There is certainly no love lost between Oklahoma and either of their hated rivals that met in Stillwater Saturday night. So either team winning the game equates to a loss in our book regardless. Never the less, Texas came out with the hard fought 41-36 victory courtesy of a gutsy late drive behind a renewed running game and a couple timely (if fortunate) throws from David Ash.
Texas rode the right arm of Ash for most of the night as the sophomore finished an impressive 30-37 for 304 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
The story of the game, and frankly the theme of the day in the Big 12, was the lack of anything resembling a semblance of defense. Coming into the game, many were touting the Texas defense as one of the best in the country. Well, we can end any of that talk now. They were gashed by Oklahoma State for almost 600 yards and have a disturbing (well, not for us OU fans of course) tendency to miss tackle after tackle.
For Oklahoma State, it's hard to call this one anything other than what it looked like. A choke. They had the lead and the defense they couldn't tell enough people about this offseason and how much they've improved, sure looked like the same old OSU defense.
It's a "big" win for Texas in the sense that even though flawed, Okie State was easily the best team they've played thus far and it was a road win. Next week against West Virginia looks to be an even bigger test when you consider what WVU did today and just how bad the Texas secondary has looked this season.
As for OSU, the Cowboys fall to 2-2 on the season and now head into a bye week before traveling to face a Kansas squad that will surely be the cure for their ills.