Oklahoma State Rolls Over Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — The Oklahoma State Cowboys, with their reputation for dynamic passing quarterbacks and receivers, used a simple running play to slice apart the Texas Longhorns on Saturday.

The Cowboys won 38-13 in front of 99,739 fans at Royal-Memorial Stadium to keep alive their hopes for a Big 12 title.

The win for the 12th-ranked Cowboys (9-1, 6-1) extended their winning streak to six straight. The 24th-ranked Longhorns (7-3, 6-1) lost for the first time since Sept. 14, snapping their victory string at six games.

Oklahoma State will host Baylor next Saturday, while Texas is off, preparing for a Thanksgiving home matchup against Texas Tech. The Cowboys finish off the regular season against rival Oklahoma, while the Longhorns end with Baylor.

Cowboys quarterback Clint Chelf used a simple draw play to blow up the Texas defense in the first half. The Longhorns were missing their defensive tackle Chris Whaley, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last Saturday. With Whaley out, Texas had problems staying disciplined in the middle.

By formation, Oklahoma State was spreading out the Texas defense. And if Chelf noticed that the

Longhorn linebackers were cheating to the outside, he would call his own name and dash through the middle.

Chelf rushed 10 times for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Both touchdowns and 75 of the rushing yards came in the first half.

“Clint managed the game really well for us and continues to be a nifty runner for us,” said Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. “I’m proud of him and the way he’s developing and leading our team.”

Gundy doesn’t allow his quarterback to speak to the media, so Chelf was unavailable for comment.

“We did a very poor job on gap control on the quarterback draw a couple of times early that just killed us,” said Texas coach Mack Brown.

Chelf also threw for two touchdowns, completing 16 of his 22 passes for 197 yards. He tossed a 12-yard scoring pass to Tracy Moore in the second quarter and a 21-yarder to Charlie Moore late in the third quarter to close the scoring for both teams.

Oklahoma State broke open what had been a 14-10 game late in the second quarter thanks to a fortunate stretch of plays. The Cowboys made it a route one quarter later to win a game where they were considered only a field-goal favorite.

The contest seemed to hinge on one play — a throw to the end zone by Chelf with just over one minute to go before intermission.

Chelf was looking for wide receiver Tracy Moore in the right corner of the end zone. Texas safety Adrian Phillips leaped for the ball. Rather than intercepting it, he deflected the pass. Moore retrieved the pop-up for the touchdown.

On Texas’ next offensive series, quarterback Case McCoy was looking for wide receiver Kendall Sanders on an out route along the Longhorn sideline. But McCoy, throwing against the wind, was intercepted by Justin Gilbert, one of the best cornerbacks in the Big 12. Gilbert returned the interception for a touchdown.

It was a 14-point swing for the coasting Cowboys, with Oklahoma State taking a 28-10 lead into the locker room.

Texas tried to keep up early in the third quarter. But the Longhorns were forced to settle for a 27-yard Anthony Fera field goal to cut the score to 28-13.

McCoy threw interceptions on consecutive series in the third quarter. Gilbert notched his second of the game, while linebacker Cayleb Lacey got the other one for his fourth pick of the season. Lacey’s interception, which he returned 23 yards to the Texas 21, set up Oklahoma State’s final touchdown.

“The quarterback goes out and throws three interceptions, you’re not going out and winning the ball game,” McCoy said. “So it’s on me. My team knows it’s on me. We’re going to get it fixed and go win.”

McCoy’s Longhorns had been in control of their conference destiny. Now, Oklahoma State does.

“I feel like we are very much in the race,” Cowboys linebacker Shaun Lewis said. “We’re going to go home and evaluate film and see how we did, make those corrections. We have got to ball from here on out.”

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