I probably felt worse during this game being up by a touchdown than I did in the past when we'd be down by 21 to Oklahoma State. It was worse this time because I knew that we were playing well. Strange feeling.
Colt McCoy continues to carry our offense. Our success only requires him to complete about 75% of his passes. No pressure, Colt. I just wish his parents had bought him a Slip 'N Slide as a kid. We need to get him some consistent help in the running game. But OSU, like most teams we've played, have figured out how to stop our running game by just spilling everything to the outside and running it down in pursuit.
Chris Ogbonnaya seemed off. Watching his body language, he just didn't look himself. Vondrell McGee looked much quicker and ran harder. I wish we'd start going with the back who has the hot hand. And I wish Fozzy was completely healed.
Nothing to say about Cosby and Shipley that hasn't already been said. Fuck it. They're both playing brilliantly. I hope Joe Jamail has already drafted a petition to the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility for Shipley.
Our offensive line is really good at pass blocking. Oklahoma State showed us a lot of different looks, but we responded. I thought the Cowboys should have stayed with the pressure up the middle they showed on our first drive. That pressure seems to give McCoy the most trouble.
Defensively we doubled Dez Bryant and also gave Curtis Brown deep help because it was his first start. We rarely had more than six guys in the box so the safeties were late getting over to help in the run game. It showed. We weren't able to stop Oklahoma State running with our nickel package, and they never fell far enough behind where they needed to abandon it. Fortunately there's no one left on the schedule with their balance.
Henry Melton probably had his best game as a Longhorn. Brian Orakpo didn't dominate, but he still finished with six tackles including two for losses. Aaron Lewis played well against the pass. Roy Miller and Lamarr Houston both had quiet days though. Having Brandon Pettigrew at tight end was like having a sixth offensive lineman for the Cowboys. He was able to either block our DEs one on one or help the tackle get an initial push before peeling off to block a linebacker.
This was the worst game our linebackers have played this year, Rod Muckelroy included. Our MLBs spent the entire game either trying to run underneath a block or run blitzing themselves through the wrong gap. Oklahoma State was able to neutralize Sergio Kindle by giving him too much to think about. The best example of this was on the 4th and 7 screen to Bryant. When you can get Kindle to literally run in a circle, he's not going to be that effective.
We have so much young talent in the secondary. Earl Thomas continues to make plays coming up with a forced fumble and pass break up in the end zone. Curtis Brown was exceptional in his first start going against Dez Bryant, the closest thing in the college game to Terrell Owens. Blake Gideon is limited athletically and doesn't have the make up speed of our other defensive backs. But he's smart and aggressive and will bounce back from a subpar game.
This defense never stops hustling though. Watch Sergio Kindle on the fumble recovery. Watch Roy Miller on 1st and 10 with 6:19 left and 3rd and 1 with 4:48 left in the 3rd quarter. The effort is always going to be there.
Three top 10 teams down, one to go. If we can beat Tech, start looking at airfare to Miami.