Once again, we blew a decent lead, falling apart offensively. Coming one week after our disappointing loss to our biggest rival, this game continued the losing streak that would carry us down, down, down through game 11, knocking us out of bowl season.
This game’s highlights (besides the first half) were Anne’s attendance and the sandwich from Antone’s.
Another overtime game? Not THAT’S a scary Halloween! The Cowboys tied it up with a field goal late in regulation, but Ehlinger connected with JoMo (Josh Moore) in OT to grab that W.
After watching that victory, Katie and I couldn’t resist carving pumpkins for our respective schools just for fun. We found some stencils and went to town—even though we couldn’t really “go” anywhere!
September 21, 2019 • DKR
Oklahoma State’s mascot may be the Cowboy, but we sent those ranchers home a little less jolly. This was a close one, but the Horns pulled off the win in an electric DKR as Sam Ehlinger led the team and MOC Matthew McConaughey led the cheers.
A week after our reunion with our friend in Houston, we had the pleasure of sharing gameday with our friend from New Jersey! Greg just happens to have earned his undergrad degree from Okie State, so we had to make sure he wasn’t wearing any traffic-cone orange under his Longhorn attire. Just kidding. We know Greg bleeds burnt orange!
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. After the season-opening loss, our guys were on a six-game winning streak when they rode into Stillwater. Ranked #6, the Horns were down by as much as 17, came storming back in the second half, but couldn’t pull off the win.
Losing in OT was heartbreaking, but what a defensive performance! Led by Malik Jefferson, the Horns’ D held Okie State to just 13 points, well below their season average of 38.3 points per game.
Defense may win championships, but it didn’t win this game.
Getting up early isn’t the only reason I hate 11 a.m. kickoffs.
OSU band
OSU band
Sam’s INT ended our chances in OT, but I stand behind our QB. His name is now my go-to restaurant pseudonym.
We left home before sunrise, and we got to see this great sunset on the way home.
Oct. 1, 2016 • Stillwater, Oklahoma
With apologies to all the good and fair referees out there, the officiating at last year’s Okie State game in Austin was a travesty. I even broke my own rule about not blaming a loss on bad calls. When this rematch rolled around, I was still salty about that loss. I was in Lubbock for LCU Parent Weekend for this game, so salt packets from our hotel breakfast bar filled the bill.
Good news: This loss was all on our play and not bad calls. Oh, wait. That’s the bad news, too. Ugh.
True story: The day after this Texas-OSU debacle, I was watching the Dallas Cowboys game. I missed the first part of the game, but soon after I finally sat down to watch, Dallas scored. My first reaction was not to celebrate but to check the screen to see if there were any yellow flags.
How else would I respond after spending Saturday afternoon watching every great play called back, feeling every bit of momentum taken away by those stupid yellow flags?
I picked Slo-Pokes for this week’s game, hoping, praying that the RIGHT orange could slow down these OSU Pokes. Little did I know that this candy’s color would be foreshadowing what really beat us.
Our D was at times lackluster, giving up too many yards on the ground. But when we had a huge play against the Pokes’ offense, invariably it was called back.
Our offense sputtered plenty (and apparently Jerrod was coming off a stomach bug), but our explosive, big-gain runs and pass completions were too often followed by those frickin’ yellow flags.
Of course, the fumbled snap on that last punt was Terrible with a capital T, as were the pointless plays run that series that led to the punt. Yes to all of that. But when you’ve just seen the refs literally hand your opponent 25 yards to kick the tying field goal, it’s hard to swallow defeat. The bogus “defensive holding” ON A RUN PLAY followed by the unsportsmanlike call on Charlie Strong (WHEN THE REF INITIATED CONTACT) are indefensible. This was NBA-level bad. Even if he HAD been too aggressive when arguing that call, who throws that flag late in a game? Have you EVER seen that? Seriously.
Check out the 11:09 mark:
The Texas fumble recovery that was ruled to be OSU’s ball is right before that, too. Texas had the ball before the big dogpile and after, but apparently the Okie State guy who NEVER EVEN PUT HIS RIGHT ARM IN THE PILE got possession.
I know, I know: It’s never good to blame a loss on officiating, and because of my love for my dear friend who was a ref, I typically bite my tongue and give the benefit of the doubt. But for this struggling team to lose this way? Unacceptable.
So now my guys are sitting at 1-3 heading into the DFW gauntlet of TCU and ou. But from what I’ve seen the last two weeks, I think we pull the upset in at least one of those games. We’ve got the right coach, and our young players are getting their feet under them. If we can just catch a few breaks, who knows? This team is HUNGRY and may have just enough Texas Fight in them to overcome not just their own mistakes but those damn yellow flags.
Texas 28, Oklahoma State 7I’ve only been there once, and that was during the summer, but Stillwater seems like it’d be a pretty cool place to see a game. If Eskimo Joe’s is part of your gameday, how bad could it be? Besides, it would be a trip to see (and hear!) those paddles hitting the sideline walls and watch the OSU fans do their one-armed waving thing. In honor of this town I hope to revisit, this week’s Texas is spelled with “still water.”
Too bad my return couldn’t be for this game, the “Bowl Eligibility Bowl.” Which team would get that all-important sixth win? I knew we could beat Okie State, looking vulnerable with their 5-4 record. Then again, we were at 5-5, so what did I know? Early on, though, we had this one. Our D was solid through most of it. (Darn those nine first downs and the score that blew the shutout!) Our offense, even with some missed kicks thrown in, managed to get those points on the board, mostly in the first half. And that pass to Foreman?
https://vine.co/v/O5XWVdFAjXK/embed/simple?related=0
SWOOOOOOOOOOOOPES!!!
