(Austin, TX) – It was the biggest game of the season for Oklahoma State, and the biggest game anywhere in the country on Saturday in Austin, and the crowd of 98,500 plus and a national television audience got their money’s worth, as the Cowboys battled the Longhorns down to the final play of the game.
In the end, a desperation pass on the last play of the game was batted down to preserve a 28-24 win for the top ranked Texas Longhorns in Austin.
The Cowboys can look back on a couple of plays that made a huge difference in the contest. The first came during the first quarter with Oklahoma State driving the ball deep into Texas territory. Kendall Hunter had broken away on a run into the Texas secondary and may have been headed to the end zone for a touchdown when the ball was batted away from behind and Texas recovered the fumble to keep the Pokes scoreless. The Longhorns would drive the ball the length of the field to score and make it 14-0.
At halftime, it was Texas 21, OSU 14.
In the second half, as Texas was driving the ball on OSU, Perrish Cox picked off a Colt McCoy pass, at the four yard line, but the interception was nullified by a roughing the passer penalty that gave the Longhorns the ball back with first and goal from the Cowboy four yard line. Texas would go on to score their only touchdown of the second half on that drive.
OSU held Texas out of the end zone on a fourth and goal late in the game and had one more chance to try to tie the game, but despite moving the ball to near midfield in two plays, the Hail Mary pass from Zac Robinson with time expiring fell imcomplete to give Texas the win and preserve their undefeated record. OSU fell to 7-1 with the loss.
Kendall Hunter finished the game with 161 yards on 18 carries. Zac Robinson threw 27 times completing 17 for 199 yards and one touchdown.
Brandon Pettigrew led the Cowboy receiving corps with 8 receptions for 83 yards. Dez Bryant had 6 catches for 74 yards.
Bo Bowling had OSU’s only TD catch, a nine yard reception with 1:15 remaining in the first half.
OSU outscored Texas 10-7 in the second half.
The Cowboys return to Boone Pickens Stadium next Saturday for a 2:30 kickoff against Iowa State. The game will be televised by ABC.
