NCAA Football

Texas Rewrites History in Rout

Posted Nov 01, 2009 1:01AM By Terrance Harris (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Oklahoma State, Texas, Big 12

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STILLWATER, Okla. --- Texas coach Mack Brown normally demands his teams stay in the moment.

But in the week leading up to Saturday night's game against 13th-ranked Oklahoma State, Brown wanted to make certain the third-ranked Longhorns remembered where they were at this point last season and what they lost against Texas Tech.

They were different opponents, but presented a strikingly similar scenario a year apart.

The final game in a crazy four-game swing. Facing an explosive offensive team in a critical Big 12 South game. Hostile environment.

But where the Longhorns failed a season ago in Lubbock, they excelled Saturday night, putting the clamps on the Cowboys in a convincing 41-14 win, much to the chagrin of a mostly black and orange crowd of 58,516 that packed Boone Pickens Stadium.

They didn't just beat the Cowboys, the walloped the past, too.

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"We feel much better right now as opposed to last year," UT senior quarterback Colt McCoy said. "This was big for us, we focused all week."

The most immediate prize is the pole position in what is shaping up as a one-team Big 12 South race and maybe one of the more predictable Big 12 championships in years. Becoming clearer is the that the Longhorns are positioning themselves for a date in Pasadena, Calif., and a shot at the BCS national title.

All of those possibilities were snuffed out for the Longhorns in a handful of moments last season against Tech, as a missed interception and a missed tackle in the final seconds were all that stood between them and a undefeated record and a shot at the national championship.

But not this time.

In a you-couldn't-script-this-any-better script, Texas secondary members Blake Gideon, Earl Thomas and Curtis Brown all were able to redeem themselves from a season ago with big interceptions Saturday night. Thomas and Brown both returned interceptions by OSU quarterback Zac Robinson for touchdowns. Gideon came up with a late pick.

A year ago Gideon, dropped what could have been the game-sealing interception against Tech in the final minute. On the next play, both Thomas and Brown missed opportunities to stop receiver Michael Crabtree as he corralled a pass and spun out of their grasp and strutted into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.

"You also have to give credit for the anniversary, the last drive for Texas Tech," Brown said. "You are so proud for Blake Gideon, Earl Thomas and Curtis Brown. I thought it was very fitting for them tonight to (have) all three intercept balls, two of them for touchdowns to put that low thought to rest."

To make certain the Longhorns didn't forget what they needed to do to avoid last year's letdown, defensive end Sergio Kindle gave everyone on the team, including Brown and the coaching staff, dog tags that read: Texas Swagger. It seemed to work to near-perfection Saturday night.

"The message is we want to play with a swagger; we want to play with confidence is all that it is," said Brown, whose team is now 8-0 (5-0 in the Big 12). "We don't want to go into places on the road and feel like we might get beat. We want to walk in there and send a message that we are good, we want to play good."

That mission was accomplished Saturday night as the Longhorns' defense put forth a suffocating display against the Cowboys. They closed off running lanes, harassed Robinson and then they physically handled the OSU receivers playing nickel most of the night.

Robinson, the most efficient quarterback in the Big 12 entering the game, threw an uncharacteristic four interceptions as the Cowboys' offense became predictable in trying to overcome a deficit that at one point was 41-7 in the third quarter. Oklahoma State committed a total of five turnovers on the night.

"When you turn the ball over and make that many mistakes against a team that has that much ability, it's very difficult to win the game, " said OSU coach Mike Gundy, whose team slipped to 6-2 (3-1) after being ranked as high as No. 5 in the country earlier this season. "Getting behind by more than two scores makes it very difficult to execute on offense and defense."

The Longhorns, meanwhile, didn't have much trouble at all. The offense was limited in opportunities because of Oklahoma State's game plan to play keep-away with the ball.

But the Longhorns made their few chances count with McCoy leading the offense on five scoring possessions. He completed 16-of-21 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown. With two touchdowns from the defense, the offense did all it had to, playing smart turnover-free football (star receiver Jordan Shipley, however, did have turnover on a muffed punt).

Thomas and Brown's touchdowns marked the seventh and eighth touchdowns from the Longhorns' defense or special teams this season.

"I think that makes you an unusual team, we've never been able to do that," Brown said. "Our offense is getting better, our defense is continuing to score and we didn't score on special teams tonight, but we usually do.

"Scoring in all three phases is something that gives you a chance to be really good. We just got to keep that hammer down and keep pressing in those areas."

Interestingly, OSU actually out-gained the Longhorns and held on to the ball for a larger portion of the game. The Cowboys had 277 yards of offense to 275 for Texas. They won the time of possession battle 33:16 to 26:44.

But Oklahoma State lost the all-important turnover battle five-to-one, repeatedly sandbagging offensive drives. Receiver Hubert Anyiam, who had been excellent for the Cowboys in the absence of Dez Bryant, dropped a for-sure touchdown pass early and then fumbled after the catch to blow another opportunity.

Much of the credit for the Cowboys flailing had to go to the hard-hitting UT defense.

"Basically we put everything on the line going out there and showing everybody what we've got, national game, across the world," said UT linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy. "We tried to show them how Texas plays football."

That isn't to suggest the Longhorns can't get better at nearly every phase of the game because they can. They didn't do much in special teams and the offense still isn't as fluid as it needs to be both in running the ball and in the throwing game.



Those are things that must be addressed should Texas end up on college football's biggest stage this year, as now seems likely.

"We felt like we were a team that was going to continue to get better," Brown said. "I think we are in a world now where people are questioning everybody, it doesn't matter. The key is to win.

"This team is enjoying each other. They are getting ownership, they are stepping up as seniors and taking over their team and that's really important. We feel like we have a chance to get better."

Tags: colt+mccoy, ColtMccoy, cowboys, Jordan+Shipley, JordanShipley, Longhorns, Mack+Brown, MackBrown, michael+crabtree, MichaelCrabtree, Mike+Gundy, MikeGundy, Roddrick+Muckelroy, RoddrickMuckelroy, zac+robinson, ZacRobinson

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