seemed to get this against OU and forgot it against OSU.

This was the kind of early grind approach Texas needed to avoid and that it happened while OSU was ringing up the Texas defense with 31 1st half points was unfortunate. The idea that Texas is good enough to manhandle an opponent at the point of attack and impose their will just doesn't hold up to the season evidence. When Texas took advantage of fine pass protection and threw the ball aggressively down the field, good things happened. Long gains, pass interference penalties and, yes, moments of an effective running game. It also opened up everything underneath.

There's a tendency in analyzing close games to forget wasted early possessions as attention narrows on the 4th quarter and the final few possessions. 35 points should be enough to win a game in a vacuum and that's exactly the kind of platitude we tend to spout after a loss when we're (rightfully) pissed at the Longhorn defense, but it wasn't enough to win this game, against this opponent. And Texas was fully capable of scoring more than 35 points against this opponent. So evaluate them to that standard, not some notion of 1980s football.

The final UT possession to narrow the lead to 3 points was also a frustrating rendition of the two minute drill. First, the QB should have more than one play at a time called so that they're not looking to the sideline and burning play clock. Second, you have to snap the moment you're set - particularly when the clock begins to run again after 1st down. Third, everyone has to run to get lined up. Fourth, 4-6 yard check downs in the middle of the field are fool's gold. You're playing clock, not the opponent. Any yardage gain less than 10 yards that doesn't go for a first down or doesn't end out bounds is a waste of opportunity and clock. You shouldn't even have a receiver standing there as an option unless the Cowboys have a ghost town in the middle of the field. They didn't. So you're effectively suckering your own QB. You also want to preserve time outs for the defense, so clock the ball rather than allow 25 seconds to tick off - you'll still have 3 downs.

Texas burned 3:58 (we started with 5:44 on the clock) on that drive to go 75 yards and there were at least two instances where the play clock burned 20-25 seconds between plays. 3:58 represented UT's longest TOP for the game. By contrast, Texas's other scoring drives were all 3:13 or less. Even one minute more on the clock means Texas doesn't have to onside kick (21% success rate) with sub 2:00 on the clock. Orlando's defense made that point moot, but I'd like to see the process played out correctly.

QB

Sam's play was better than his numbers and his numbers weren't bad. He finished 22 of 42 for 283 yards and two touchdowns and ran 10 times for 47 yards and another pair of touchdowns. He threw some terrific balls (the dimes he dropped on Ingram, Beck and on three throws to LJH were outstanding), had no turnovers and was very effective running the ball. He also stood strong in the pocket and didn't confuse covered OSU bodies crowding him with actual pressure except maybe once or twice. Given the receiver drops and the constraints of our offensive design (we had multiple called throws to the far hash while OSU was in press coverage), it's hard to argue that he didn't play at a very high level. Contrast the difficulty of the throws that we asked him to make in this game with what OSU's staff gave Cornelius.

Sam played really well.

RB

It took nearly three quarters to significantly involve the RBs in the passing game against a blitz heavy defense that plays almost exclusive man coverage outside, blitzes their linebackers and has inexperienced safeties. The reward was 6 catches for 50 yards between Watson and Ingram and an Ingram TD on a gorgeous throw and catch. The regular running game never got going as OSU seemed to have a pretty good read on our schemes by formation and we're not diverse enough to counter it. Tre Watson also feels like he's slowing down a bit as the season progresses.

WR/TE

Andrew Beck had his best game as a Longhorn pass catcher, amassing 3 catches for 51 yards and a TD. He made a great over the shoulder vertical catch and scored on a jumping fake power sweep pass from Ehlinger. Unfortunately, his blocking didn't match his receiving and he had a very costly holding penalty that erased a 45 yard CJ catch that would have given Texas the ball on the OSU 24 yard line and a likely score. Instead, Texas punted.

CJ had 5 catches for 65 yards and drew two PI penalties. He probably could have drawn four if we'd been more stubborn attacking downfield. He also had a huge downfield catch negated by Beck's holding call. He looked pretty frustrated, as much for AJ Green's coverage as the kinds of routes we had him running early. LJH had a horrible drop on a potential big catch and run and finished with 4 catches for 69 yards. He lacked urgency in the final drive getting set, but if you rewatch, he appears set as the ball is snapped. So either he was lined up incorrectly or the official threw an anticipatory flag.

Duvernay had a nice little game, with a big sideline catch late for 24 yards to set up the last Texas touchdown. 3 for 49. Heard was doing bad things when he wasn't invisible.

OL

On the positive side of the ledger, the Longhorn OL held a disruptive Cowboy defense to 3 tackles for loss and one sack (OSU had 30 sacks on the season coming in). On the negative side, they didn't get much push at the point of attack, which has plagued us all year.

I'm not sure what to say about a couple of the key holding calls (the Vahe mystery particularly) that badly hurt Texas, as I couldn't really find them.

