1. Interesting that Brandon Jones, Kevin Vaccaro, Malcolm Roach and Breckyn Hager all started. Roach and Hager held up their end of the bargain. Vaccaro and Jones, not so much.
2. Be careful what you wish for. The safety play, overall, was horrible. Vaccaro and DeShon Elliott, in particular, really struggled.
Jason Hall, on the other hand, was one of the more productive players on the day, including two sacks.
It really doesn't matter who was out there. Oklahoma State had its way with the UT defense when it worked the middle of the field.
3. Shane Buechele did have on some sort of protective jacket on to give him some extra padding on his ribs. Whatever the issue is, it didn't seem to affect his ability to throw the ball at all. He was mostly accurate and was still able to get plenty of zip on the ball. I guess that's one positive thing fans can take away from this game if we're looking forward to the next few weeks.
4. Some first-half stats of note ...
Mason Rudolph 15-of-21 for 310 yards and 3 TDs
Each team had 390 yards of total offense
OSU 9.75 yards per play
Zero turnovers for either team
5. I have never in my life seen such an issue on field goal protection. Oklahoma State blocked three in the first half, one of which was taken back for a two-point conversion (a second was nearly taken back as well). OSU nearly got a hand on Trent Domingue's long field goal attempt in the first half as well. All the pressure seemed to come up the middle.
Texas ultimately started going for 2 in the second half, which was probably the right call. But how pathetic is it that you have to abandon something as simple as extra point attempts? Simply inexcusable.
6. The broadcast team was absolutely horrible. Mike Patrick is normally very good, but there were too many errors to list in this one. Patrick and Ed Cunningham didn't do their homework this week.
7. Texas has one of the nation's best one-two punches at running back in all of college football, but D'Onta Foreman and Chris Warren's inability to stay healthy has to be a major point of frustration for the coaches. Mack Brown used to say he only liked playing guys he knew he could count on to be on the field each and every week. That philosophy makes more and more sense when you look at the situation with UT's top two running backs.
8. Sheroid Evans struggled ... again. Some of the defensive personnel decisions by the coaches continue to baffle me.
9. Where was John Burt in this game? Two catches for 16 yards?
For that matter, what has happened to Collin Johnson? He got some PT in this game but he's pretty much a non-factor in the offense after being a star in the spring and occasionally in fall camp.
10. I have no clue what the hell is going on with Holton Hill, but if he's in the doghouse for poor practice habits, like Vance Bedford alluded to a few weeks ago, he must be the worst practice player in the history of college football.
11. Malcolm Roach was one of the few bright spots for Texas in the game. That guy plays like his hair is on fire and seems to be one of the few players on defense that has any passion.
12. I've been saying this since the UTEP game, but Malik Jefferson has to start making some plays. He's not even coming close to living up to expectations. Going into the fourth quarter, he had 1 tackle and 1 assist. By comparison, through three quarters Anthony Wheeler and Jason Hall had 7 total tackles. Not only was he not making tackles, he missed way too many, including one in the backfield when he had Barry Sanders dead to rights. Jefferson did make a nice third-down tackle in the fourth quarter to force a field goal, but his overall play has been a disappointment this year.
13. I said this in our podcast but it's worth repeating ...
Texas can make personnel changes on defense (they didn't work worth a damn in this one), but there's no magic pill that is suddenly going to turn this defense around. This is clearly a group that is going to struggle all year, regardless of who is on the field and regardless of how much involvement Charlie Strong has.
14. A tight end sighting in the passing game! Congrats to Andrew Beck on the TD reception.
15. That TD at the end of the first half, with just over 30 seconds left on the clock, was a backbreaker. OSU faced a third and long ... no worries ... the Cowboys hit a 51-yard TD with a bunch of missed tackles, including a whiff by Vaccaro and a bad overrun by DeShon Elliott.
16. What a ballsy decision by Michael Dickson on the fake punt pretty deep in Texas' own territory. Of course, Texas couldn't capitalize and had to punt four plays later.
17. What in the world was Buechele looking at on his interception? He stared down the receiver and threw it right to Jordan Sterns. It's almost like he didn't see Sterns standing in the throwing lane, resulting in an easy interception that pretty much put the game away for Oklahoma State.
18. How the hell was that not a flag on Ramon Richards when he tackled Foreman in the end zone after Foreman's long TD run? Ridiculous.
