Oklahoma State 49 – Texas 31 | Rapid Recap

Zachary LowOctober 1, 2016 No Comments

After a 19-year drought, Oklahoma State finally got a win against Texas in Stillwater this afternoon. Oklahoma State entered the game desperate for a win after a loss last week in Waco against Baylor, and they undoubtedly earned it against a 22nd-ranked Texas Longhorn team who had an extra week to prepare for conference play.

Offense Firing on All Cylinders

Oklahoma State started off strong, scoring on the first offensive drive capped by a 30-yard touchdown run by Freshman RB Justice Hill. After forcing a quick three-and-out for Texas, the Cowboys got the ball back, and Mason Rudolph went to work throwing a 54-yard touchdown pass to Junior receiver James Washington. After the second touchdown, the offense sputtered briefly before they got going again, scoring again twice before the half, once on a 10-yard rumble by Mason Rudolph and and again on a 36-yard touchdown strike from Rudolph to sophomore receiver Jalen McCleskey.

After leading 37-25 at halftime, Oklahoma State continued to move the ball, but did not put up as many points. Senior running back Barry J. Sanders scored on a 1-yard run to make it 43-31 after a blocked extra point. Ben Grogan kicked two field goals in the 4th quarter to extend the lead making the final score 49-31.

Mason Rudolph had his most efficient game of the season throwing 19/28 for 392 for three touchdowns, while Justice Hill had his second consecutive 100-yard rush game as he ran for 136 yards on 25 yards for a touchdown. Hill has emerged as the clear number one rusher for the Cowboys, and he has done a great job so far. Jalen McCleskey led all receivers with 109 yards on four catches and two touchdowns. James Washington also had a solid day raking in 91 receiving yards on four catches and one touchdown before a brutal hit that knocked him unconscious. Washington was okay, but he was immediately ruled out for the rest of the game to follow proper concussion protocol.

Special Teams has a Special Game

Junior defensive tackle Vincent Taylor had a particularly special day blocking two PAT attempts by the Longhorns , one of which he recovered and then pitched to teammate Tre Flowers who returned it for two points. Watch it here: http://www.espn.com/core/video/iframe?id=17684899&endcard=false. Another Longhorn PAT attempt was blocked making it three total for the Cowboys.The five-point swing was key to helping the Cowboys gain some early momentum that propelled them to a solid lead that they did not relinquish for the remainder of the game.

Run Defense Struggles

The Oklahoma State defensive line left holes all over the place that Longhorn running backs easily ran through for most of the day. D’onta Foreman and Chris Warren combined for 255 yards on 27 attempts for 2 touchdowns. However, unfortunately for Texas, injuries slowed the run game, making the job for the defense a lot easier. Warren was ruled out at halftime after a knee injury, and Foreman left the game with an apparent injury on his right side near the end of the 3rd quarter.  With both of their workhouses out, the Longhorn rushing game could not do much of anything.

Gundy Dances….Again

I’ll just leave this here.

More recaps coming later.

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