The bigger question is why our run game was schemed to try to get push against an even or outmanned box that likes to run blitz linebackers behind space occupying DTs and slanting DEs. A more diverse running game might be trying to catch OSU in slants and stunts or gap guessing, but why run around a wall in cowardly fashion when you can repeatedly run into it?

Final

As with our passing game, some of the design and play-calling makes it so that we can only speculate on what we might be able to accomplish with a different approach. I get it. We're just going to run our stuff and adjust at the speed of an Ent meeting in the Lord of The Rings. Contrast that with OSU's purposeful and consistent attacks on Locke, Wheeler and Boyce/Boyd, which they'd decided on sometime around last Monday when they finished all of their scouting, installed their game plan, and then executed mercilessly for 31 first half points.

Viper · October 29, 2018

1 hour ago, Machinator said:

Scipio Tex: Texas-OSU Post-Mortem: Offense

Hide contents

I get it. We're just going to run our stuff and adjust at the speed of an Ent meeting in the Lord of The Rings

I am genuinely surprised Scipio didn't use the technically correct term, Entmoot.

Katfid54 · October 29, 2018

Just now, Viper said:

I am genuinely surprised Scipio didn't use the technically correct term, Entmoot.

He's probably high off his ass on longbottom leaf or too far into his cups of entdraught to have proofread.

TreatyOak · October 29, 2018

Bateshorn · October 30, 2018

3 hours ago, Viper said:

I am genuinely surprised Scipio didn't use the technically correct term, Entmoot.

It’s true. I expect more.

Viper · October 30, 2018

Scipio Tex: Texas-OSU Post-Mortem: Defense

Spoiler

Like Texas, Oklahoma State had seven possessions in the first half of play. Unlike Texas, they maximized nearly all of them. They had an opponent specific game plan to execute and that they did. Mercilessly. They scored four touchdowns, hit a field goal, missed another field goal and punted only once. They gained at least 53 yards on six of their first 7 possessions. By halftime, they'd run 55 plays and gained 383 yards from scrimmage.

The first half was as thorough an ass kicking as I've seen against this defense. Texas was badly out coached before either team stepped on the field and the staff's refusal to replace non-performers at key positions, either because of lack of options or will, was clearly targeted and exploited by the Cowboy coaching staff.

On third down passing plays, the Cowboys hunted for PJ Locke in the slot (their first 3rd and 10 conversion was against Drop 8 coverage on Locke) or Kobe Boyce/Kris Boyd on Tylan Wallace. Pretty much the extent of Cornelius' reads. "Hey, uh, Taylor just find, #11 and #2. There's your progression for all of our passing plays this week." That's how you turn a former turnover factory with 8 INTS on the season into an efficiencymachine. Don't make him actually read adefense. Have him throw at two players.

On their critical QB runs that led to multiple first downs, a key touchdown and the late game ice play, they targeted the inability of the backside LB to perform his only job before pursuing the ball: backside containment. Effectively, this was their version of the jet sweep as the underlying principles of backside containment are exactly the same. It's why you teach football players principles over individual plays. The difference from the jet sweep attacking the back side is that our linebackers now lose the visual clue of a man running in the backfield counter to the backfield motion, which is a fairly helpful cheat. So they ignore Cornelius, which is a mistake as even a cursory scouting report (including my own) will tell you that's he's a viable runner. This is what I mean when I write that we're increasingly relying on a defense built on calls instead of solid foundational principles. Smart offenses exploit that

I will credit Texas for not quitting and exhibiting mental toughness when the easiest thing to do when you're clearly being out-coached is to tap out. A lot of teams would accept that it wasn't their day and take the 52-21 blowout. Texas fought back and could very well have won the game. It's not debatable that the new regime has made this team mentally tougher.

DL

A three man DL spent most of the game slanting and they created some disruption, but were also easily washed out by the OL when the backside support didn't show up. Frankly, as poor as we were against the run, it could have been much worse if not for some strong individual efforts by Nelson, Hager and Omenihu inflicting negative plays and erasing some favorable angles on outside zone runs. Hager finished with 9 tackles and two tackles for loss and Omenihu had six tackles, a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.

LB

Anthony Wheeler is proof that the box score will lie - 9 tackles, 1 sack. What it doesn't record is more telling. He was clueless and, in a flashback to Maryland, OSU simply left him unblocked on a number of plays. It was probably the worst game of his career. OSU targeted him specifically. By targeting, I mean ignoring him and spending that blocker on a more viable defender. I don't know what his 40 time is, but he plays like a 5.5 40 guy out there. He's absolutely paralyzed by the game. I'm not convinced we can do worse and any sub we put in might at least make different mistakes, thus disallowing defenses to game plan #45 specifically. Gary Johnson played hard and shined in closing to the QB or ballcarriers in space. He was less adept at navigating inside and holding up the point of attack. That's not a good pairing of LBs when you're playing the box light to begin with.