19. On Tuesday, I pointed out the obvious in my 3-2-1 column, saying these next two games could go a long way towards determining Charlie Strong's future at Texas. Well, the first part of the test is over and Texas failed it miserably.
Like I said in that column, I'm not going to call for Strong's head after the Oklahoma State game or the OU game if UT loses them both - I'm not there yet - but I certainly don't have an issue with anyone who feels the last nail has been put in the coffin and it's time for change.
20. Texas' offense should be good enough to keep it in pretty much every game on the schedule, but it's looking like Kansas may be the only guaranteed win at this point. Iowa State in Austin should be a W, but I'm not chalking that one up as a given with the way this defense is playing.
Player of the game: Uggh. Doesn't feel like anyone deserves it after this one. Jason Hall was productive with 8 tackles and 2 sacks, but I'll give the nod to D'Onta Foreman, who finished with 148 yards and 2 TDs before going out of the game with an injury. Foreman's a ridiculously talented runner, but the injuries are going to really hurt his stock if they continue.
Best position group: If we're going purely on performance, the nod has to go to the running backs. Foreman and Chris Warren were both very productive before leaving the game with injuries. The defensive line also deserves some recognition. That group applied quite a bit of pressure on Mason Rudolph, although it really didn't seem to matter since Rudolph still had his way with the Texas defense.
This game was over when ... Oklahoma State intercepted Buechele and returned it to the 1-yard line early in the third quarter. The Cowboys scored a couple plays later to open up an 18-point lead, and realistically there was no way the Texas defense was going to make enough stops to close a three-score advantage.
Best decision: I'm at a loss, for the second game in a row. Feel free to chime in if you've got something.
Head-scratcher: Take your pick. There were quite a few questionable decisions in this one. A couple from the first half that stand out are the decision by Strong to decline a holding penalty on 2nd-and-10, and then taking a delay of game just before attempting a long field goal attempt. But this one takes the cake ... Charlie Strong appeared to be telling his guys to decline an illegal man downfield penalty after OSU completed a pass for a sizeable gain.
What's next?:Texas sits at 2-2 but it feels more like 0-4. Next up, the team will head to Dallas to play an Oklahoma team that is having its own issues this year, but the Sooners will probably sense that there's blood in the water and it feels like Texas could be looking at a 2-3 record after next week.
2. Be careful what you wish for. The safety play, overall, was horrible. Vaccaro and DeShon Elliott, in particular, really struggled.
Jason Hall, on the other hand, was one of the more productive players on the day, including two sacks.
It really doesn't matter who was out there. Oklahoma State had its way with the UT defense when it worked the middle of the field.
3. Shane Buechele did have on some sort of protective jacket on to give him some extra padding on his ribs. Whatever the issue is, it didn't seem to affect his ability to throw the ball at all. He was mostly accurate and was still able to get plenty of zip on the ball. I guess that's one positive thing fans can take away from this game if we're looking forward to the next few weeks.
4. Some first-half stats of note ...
Mason Rudolph 15-of-21 for 310 yards and 3 TDs
Each team had 390 yards of total offense
OSU 9.75 yards per play
Zero turnovers for either team
5. I have never in my life seen such an issue on field goal protection. Oklahoma State blocked three in the first half, one of which was taken back for a two-point conversion (a second was nearly taken back as well). OSU nearly got a hand on Trent Domingue's long field goal attempt in the first half as well. All the pressure seemed to come up the middle.
Texas ultimately started going for 2 in the second half, which was probably the right call. But how pathetic is it that you have to abandon something as simple as extra point attempts? Simply inexcusable.
6. The broadcast team was absolutely horrible. Mike Patrick is normally very good, but there were too many errors to list in this one. Patrick and Ed Cunningham didn't do their homework this week.
7. Texas has one of the nation's best one-two punches at running back in all of college football, but D'Onta Foreman and Chris Warren's inability to stay healthy has to be a major point of frustration for the coaches. Mack Brown used to say he only liked playing guys he knew he could count on to be on the field each and every week. That philosophy makes more and more sense when you look at the situation with UT's top two running backs.
8. Sheroid Evans struggled ... again. Some of the defensive personnel decisions by the coaches continue to baffle me.
9. Where was John Burt in this game? Two catches for 16 yards?
For that matter, what has happened to Collin Johnson? He got some PT in this game but he's pretty much a non-factor in the offense after being a star in the spring and occasionally in fall camp.
