Cowboys defeat Longhorns
AUSTIN, Texas — During his 13 seasons as Oklahoma State football coach, Mike Gundy has built a reputation for producing dynamic offenses and less than impressive defenses.
On Saturday, the Cowboys leaned on their defense.
Ramon Richards intercepted Sam Ehlinger's pass in the end zone in overtime, after Matt Ammendola kicked a field goal, giving No. 10 Oklahoma State a 13-10 victory over Texas.
Those 13 points were 36 below the Cowboys' average and their fewest since a 28-7 loss to Texas in 2014. Oklahoma State averaged 611 yards a game before Saturday, best in the nation, but gained 428 against Texas.
The Cowboys (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) scored the winning points on Ammendola's 34-yard field goal on the first possession of OT. He missed a 29-yard attempt in the fourth quarter.
Though the field goal came first, Richards didn't realize the game ended with his play.
“I thought the offense had to come back,” Richards said.
Texas (3-4, 2-2) had a first down on the Oklahoma State 12 after a pass interference penalty against A.J. Green.
But on third-and-4 from the 6, Ehlinger, a freshman, scrambled and floated a pass to the only player in the area, Richards.
“I thought Jerrod [Heard] was going to circle back up to the back of the end zone for a jump ball,” Ehlinger said.
“That's why I put it up there for him for a chance to win. I just made a mistake.”
Oklahoma State's Mason Rudolph passed for 282 yards, failing to reach 300 for the first time in eight games.
The Cowboys were without two, sometimes three, injured starting offensive linemen, and Texas dared them to run by dropping defenders into pass coverage.
“Forever around here, it's been the offense saved us,” Gundy said. “For six, eight years defense can't stop anybody, offense saved ’em. So [Saturday] the offense stumbled over their own feet, couldn't make a play, and the defense did.”
Though they struggled on offense, the Cowboys remained in the race for a Big 12 championship.
They haven't dropped out of the national playoff picture, either.
Oklahoma State beat Texas for the fifth straight time in Austin, the most ever by a Longhorns opponent.
The Longhorns had losing seasons the last three years under coach Charlie Strong. They need to win three of their next five to avoid another. Coach Tom Herman was 6-0 against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 the last two seasons while coaching Houston. He's 0-3 in his first season at Texas, all by five points or fewer.
Texas has most of its difficulty on offense, Herman's specialty as a former offensive coordinator.
“I take a lot of responsibility for that,” Herman said “Monumental effort by our defense. We gotta help them more on offense.”