DB

Boyd mistimed his single coverage jump that allowed a Tylan Wallace TD on 4th and 1 and he gave up three third down conversions on underneath routes. He also dropped an interception that hit him in both hands. Kobe Boyce struggled similarly in his quarter of adventure. Anthony Cook and Davante Davis were barely challenged on the short side of the field. OSU was running a Locke and Boyce/Boyd passing game. Wallace finished with 10 catches for 222 yards and 2 TDs. The entirety of the rest of the OSU roster accounted for 99 yards on 13 catches. No other OSU receiver had more than 33 yards.

The safeties had their toughest game collectively this season. Brandon Jones took poor angles in both pass and run game and continues to struggle as deep help for the corner. Caden Sterns played his worst game as a Longhorn. Watch him on the Cornelius TD run. He gets his ankles broken by a fake, which actually leads to Gary Johnson tripping over him. Either would have been able to push Cornelius out of bounds. BJ Foster was the best of the bunch, but he had a couple of hiccups, including two hits where he didn't wrap up. PJ Locke opened the game with a terrific force on a screen and then spent the next quarter and a half getting hunted for on 3rd down conversions by a variety of possession receivers in the rare moments that Cornelius looked away from Wallace.

The idea of running a dime defense is that you give up some size and rushing yards in exchange for improved pass defense, team speed pursuit, turnover generation, the ability to mix coverages, TO DOUBLE A PARTICULARLY TROUBLESOME RECEIVER, and to throw together some creative blitz packages. On each account, Texas graded somewhere between a F and a D. I will give Orlando credit for sticking to his knitting. When OSU had their final possession and the game was on the line, we ran a three man DL and a six man box against a certain run play. 2nd and 4 ensued. Percentage football might suggest an overloaded LOS and shooting gaps to generate negative plays or beckon OSU to throw it at single coverage and stop the clock, but Todd's gonna dance with who brung him. A -2 yard run led to 3rd and 6 and unfortunately, OSU ran Cornelius around the back side on the most risk averse call possible, exploiting a stationary Anthony Wheeler like he'd never played a down of football. If the defense gets a simple stop there, Texas has the ball and a timeout with a 1:30 to tie or win the game.

Special Teams

The Texas staff knew they were suspending Boyd and Davis for a quarter and opted to take the ball in the second half. The Cowboys will never expect that! Then Dicker opened the game with a 15 yard penalty for a hit five yards out of bounds. On the positive side, that deprived OSU's stat sheet of 15 yards of additional offense on their scoring drive. Brandon Jones' terrible decision to field a punt over his shoulder inside the Texas 10 and end up tackled on the 1 yard line swung the game as it led to an OSU short field that resulted in a touchdown. D'shawn Jamison exhibited comparable decision making with a fumbled punt return (that CJ recovered) and an ill advised kickoff return that got to the 15. That strikes me as frustrated players trying to "play make" instead of doing their job. I don't get it.

Fortunately, OSU's kicker missed two field goals. Buj had his best punting day as a Longhorn. Good on him.

I'm at a loss to explain the absurd offsides call on OSU's punt that gifted them a new set of downs. Herman should have made a point of having our guys do exactly that same motion on every one of our punts to force the officials to make the same call and highlight what a farce it was. If they flag us, send the identical plays to the Big 12 officials office and demand an explanation. I appreciate that Herman wanted to take a timeout to give the official an earful, but my experience with Big 12 officials is that being shown up by a coach instructing them on the basics of the rule book doesn't result in more favorable calls down the road. As later evidenced.

Final

A short summation of the game is that OSU's staff spent two weeks dissecting UT's defensive scheme, attacked our tendencies and crafted an entire half of football (and two or three back-breaking calls late) around targeting three or four Longhorn personnel unrelentingly. In the process, the rest of the defense broke down right along with them. On the strength of that, a lesser team was able to build up a big lead and then hold on for dear life as the Longhorn headsets and players caught up along with the scoreboard.

TreatyOak · October 30, 2018

Machinator · October 30, 2018

1 hour ago, Viper said:

Scipio Tex: Texas-OSU Post-Mortem: Defense

Reveal hidden contents

Like Texas, Oklahoma State had seven possessions in the first half of play. Unlike Texas, they maximized nearly all of them. They had an opponent specific game plan to execute and that they did. Mercilessly. They scored four touchdowns, hit a field goal, missed another field goal and punted only once. They gained at least 53 yards on six of their first 7 possessions. By halftime, they'd run 55 plays and gained 383 yards from scrimmage.

The first half was as thorough an ass kicking as I've seen against this defense. Texas was badly out coached before either team stepped on the field and the staff's refusal to replace non-performers at key positions, either because of lack of options or will, was clearly targeted and exploited by the Cowboy coaching staff.

On third down passing plays, the Cowboys hunted for PJ Locke in the slot (their first 3rd and 10 conversion was against Drop 8 coverage on Locke) or Kobe Boyce/Kris Boyd on Tylan Wallace. Pretty much the extent of Cornelius' reads. "Hey, uh, Taylor just find, #11 and #2. There's your progression for all of our passing plays this week." That's how you turn a former turnover factory with 8 INTS on the season into an efficiencymachine. Don't make him actually read adefense. Have him throw at two players.