10. I have no clue what the hell is going on with Holton Hill, but if he's in the doghouse for poor practice habits, like Vance Bedford alluded to a few weeks ago, he must be the worst practice player in the history of college football.
11. Malcolm Roach was one of the few bright spots for Texas in the game. That guy plays like his hair is on fire and seems to be one of the few players on defense that has any passion.
12. I've been saying this since the UTEP game, but Malik Jefferson has to start making some plays. He's not even coming close to living up to expectations. Going into the fourth quarter, he had 1 tackle and 1 assist. By comparison, through three quarters Anthony Wheeler and Jason Hall had 7 total tackles. Not only was he not making tackles, he missed way too many, including one in the backfield when he had Barry Sanders dead to rights. Jefferson did make a nice third-down tackle in the fourth quarter to force a field goal, but his overall play has been a disappointment this year.
13. I said this in our podcast but it's worth repeating ...
Texas can make personnel changes on defense (they didn't work worth a damn in this one), but there's no magic pill that is suddenly going to turn this defense around. This is clearly a group that is going to struggle all year, regardless of who is on the field and regardless of how much involvement Charlie Strong has.
14. A tight end sighting in the passing game! Congrats to Andrew Beck on the TD reception.
15. That TD at the end of the first half, with just over 30 seconds left on the clock, was a backbreaker. OSU faced a third and long ... no worries ... the Cowboys hit a 51-yard TD with a bunch of missed tackles, including a whiff by Vaccaro and a bad overrun by DeShon Elliott.
16. What a ballsy decision by Michael Dickson on the fake punt pretty deep in Texas' own territory. Of course, Texas couldn't capitalize and had to punt four plays later.
17. What in the world was Buechele looking at on his interception? He stared down the receiver and threw it right to Jordan Sterns. It's almost like he didn't see Sterns standing in the throwing lane, resulting in an easy interception that pretty much put the game away for Oklahoma State.
18. How the hell was that not a flag on Ramon Richards when he tackled Foreman in the end zone after Foreman's long TD run? Ridiculous.
19. On Tuesday, I pointed out the obvious in my 3-2-1 column, saying these next two games could go a long way towards determining Charlie Strong's future at Texas. Well, the first part of the test is over and Texas failed it miserably.
Like I said in that column, I'm not going to call for Strong's head after the Oklahoma State game or the OU game if UT loses them both - I'm not there yet - but I certainly don't have an issue with anyone who feels the last nail has been put in the coffin and it's time for change.
20. Texas' offense should be good enough to keep it in pretty much every game on the schedule, but it's looking like Kansas may be the only guaranteed win at this point. Iowa State in Austin should be a W, but I'm not chalking that one up as a given with the way this defense is playing.
Player of the game: Uggh. Doesn't feel like anyone deserves it after this one. Jason Hall was productive with 8 tackles and 2 sacks, but I'll give the nod to D'Onta Foreman, who finished with 148 yards and 2 TDs before going out of the game with an injury. Foreman's a ridiculously talented runner, but the injuries are going to really hurt his stock if they continue.
Best position group: If we're going purely on performance, the nod has to go to the running backs. Foreman and Chris Warren were both very productive before leaving the game with injuries. The defensive line also deserves some recognition. That group applied quite a bit of pressure on Mason Rudolph, although it really didn't seem to matter since Rudolph still had his way with the Texas defense.
This game was over when ... Oklahoma State intercepted Buechele and returned it to the 1-yard line early in the third quarter. The Cowboys scored a couple plays later to open up an 18-point lead, and realistically there was no way the Texas defense was going to make enough stops to close a three-score advantage.
Best decision: I'm at a loss, for the second game in a row. Feel free to chime in if you've got something.
Head-scratcher: Take your pick. There were quite a few questionable decisions in this one. A couple from the first half that stand out are the decision by Strong to decline a holding penalty on 2nd-and-10, and then taking a delay of game just before attempting a long field goal attempt. But this one takes the cake ... Charlie Strong appeared to be telling his guys to decline an illegal man downfield penalty after OSU completed a pass for a sizeable gain.
What's next?:Texas sits at 2-2 but it feels more like 0-4. Next up, the team will head to Dallas to play an Oklahoma team that is having its own issues this year, but the Sooners will probably sense that there's blood in the water and it feels like Texas could be looking at a 2-3 record after next week.
