With Ossai, it’s pedal to the metal
AUSTIN — Joseph Ossai hunched, rooted his fingers and embedded his cleats into the turf at Boone Pickens Stadium, and plotted the quickest route to Oklahoma State quarterback Spencer Sanders.
The Texas pass-rusher noticed tight end Jelani Woods on the edge. Ossai knew if he launched fast enough, therewould be an open a path to Sanders — to victory.
“I knew that if I can get at a certain angle, I could beat that tight end across,” Ossai said Monday. “And the (right) tackle wouldn’t have a chance to get there because of the tight end. There was so much space. I managed to get a great get- off, I ripped through and I remember just chasing him down.”
Woods broke off into his route and never lookedOssai’s way. Now it was just a one- on- one with right tackle Teven Jenkins.
Ossai rocketed by the 6foot- 6, 320-pound blocker, shrugged off a shove and hunted down Sanders. A few paces behind the rolling quarterback, he had no choice but to lunge and hope those arms that seem to stretch into infinity really did stretch on forever, or at least stretch on long enough to grab an ankle.
“He’s a fast guy, but I know I can catch him because he’s not able to run for speed, he’s holding the ball,” Ossai said. “So, I know I can catch him. But if he does get that ball out before I get to him for some reason, and somebody catches it, that’s going to be six. So, I dove. And when he when he went down. I just remember everybody going crazy.
ssai’s game- ending sack on fourth-and-8 Saturday preserved a 41-34 overtime win for No. 22 Texas (4-2, 3-2 Big 12) over No. 6 Oklahoma State. It was a fitting crescendo to the greatest game of his career: 12 tackles, six tackles for loss, three sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
The seeds forwhatOssai accomplished last weekend in Stillwater, Okla., were planted last New Year’s Eve at the Alamo Bowl. Playing in a 4-3 scheme that served as an appetizer for new coordinator Chris Ash’s defense, the bowl game’s defensive MVP terrorized No. 11 Utah with nine tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks in a 28-point rout.
The sack harkens back to a lesson Ossai recalled from early in his career —when he was still learning the game after growing up playing mostly soccer.
“It was spring ball my freshman year,” Ossai said, “and my D-line coach, because I took the play off, he said, ‘Always keep running to the ball.
You never know.’ And being a competitor like me, we live for those you-never-knows because that could change the game.
“Two reps later they ran the same play and I kept running, the guy made a cut and I punched the ball out. Ever since then, it’s just been go, go, go.”
Texas coach Tom Herman likes to say Ossai comes equipped with two speed settings: “off and full.” That flip switches on as soon as the hybrid linebacker steps into the office.
But that raging engine existed within Ossai long before he’d even seen a single snap of American football. It was cultivated over years of playing soccer outmanned against a couple younger brothers in Lagos, Nigeria.
“You know, it was three boys when I was growing up,” Ossai said. “And my sister wouldn’t want to play with us. BecauseIwas the oldest, it would be me versus them two. That just made me competitive. Because even though it was only me versus the two, I wanted to win.”
As good as senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger was late against Oklahoma State, Texas doesn’t shock a top-10 team on the road without Ossai transforming into former Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware. And this defense doesn’t survive allowing 530 total yards if the Longhorns’ “defensive quarterback” doesn’t linger on the mind of Sanders, responsible for three of his team’s four turnovers.
No one predicted Ossai would throw up a historic line against then-undefeated Oklahoma State. But Ehlinger sensed something during overtime and knew exactly which teammate would make the play .
That hunch stemmed from a conversation the two captains had following a four- overtime loss to Oklahoma.
“You know, Sam, I’m really upset that we lost,” Ossai told Ehlinger. “But I’m more upset because I know that in those moments when the game’s on the line, your best players have to make plays. I had a chance to end the game against Oklahoma, and I didn’t do that.”
And because he didn’t, Ehlinger knew he would this time.
“And so I knew, standing out there on the field in Stillwater, he was going to do that,” Ehlinger said. “And he did exactly that.”