On their critical QB runs that led to multiple first downs, a key touchdown and the late game ice play, they targeted the inability of the backside LB to perform his only job before pursuing the ball: backside containment. Effectively, this was their version of the jet sweep as the underlying principles of backside containment are exactly the same. It's why you teach football players principles over individual plays. The difference from the jet sweep attacking the back side is that our linebackers now lose the visual clue of a man running in the backfield counter to the backfield motion, which is a fairly helpful cheat. So they ignore Cornelius, which is a mistake as even a cursory scouting report (including my own) will tell you that's he's a viable runner. This is what I mean when I write that we're increasingly relying on a defense built on calls instead of solid foundational principles. Smart offenses exploit that

I will credit Texas for not quitting and exhibiting mental toughness when the easiest thing to do when you're clearly being out-coached is to tap out. A lot of teams would accept that it wasn't their day and take the 52-21 blowout. Texas fought back and could very well have won the game. It's not debatable that the new regime has made this team mentally tougher.

DL

A three man DL spent most of the game slanting and they created some disruption, but were also easily washed out by the OL when the backside support didn't show up. Frankly, as poor as we were against the run, it could have been much worse if not for some strong individual efforts by Nelson, Hager and Omenihu inflicting negative plays and erasing some favorable angles on outside zone runs. Hager finished with 9 tackles and two tackles for loss and Omenihu had six tackles, a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.

LB

Anthony Wheeler is proof that the box score will lie - 9 tackles, 1 sack. What it doesn't record is more telling. He was clueless and, in a flashback to Maryland, OSU simply left him unblocked on a number of plays. It was probably the worst game of his career. OSU targeted him specifically. By targeting, I mean ignoring him and spending that blocker on a more viable defender. I don't know what his 40 time is, but he plays like a 5.5 40 guy out there. He's absolutely paralyzed by the game. I'm not convinced we can do worse and any sub we put in might at least make different mistakes, thus disallowing defenses to game plan #45 specifically. Gary Johnson played hard and shined in closing to the QB or ballcarriers in space. He was less adept at navigating inside and holding up the point of attack. That's not a good pairing of LBs when you're playing the box light to begin with.

DB

Boyd mistimed his single coverage jump that allowed a Tylan Wallace TD on 4th and 1 and he gave up three third down conversions on underneath routes. He also dropped an interception that hit him in both hands. Kobe Boyce struggled similarly in his quarter of adventure. Anthony Cook and Davante Davis were barely challenged on the short side of the field. OSU was running a Locke and Boyce/Boyd passing game. Wallace finished with 10 catches for 222 yards and 2 TDs. The entirety of the rest of the OSU roster accounted for 99 yards on 13 catches. No other OSU receiver had more than 33 yards.

The safeties had their toughest game collectively this season. Brandon Jones took poor angles in both pass and run game and continues to struggle as deep help for the corner. Caden Sterns played his worst game as a Longhorn. Watch him on the Cornelius TD run. He gets his ankles broken by a fake, which actually leads to Gary Johnson tripping over him. Either would have been able to push Cornelius out of bounds. BJ Foster was the best of the bunch, but he had a couple of hiccups, including two hits where he didn't wrap up. PJ Locke opened the game with a terrific force on a screen and then spent the next quarter and a half getting hunted for on 3rd down conversions by a variety of possession receivers in the rare moments that Cornelius looked away from Wallace.

The idea of running a dime defense is that you give up some size and rushing yards in exchange for improved pass defense, team speed pursuit, turnover generation, the ability to mix coverages, TO DOUBLE A PARTICULARLY TROUBLESOME RECEIVER, and to throw together some creative blitz packages. On each account, Texas graded somewhere between a F and a D. I will give Orlando credit for sticking to his knitting. When OSU had their final possession and the game was on the line, we ran a three man DL and a six man box against a certain run play. 2nd and 4 ensued. Percentage football might suggest an overloaded LOS and shooting gaps to generate negative plays or beckon OSU to throw it at single coverage and stop the clock, but Todd's gonna dance with who brung him. A -2 yard run led to 3rd and 6 and unfortunately, OSU ran Cornelius around the back side on the most risk averse call possible, exploiting a stationary Anthony Wheeler like he'd never played a down of football. If the defense gets a simple stop there, Texas has the ball and a timeout with a 1:30 to tie or win the game.

Special Teams

The Texas staff knew they were suspending Boyd and Davis for a quarter and opted to take the ball in the second half. The Cowboys will never expect that! Then Dicker opened the game with a 15 yard penalty for a hit five yards out of bounds. On the positive side, that deprived OSU's stat sheet of 15 yards of additional offense on their scoring drive. Brandon Jones' terrible decision to field a punt over his shoulder inside the Texas 10 and end up tackled on the 1 yard line swung the game as it led to an OSU short field that resulted in a touchdown. D'shawn Jamison exhibited comparable decision making with a fumbled punt return (that CJ recovered) and an ill advised kickoff return that got to the 15. That strikes me as frustrated players trying to "play make" instead of doing their job. I don't get it.

