Five Takeaways From OSU's 49-31 Win Over Texas

Oklahoma State picked up a huge bounce-back win on Saturday by beating Texas 49-31 in Stillwater. Here are some takeaways from the game: 

Related: Cowboys Take Down Texas In Stillwater For First Time Since 1997

-Mason Rudolph is a pretty good quarterback, wouldn’t you say? The junior brought it his best stuff on Saturday, throwing for 392 yards and three touchdowns while dialing up one response after another. Along with slinging it to his willing and ready receivers, Rudolph made a tough play with his legs in the first half. With the Cowboys trailing 19-16 on the Texas 10-yard line, Rudolph sprinted towards the endzone and dove across for the go-ahead score, but not without getting sandwiched by two Longhorn defenders. He was shaken up a bit on the play, but Rudolph was able to regroup and throw for two more scores before intermission.

-The “Justice Hill Is the Future” breakout tour continued in the Pokes’ win over Texas with the freshman rushing for 137 yards and setting the tone early with a 30-yard touchdown run where he tight roped the left sideline and kept his balance for the first score of the game. After a quiet second quarter, Hill was able to turn it on after halftime and help the Cowboys put the game out of reach for the Longhorns. With Hill’s emergence in the offense, Oklahoma State now has a superb running game to compliment the already pristine passing attack.

-After a tumultuous start to the game, the Cowboys’ defense was able to improve as the game went on. Texas’s dueling quarterback combo of Shane Buechele and Tyrone Swoopes were giving the Pokes’ defense headaches in the first half as the Longhorns totaled 390 yards of offense, but OSU was able to give some defensive resistance in the second half by limiting Texas to only 178 yards after intermission. The main issue for the defense in the first two quarters came down to physicality, with Texas running through arm tackles and dominating the trenches, but defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer found a way to slow down Swoopes on the ground while flustering the true freshman Buechele.

-Oklahoma State managed to block three of UT’s PAT attempts in the first half, which ties an NCAA record dating back to 2004. Not only was it impressive for OSU to get their hands on that many PAT attempts, but it helped cool down the Longhorns’ momentum as well. Vincent Taylor, who was responsible for the first and third block, was able to recover the loose ball after the first batted down ball, but had the presence of mind to pitch the ball back to a faster Tre Flowers, who took it to the house for two points. It’s the little things that win football games, and there’s no doubt those blocks were a factor in how the game played out.

-Huge win not just the football program, but for head coach Mike Gundy as well. In the days leading up to the game there was a lot of talk about Gundy’s rocky relationship with T. Boone Pickens, but a big win over the Longhorns, along with an encouraging Twitter note by Pickens helped calm the storm for now.