Cowboys recover, rally to nip ’Horns
STILLWATER, Okla. — Spencer Sanders fought through pain to deliver a key win for Oklahoma State.
The senior threw for 391 yards and hit Bryson Green with the game-winning touchdown pass with just over three minutes left, and the 11thranked Cowboys defeated No. 20 Texas 41-34 on Saturday.
Sanders passed for two touchdowns and ran for 43 yards on 11 carries. Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy said Sanders is not at full strength while dealing with undisclosed injuries, making his performance all the more impressive.
“When your quarterback is a very competitive player, he’s willing to give his body up, play injured, never says a word, never complains, he just keeps playing, that makes my job easier,” Gundy said.
Green’s 41-yard touchdown came when he caught the ball on a slant, broke out of D’Shawn Jamison’s grasp just inside the 35 and made a move on Jerrin Thompson to break into the open field.
Oklahoma State’s Jason Taylor II intercepted two of Quinn Ewers’ passes for the Cowboys, and Kendal Daniels picked off Ewers in the final minute to end the Longhorns’ final threat.
Green had five catches for a career-high 133 yards and Dominic Richardson had three short touchdown runs for Oklahoma State (6-1, 3-1), which bounced back from a double-overtime loss to TCU the previous week.
Sanders struggled against TCU, completing just 16 of 36 passes for 245 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
“Coming into this week, I focused on the mistakes that I made last week,” he said. “That’s out of the way. We just have to make sure every play is a new play; every game is a new game. Can’t think about last week. Fix your mistakes and move forward.”
Texas committed 14 penalties for 119 yards while Oklahoma State went without a penalty.
“It’s very frustrating because for somewhere in there, we lose focus or mental intensity.” Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We just didn’t operate very good, and a lot of it was self-inflicted wounds.”
Bijan Robinson ran for 140 yards and a touchdown and caught a 41-yard touchdown pass for Texas (5-3, 3-2). Ewers passed for 319 yards and two touchdowns, but he went 6-for-18 with two interceptions in the fourth quarter.
Texas led 31-24 at halftime as both teams gained more than 300 yards before the break.
The Longhorns gained just 172 yards and nine first downs in the second half.
Sanders’ 10-yard touchdown pass to Brennan Presley and the extra point tied the game at 34-34 with 9:54 remaining in the fourth quarter, setting up the final frantic minutes.
“It hurts to the core,” Texas linebacker DeMarvion Overshown said. “I’m hurting, everyone in the locker room is hurting. Losing a big game on the road going into a bye week — it’s going to sting.”
In other games involving Top 25 teams, freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik rallied No. 5 Clemson to two fourth-quarter touchdowns after replacing mistake-prone starter DJ Uiagalelei and the Tigers won their ACC-record setting 38th consecutive game at home, 27-21, over visiting No. 14 Syracuse. Will Shipley ran for two touchdowns and a career-high 172 yards as the Tigers (8-0, 6-0) won their 14th in a row overall — but not without a big-time scare from the Orange (6-1, 3-1). Uiagalelei was picked off twice and had a fumble Ja’Had Carter returned 90 yards for a touchdown as Clemson trailed 21-10 at the half. … C.J. Stroud overcame a slow start to throw four second-half touchdown passes and No. 2 Ohio State’s defense took advantage of six Iowa turnovers to key a 54-10 rout in Columbus, Ohio. Tanner McCallister had two interceptions and Tommy Eichenberg had a pick-6 as Ohio State (7-0, 4-0) took advantage of an inept Iowa offense to consistently start drives with good field position. … Max Duggan threw for 280 yards with three touchdowns and Kendre Miller ran for 153 yards and two scores as eighth-ranked TCU rallied from a big early deficit to stay undefeated, beating No. 17 Kansas State 38-28 to take over sole possession of first place in the Big 12 Conference. Duggan’s 55yard strike to Quentin Johnston late in the third quarter put the Horned Frogs (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) ahead to stay. … Bo Nix threw for 278 yards and five touchdowns and No. 10 Oregon handed No. 9 UCLA its first loss of the season with a 45-30 victory in Eugene, Ore. The Ducks (6-1, 4-0) have won six in a row and are the lone remaining undefeated team in Pac-12 conference play. UCLA (6-1, 3-1) hasn’t defeated the Ducks since 2017. … Sam Hartman threw five touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead No. 13 Wake Forest past visiting Boston College 43-15. The Demon Deacons (6-1, 2-1) looked crisp in their third consecutive victory. … Sean Clifford threw four touchdown passes and No. 16 Penn State’s defense forced seven punts in a 45-17 win over Minnesota. Clifford threw darts over the middle to tight ends Tyler Warren and Theo Johnson on backto-back possessions in the second quarter to put Penn State (6-1, 3-1) up for good. … Ryan Coe kicked a school-record five field goals, including a season-long 52-yarder and No. 21 Cincinnati broke up a two-point play in the closing minutes to hold on against SMU 29-27 in Dallas. Charles McClelland and Ryan Montgomery scored on runs of 76 yards and 1 yard for the Bearcats (6-1, 3-0). Tyler Lavine scored on a 1-yard plunge with 1:57 to pull SMU (3-4, 1-2) within two, but Preston Stone’s two-point conversion pass intended for Roderick Daniels Jr. fell incomplete. … Michael Pratt threw for a touchdown and ran for another as No. 25 Tulane celebrated its first Top 25 ranking since 1998 with a dominant first half and hung on to beat Memphis 38-28 in New Orleans. The Green Wave (7-1, 4-0) scored on three of their first four possessions and took a 35-0 lead into the second half before the Tigers rallied. Seth Henigan had 257 of his 312 passing yards in the second half for the Tigers (4-4, 2-3).