Fortunately, OSU's kicker missed two field goals. Buj had his best punting day as a Longhorn. Good on him.

I'm at a loss to explain the absurd offsides call on OSU's punt that gifted them a new set of downs. Herman should have made a point of having our guys do exactly that same motion on every one of our punts to force the officials to make the same call and highlight what a farce it was. If they flag us, send the identical plays to the Big 12 officials office and demand an explanation. I appreciate that Herman wanted to take a timeout to give the official an earful, but my experience with Big 12 officials is that being shown up by a coach instructing them on the basics of the rule book doesn't result in more favorable calls down the road. As later evidenced.

Final

A short summation of the game is that OSU's staff spent two weeks dissecting UT's defensive scheme, attacked our tendencies and crafted an entire half of football (and two or three back-breaking calls late) around targeting three or four Longhorn personnel unrelentingly. In the process, the rest of the defense broke down right along with them. On the strength of that, a lesser team was able to build up a big lead and then hold on for dear life as the Longhorn headsets and players caught up along with the scoreboard.

This one was painful to read. For sure Orlando's worst coaching performance at Texas, even worse than the two Maryland games.

TheYoungHorn · October 30, 2018

1 hour ago, Machinator said:

This one was painful to read. For sure Orlando's worst coaching performance at Texas, even worse than the two Maryland games.

We can just hope other teams don't watch the OSU and both Maryland game films and get any wise ideas about how to attack an Orlando defense on the ground.

LTtxfan · October 30, 2018

1 hour ago, Machinator said:

This one was painful to read. For sure Orlando's worst coaching performance at Texas, even worse than the two Maryland games.

Unfortunately keeping Locke & Wheeler on the field is killing this Defense. Late during 2017 B12 Season, Orlando moved both Locke & Wheeler to the bench.

Stick a GoPro camera on Boyd's helmet during practice this week.

NBMisha · October 30, 2018

Well, TH said he was going to talk to O about that.

pearlandhorn · October 30, 2018

8 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Unfortunately keeping Locke & Wheeler on the field is killing this Defense. Late during 2017 B12 Season, Orlando moved both Locke & Wheeler to the bench.

From a depth perspective, who do we have to take over for them?

Amos Moses · October 30, 2018

Locke is too slow, and Wheeler just doesn't have any reliable football instincts. Next guys up, please.

texastough · October 30, 2018

8 minutes ago, Amos Moses said:

Locke is too slow, and Wheeler just doesn't have any reliable football instincts. Next guys up, please.

Wheeler moves like a 75 year old with arthritis

Machinator · October 30, 2018

11 minutes ago, pearlandhorn said:

From a depth perspective, who do we have to take over for them?

Thompson would be the straightforward replacement for Locke.

Wheeler is less clear, but I would think McCulloch. Our LB room is just not in a good state right now.

texastough · October 30, 2018

15 minutes ago, pearlandhorn said:

From a depth perspective, who do we have to take over for them?

Adeoye for Wheeler

Edited October 30, 2018 by texastough

Machinator · October 30, 2018

1 minute ago, texastough said:

Adeoye for Wheeler

In terms of like for like, Dele makes sense, but consider that he's a true freshman who missed most of training camp with an injury.

Amos Moses · October 30, 2018

Has Overshown played much? I haven't noticed him in the lineup. He was the talk of camp if memory serves - can GJ move over and let Overshown play on the weakside?

Machinator · October 30, 2018

3 minutes ago, Amos Moses said:

Has Overshown played much? I haven't noticed him in the lineup. He was the talk of camp if memory serves - can GJ move over and let Overshown play on the weakside?

Special teams.

We're grooming Overshown to take GJ's role, next season. I don't think he's a Mac.

texastough · October 30, 2018

5 minutes ago, Amos Moses said:

Has Overshown played much? I haven't noticed him in the lineup. He was the talk of camp if memory serves - can GJ move over and let Overshown play on the weakside?

he was injured during fall camp

Edited October 30, 2018 by texastough

texastough · October 30, 2018

9 minutes ago, Machinator said:

In terms of like for like, Dele makes sense, but consider that he's a true freshman who missed most of training camp with an injury.

The question was about next season, and although he may not be a team leader by then, he should be able to do the job after a year+ in the program. Not ideal but the best option. Also isn't our MAC on the field less than the other LBs, when we have like seven or nine DBs out there?

Red Five · October 30, 2018

Well the worst thing that happens is he’s as lost as Wheeler is.

Machinator · October 30, 2018

1 minute ago, texastough said:

The question was about next season, and although he may not be a team leader by then, he should be able to do the job after a year+ in the program. Not ideal but the best option. Also isn't our MAC on the field less than the other LBs, when we have like seven or nine DBs out there?

No, we take the B-backer (Roach/McCulloch/Ossai) off the field when we go dime.

