STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy could sure use one of those trinkets out of a science-fiction movie that would flash a bright light and erase his memory heading into Saturday’s game against No. 1 Texas.
No team has created more anguish for the seventh-ranked Cowboys (7-0, 3-0 Big 12) in recent years than the Longhorns. It’s not just that Texas has 10 straight wins in the series. It’s the fashion in which those victories have come.
Four of the past five years, the Longhorns have rallied from deficits to rip out the Cowboys’ hearts. None was more wrenching than last year’s 38-35 defeat, which Oklahoma State led by 21 with 12 minutes left before Texas’ largest fourth-quarter comeback in school history.
“I can go back, and games don’t ever leave your memory bank. Whatever side that is of your brain … that records information and data, I’d like to have a way to get some of it out. It never goes away,” Gundy said.
“But there’s not really anything that you do about it. It’s not going to change. I don’t think that it’s much of a factor right now.”
he Texas comebacks have been at least a trend, and seemingly something much more special than that – more like a spell the Longhorns (7-0, 3-0) have cast on their Big 12 South rival.
It started with a modest comeback from a 16-7 first-quarter deficit in 2003 that ended in a 55-16 rout, and it grew from there. In 2004, the Longhorns staged their biggest second-half rally ever to overcome a 35-7 deficit for a 56-35 win in Austin. The following year, Vince Young led the way out of a 19-point hole for a 47-28 Texas victory.
Then it all seemed to be over: Texas led wire-to-wire in a 36-10 defeat of the Cowboys in 2006. But that was before last year’s heroics, completed by Ryan Bailey’s 40-yard field goal as time expired.
“Them coming back on us, it really hurt,” Oklahoma State safety Quinton Moore said.
Gundy has his theories for why the same story line has played out repeatedly in recent years, mainly that Oklahoma State got fatigued because it didn’t have the depth to withstand Texas’ waves of talent.
Longhorns coach Mack Brown said his team was simply better than Oklahoma State in those years. Texas was the higher-ranked team for the first two comebacks, and Oklahoma State wasn’t in the Top 25 for the last two.
ot up on us. We’re talking about an Oklahoma State team that is undefeated and has a chance to win a national championship.”
Of course, Oklahoma State isn’t the only team that’s been victimized. The Longhorns have nine second-half comebacks since 2006.
“It is just ingrained in us from when we arrive here: You just don’t quit here at Texas,” center Chris Hall said. “As long as there’s time on the clock, we have a chance.”
The blame can be spread around for the Cowboys. While the defense has been unable to protect leads, the offense hasn’t helped either.
“We’ve had some success against them on the field of play. We’ve just got to learn to finish and close it out,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer said.
Defensive coordinator Tim Beckman has only been at Oklahoma State for one of the collapses, and he doesn’t intend to relive it with his players before Saturday’s game. What’s done is done.
“We’re trying to create a future here. We’re trying to create a new and positive attitude, especially on defense, so we try to put the past behind us and we try to strive for the future,” Beckman said.
meback.
“I like the way our defense is playing right now, but it’s hard to predict what would happen if you ever get in that situation again,” Gundy said. “I think that we’re a little further along with the team now. We’re more mature, we have a little more depth, we have more continuity and we feel like the players are a little more seasoned in situations like this.
“But again, it’s college football and you never know what’s going to happen.”
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