The second half drop-off in production still puzzles me—What’s going on at halftime? Are other coaches THAT good at adjustments, or are we just that bad?—but we still put 9 on the board after halftime, including that sweet afore(man)mentioned TD pass. And whadyaknow, we’ve won three in a row. For this team that has struggled this season, raising questions of locker room buy-in and coaching quality, here we sit with six wins. And you know what that means:
BOWL ELIGIBLE, BABY.
But first, let’s not forget Turkey Day, when it’ll be OUR turn to be the cockroaches and mess up TCU’s title hopes. After the Frogs’ close call with Kansas, that upset may not be so far-fetched.
My attention level during the first half (as imitated by Frisco)
My attention level late in the game
As a kindergarten teacher, my mom organized all kinds of special events for her students. One particular occasion, as part of her Texas history unit, was her annual chuckwagon supper featuring “cowboy beans.” Now we all knew those beans came from Van Camp’s cans, but to her impressionable charges, they were straight from some cowboys’ “home on the range” campfire.
At our tailgate this week we enjoyed burgers, hot dogs, and yes, beans. With a ready supply of beans, I figured this Oklahoma State game would be a good time to pay tribute to my mom’s old classroom cowboy suppers. Nice homage, right? But the whole time we were spelling Texas, I was not thinking of my mother’s phenomenal teaching. All I could think of was the old rhyme: “Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot!” Isn’t that lovely? Classy, even?
As it turns out, the game was about as stinky as flatulence. Early on, it looked like we’d be able to keep it close. Then came the three interceptions and several gosh-awful special teams plays. (Fielding a punt deep in your own territory when there’s a stiff wind that’s certain to push that ball into the endzone? Not smart.) Add to that some dropped passes and missed tackles, and you get a toot-worthy outcome. The Cowboys turned out to be silent but deadly. Blech.
So much for our undefeated Big 12 record. We can still share the conference title, but we’ll need some help. (We’ll also need a whole lot of luck against the Baylor buzzsaw we’ll be facing that first Saturday in December.)
The game itself was a big disappointment, but the day was far from a loss. Brett attended his second ever tailgate (also his second in three weeks), and Ryan tagged along, too. Add one of my dearest college friends, and it was a special pregame gathering. Early in the game we got word that our friend’s daughter will be heading to the state volleyball tournament with her high school team. We also were privileged to salute our veterans, giving them a well-deserved ovation.
You know, after our first two losses, we knew this wouldn’t be our year. The six-game conference win streak, especially that huge victory over ou, gave us hope that this season could be salvaged. Now, not so much. Our push to win the Big 12? Gone with the (broken) wind. Our hopes for a successful season? Farted away.
Texas 41, Oklahoma State 36Sept. 29, 2012 • Stillwater, OK
Cowboys are right up there with bears when it comes to mascots that Texas has played most often. We have already played one cowboy team this season, and that’s in addition to all the other times we’ve played OSU. We’ve spelled Texas with a variety of cowboy-worthy items: rope, Cowboy coal, hot dogs (think campfire out on the range), brisket, even Fun Dip (a.k.a. “chaw”). This time I figured I’d branch out a little with this homage to one place a cowboy can call home: the ranch. (This may be a sign that I’ve been reading a little too much Pioneer Woman. By the way, I seem to remember seeing photos of her kids in Okie State T-shirts at their ranch home.)
These Cowboys certainly felt at home on the range, breaking one big play after another, including that ridiculous game-opening possession that gave them the early lead. If this game were a rodeo, OSU would not be cowboys, though; they’d be the bulls that change direction every time their riders think they have found their rhythm. The Horns’ D, meanwhile, would be the rodeo clowns: They provide a distraction, but they have no intention of actually making contact with anyone. I mean, were they TRYING to avoid the ball-carrier or what? Good cattle!
It’s crazy to think that our defense gave up 576 yards (a whopping 8.6 yards per snap), and yet the Horns won. CRAZY! In spite of the porous D, our offense pulled out a win. QB David Ash was clutch. He threw one interception, but when the game was on the line, he converted on 4th and 6 to extend what turned out to be the game-winning drive. Johnathan Gray threw his own coming out party there in T. Boone’s stadium, and J Gray was just one of a posse of backs who traded carries. Jaxon Shipley earned a hat trick, scoring three touchdowns. Crazy how often good things happen when Ship (version 2.0) gets the ball.
For the record, I do believe Texas’ last TD was, in fact, a touchdown, that the ball crossed the plane before Bergeron fumbled it. I also believe that college football uniforms should never stray too far from their traditional look. (Those OSU unis looked RED to me, red-orange, if I’m generous. How do you run a commercial at halftime that says you’re “America’s brightest orange” and then wear that dark color? Bring back the traffic cone orange!) If you haven’t noticed, I also believe that it’s OK to be a “first-person fan” and use “we” and “our” when referring to the team you’ve cheered and loved since birth. And while I’m at it, Brett Hull’s cup-winning goal was legit and Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. End of rant.
ANYWAY, I’m always glad to see the OSU game in the rearview mirror so I can get back to rooting for the Cowboys. One of my UT buddies went there for his undergrad, and I figure UT and Okie State fans have that “My enemy’s enemy is my friend” thing going for them. Besides, how can you not like a college town that is home to Eskimo Joe’s?
Next up: West Virginia and Heisman candidate Geno Smith. It took forever for football season to get here, but since the first two back-to-back games, we’ve had a whopping THREE tailgate-less Saturdays. Let’s fix that next weekend when the Mountaineers come to Austin. WV beat an RG3-less Baylor 70-63 this weekend, so this may be another “last one with the ball wins” kind of game. But who knows? Maybe our D will morph from rodeo clown to cowboy by then.
Spell Texas 
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