TreatyOak · October 30, 2018

On 10/28/2018 at 11:32 AM, satyanash said:

Chip Brown: Good, Bad, Ugly from Texas' 38-35 loss to Oklahoma State

Reveal hidden contents

The Longhorns weren’t prepared. They weren’t prepared to play without cornerbacks Kris Boyd and Davante Davis for more than one quarter. The rest of the defense wasn’t prepared to stop Oklahoma State’s two conversions on fourth-and-1— both for long touchdowns through the air). The defense wasn’t prepared to stop the run (OSU’s Justice Hill ran 23 times for 92 yards, and Chuba Hubbard ran nine times for 80 yards).

After Todd Orlando made a point last week that UT’s third-down defense needed to get better, Texas wasn’t prepared to stop OSU and get off the field, giving up 10 of 20 conversions, including a third-and-six on a quarterback run with 1:31 left. The Longhorns weren’t prepared to help gutsy quarterback Sam Ehlinger as receivers dropped nearly a half-dozen passes, including a potential big-gainer by Lil'Jordan Humphrey and two drops by Collin Johnson - one on third down and the other when Texas could’ve moved into field-goal position in the final minute of the first half.

When Boyd got on the field in the second quarter, he wasn’t prepared for OSU receiver Tylan Wallace, who had 10 catches for 222 yards and two touchdowns, most all of it against Boyd. Tom Herman said after the game, Texas’ “long-term goals are all still ahead of us,” referring to UT’s ability to still reach the Big 12 title game despite falling to 6-2 and 4-1 in Big 12 play. As usual, here’s the GOOD, BAD & UGLY from the Longhorns’ 38-35 loss at Oklahoma State Saturday night in Stillwater.

The Good

Sam Ehlinger overcame a sprain of his right throwing shoulder and helped lead a furious comeback that fell short in the fourth quarter, when Ehlinger was 11 of 15 passing, including a 10-yard touchdown strike to tight end Andrew Beck. Beck had three catches for 51 yards, including the TD as well as a 36-yard grab to the OSU 2 that helped set up a touchdown in the second quarter. Keaontay Ingram had 11 carries for 52 yards (4.7 ypc) as well as three catches for 30 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown grab on a wheel route with 2:15 left in the third quarter.

But Daniel Young replaced Ingram on UT’s first two drives of the fourth quarter, running twice for 2 yards as Ingram’s only touch in the fourth was a 6-yard reception. Gary Johnson led the defense with 10 tackles (6 solo) with 2.5 tackles for loss, including a 15-yard sack on third-down, along with two pass breakups. The Longhorns didn’t turn the ball over, and Ehlinger’s school record for pass attempts without an interception is now at 210.

TEXAS’ 13-PLAY TD DRIVE CUTS OSU LEAD TO 38-35: Ehlinger was masterful - going 7-of-8 passing while running three times for 12 yards - in a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by Tre Watson’s 1-yard TD run. The drive took 3:58 off the clock and helped the Longhorns cut OSU’s lead to 38-35 with 1:46 to play.

TEXAS CUTS OSU LEAD TO 31-28: Ehlinger was spectacular on an eight-play, 59-yard touchdown drive that ate 3:13 off the clock. Ehlinger ran the ball once for 10 yards and was 4-of-5 passing, including a 10-yard, jump-pass touchdown to tight end Andrew Beck, who caught two TDs in the game. Breckyn Hager hit Taylor Cornelius, making him double over, and Charles Omenihu then pulled Cornelius to the ground for a 9-yard sack, helping to force a punt with 5:17 left in the second quarter.

TEXAS CUTS OSU LEAD TO 24-14 IN SECOND QUARTER: Ehlinger hit Lil'Jordan Humphrey for 34 yards on UT’s first play of the drive to the OSU 41. Two plays later, Ehlinger threw a perfect deep ball to tight end Andrew Beck for 36 yards against good coverage to the OSU 2. That set up Ehlinger’s second TD run of the night — from 2 yards out — cutting OSU’s lead to 24-14 with 8:48 left in the second quarter. Gary Johnson dropped Taylor Cornelius for a 15-yard sack on third-and-6 from the Texas 9, forcing a 41-yard field goal attempt that was hooked wide left by Matt Ammendola early in the second quarter.

TEXAS TIES GAME 7-7 AFTER FIRST DRIVE: Keaontay Ingram ran four times for 15 yards, including an 11-yard run on UT’s first offensive play, and Sam Ehlinger completed his only pass of the drive (for 14 yards on third-and-9) before running the ball into the end zone from 5 yards out, tying the game, 7-7, with 9:58 left in the first quarter. On third-and-9 from the OSU 22, Ehlinger found Collin Johnson for 14 yards to the 8 on the Longhorns’ opening drive.

Ehlinger’s first pass of the game was a deep shot to Collin Johnson that fell incomplete, but Oklahoma State cornerback A.J. Green was flagged for pass interference, wiping out the play and moving the ball to the OSU 23. Keaontay Ingram opened the game with an 11-yard run. A run by Ingram for a loss of 3 yards on the next play was wiped out by a holding call on the Cowboys.

The Bad

The Texas defense, which looked gassed to start the game, almost like they didn’t have their legs, didn’t force a turnover and couldn’t contain OSU quarterback Taylor Cornelius when it mattered most. The Longhorns were penalized 11 times for 86 yards. Breckyn Hager and Tom Herman were both called for personal fouls on the second-to-last play of the game after Hager went aggressively into the OSU backfield when the Cowboys were in victory formation. Herman was flagged for going onto the field to complain about Mike Gundy going onto the field after the two teams began to get heated on the field.

Texas attempted an onside kick with 1:46 after Tre Watson’s touchdown run cut OSU’s lead to 38-35. But Josh Rowland kicked it right to an OSU player, giving the Cowboys the ball at the UT 45. After Brandon Jones’ decision to field a 60-yard punt near UT’s goal line flipped the field, OSU drove 35 yards, converting third-and-goal from the UT 10 with a designed quarterback run to Taylor Cornelius that included a missed tackle by B.J. Foster and Kris Boyd getting mauled

Oklahoma State punter Zach Sinor boomed a 60-yarder that drove Texas’ Brandon Jones back near UT’s goal line to field the ball (when he should’ve let it go into the end zone), pinning Texas at its 2 with 9:23 left. UT probably should’ve been called for holding on Calvin Anderson in the end zone, resulting in a safety. But Texas ended up punting from the end zone, and OSU’s next possession started at the UT 35.

Breckyn Hager made a great move into the backfield and tried to wrap up Justice Hill for what would’ve been a 3-yard loss, but Hill spun out of Hager’s tackle and ran for 5 yards on third-and-6 with 10 minutes left to play. Collin Johnson was lucky to get a pass interference call against Oklahoma State cornerback AJ Green on UT’s first drive, because Green started dominating Johnson after that. Johnson also had two big drops in the first half — on third-and-three and with a chance to get into field-goal range with 21 seconds left in the first half. Johnson Breckyn Hager was pacing the sideline midway through the third quarter, holding his abdomen, but continued to play.

Senior cornerback Kris Boyd cost his team dearly with a suspension that ended up being more than one quarter long to start the game. Boyd might’ve also cost himself some money Saturday night by repeatedly getting burned by Oklahoma State receiver Tylan Wallace for huge plays of 27, 11, 10 (on third-and-9), 36 (TD) and 49. Midway through the second quarter, Boyd had an interception in his hands on a deep post, but couldn’t hold on.

After deferring to the second half, Texas took the ball, down 31-14, and drove eight plays. But those eight plays covered only 27 yards on a drive that ended in another Ryan Bujcevski punt. For Texas, the drive also included the fourth drop of the night (this time it was Duvernay), followed by a great third-and-11 conversion pass from Ehlinger to Duvernay as well as Ehlinger nearly getting intercepted on a forced pass to Jerrod Heard

OSU TAKES 30-14 LEAD ON TD PASS WITH 1:17 IN HALF: After a questionable offsides call on fourth-and-1 from the 50 against Ta'Quon Graham (because of motion by OSU’s punt team linemen), the Cowboys were able to extend a drive to a touchdown. OSU went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Texas 36, and for the second time in the first half, threw deep on fourth-and-short for a TD — this time to Tylan Wallace for a 36-yard score after Kris Boyd miss-timed his jump to break up the pass. The score gave Wallace eight catches for 167 yards and two TDs in the first half and put Oklahoma State up, 31-14, with 1:17 left in the half.

Oklahoma State’s punt team shifted its linemen, who were in a two-point stance, and drew Ta'Quon Graham offsides on fourth-and-1 from the 50 for an automatic first down. An irate Tom Herman used a timeout to complain to officials that the shift (and movement of the up-backs toward the line of scrimmage) illegally simulated action at the snap. Texas suffered its third three-and-out in its first six possessions, using up only 1:04 before a Ryan Bujcevski punt with 4:13 left in the second quarter. P.J. Locke left the game with 8:37 left in the second quarter after his left leg appeared to stick in the turf on a sideline tackle of Justice Hill.

OSU GOES UP 24-7 AFTER DOMINATING ON THIRD DOWN: The Cowboys converted third-and-7, third-and-3 and finally third-and-4 from Texas 8 on a 7-yard run by Taylor Cornelius. That set up a 1-yard TD sneak by Cornelius that put OSU up, 24-7, with 10 minutes left in the second half. The second dropped pass of the game — this one by Collin Johnson on third-and-3 (after an earlier drop by Lil'Jordan Humphrey in the first quarter) — led to UT’s second straight three-and-out with 13:28 left in the second quarter.

OSU GOES UP 17-7 ON COWBOYS’ THIRD POSSESSION: On the opening play of OSU’s third drive, Taylor Cornelius hit Landon Wolf for a 20-yard gain. That was followed by runs of 6, 14, 12 and 7 yards (for an average of 11.8 yards per play) to the Texas 7. Fortunately for the Longhorns, Cornelius misfired on two passes into the end zone, forcing a 24-yard field goal, putting OSU up 17-7 with 3:59 left in the first quarter. Lil'Jordan Humphrey dropped a first-down pass on a crossing route with 5:59 left in the first quarter that would’ve gone for a big gain, because Humphrey had nothing but empty turf ahead. Ehlinger couldn’t connect with Collin Johnson on the next two plays, and Texas was forced to punt.

OSU GOES UP 14-7 ON FOURTH-DOWN TD PASS: The Cowboys lined up with two tight ends on the right side on fourth-and-1 from the Texas 16, and the inside tight end — Jalani Woods — released downfield into nothing but open space for a 16-yard touchdown as the Texas defense bit on a play-action run fake, putting OSU up 14-7 with 6:43 left in the first quarter.

After two Oklahoma State possessions, the Texas defense, playing without suspended cornerbacks Kris Boyd and Davante Davis, had given up passing plays of 40 (TD), 18 and 16 yards as well as a 27-yard run by Justice Hill as the Cowboys went up 14-7 with 6:43 left in the first quarter. Breckyn Hager got lit up on a stunt by Oklahoma State’s Shane Richards on third-and-8 as Taylor Cornelius found Tylan Wallace for an 18-yard gain on OSU’s second possession (a drive to a TD). Texas gave up opening drive points to an opponent for the sixth time in eight games this season. Oklahoma State’s opening-drive touchdown was the fifth opening-drive TD by an opponent and the third straight (OU, Baylor, Oklahoma State).

OSU TAKES 7-0 LEAD ON OPENING DRIVE: One play after picking up third-and-9, Taylor Cornelius threw a perfect, 40-yard strike on a post pattern behind the linebackers and in front of the secondary to Tylan Wallace for a touchdown, putting the Cowboys up 7-0 with 13:12 left in the first quarter. After Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando made a he Texas defense gave up third-and-9 on a 12-yard catch-and-run on OSU’s first drive. Cameron Dicker hit Oklahoma State’s return man 5 yards out of bounds, tacking on a 15-yard personal foul to a 30-yard return by Chuba Hubbard, giving OSU the ball at its own 47 to start the game.

UGLY

Really poor play across the board, but especially on defense, where cornerbacks Kris Boyd and Davante Davis were suspended for the first quarter.

texastough · October 30, 2018

3 minutes ago, Machinator said:

No, we take the B-backer (Roach/McCulloch/Ossai) off the field when we go dime.

Then ya maybe they figure out a way to have McCulloch fill Wheeler's role if Dele isn't up to speed by next season

Goodman · October 30, 2018

21 hours ago, TreatyOak said:

Took me a minute but this is brilliant. He like Bobby and Chip has tits but she does not.

Machinator · October 30, 2018

Just now, texastough said:

Then ya maybe they figure out a way to have McCulloch fill Wheeler's role if Dele isn't up to speed by next season

That's what I want.

texastough · October 30, 2018

7 minutes ago, Red Five said:

Well the worst thing that happens is he’s as lost as Wheeler is.

I loved Scipio's quote along those lines

"I'm not convinced we can do worse and any sub we put in might at least make different mistakes, thus disallowing defenses to game plan #45 specifically."

satyanash · October 30, 2018

Nice to see we got two of Okie lite's mediocre O-linemen on the list

Barry_McCokiner · October 30, 2018

Scipio is pretty good.

LTtxfan · October 30, 2018

1 hour ago, Machinator said:

Thompson would be the straightforward replacement for Locke.

Wheeler is less clear, but I would think McCulloch. Our LB room is just not in a good state right now.

Time for Orlando to coach his ass off like he's a great Defensive Coordinator

Edited October 30, 2018 by LTtxfan

Barry_McCokiner · October 30, 2018

Just now, LTtxfan said:

Time for Orlando to coach his ass off like he's a great Defensive Coordinator

He will need to. 3 teams left on our schedule with way more talent than osu.

Sign In

Media/$9.95-er postgame analysis articles (Week 9)

Recommended Posts

satyanash 14481

Link to comment

Share on other sites

satyanash 14481

Link to comment

Share on other sites

satyanash 14481

Link to comment

Share on other sites

satyanash 14481

Link to comment

Share on other sites

maninblack 7974

Link to comment

Share on other sites

satyanash 14481

Link to comment

Share on other sites

phdhorn 6224

Link to comment

Share on other sites

TexasGolf 4896

Link to comment

Share on other sites

satyanash 14481

Link to comment

Share on other sites

ClubWhatever 12129

Coach V’s Grades – Oklahoma State

Link to comment

Share on other sites

LTtxfan 49171

Link to comment

Share on other sites

El Hornarino 374

Link to comment

Share on other sites

LTtxfan 49171

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Mother mopar 3318

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Red Five 40853

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Viper 12108

Link to comment

Share on other sites

El Hornarino 374

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Machinator 32099

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Machinator 32099

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Viper 12108

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Katfid54 8628

Link to comment

Share on other sites

TreatyOak 16313

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Bateshorn 9927

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Viper 12108

Link to comment

Share on other sites

TreatyOak 16313

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Machinator 32099