Texas Football: Longhorns look for road win vs Oklahoma State
No. 6 Texas football hits the road in Week 9 to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in an effort to maintain its hold on the Big 12.
Texas didn’t have the greatest of games against Baylor before going on bye and what team wouldn’t after losing their starting quarterback early on in the game. Shane Buechele took over and won the game and that is all that matters. There were two things that we would’ve gained from that game and that is that Texas’ defense can hold up when faced with adversity and Keontay Ingram is the answer for Texas’ backfield problems.
Sam Ehlinger was throwing earlier in the week and Tom Herman plans to start the sophomore this week against Oklahoma State. I’m sure that Buechele has gotten some reps with the first team at some point this week as a precaution for Sam Ehlinger’s shoulder injury flaring back up. In other news, Keaontay Ingram led the Texas backfield in carries against Baylor two weeks ago and went for 110 yards against the Bears which is one of the better rushing performances from a Texas player not named Sam Ehlinger that we’ve seen in a while.
Oklahoma State’s last time out resulted in an embarrassing loss to a sub-par Kansas State team in which they allowed Alex Barnes to run for 181 yards and four scores on the ground. The Pokes offensively weren’t much better as Taylor Cornelius tossed two interceptions, boasted a 48.5 percent completion percentage, and could not score through the air. Justice Hill only saw 11 carries which is just downright disrespectful for a running back of his caliber. Can the Cowboys get things together against a top ten ranked Longhorns team?
Date: Saturday, October 27, 2018
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: Stillwater, OK
Venue: Boone Pickens Stadium
TV: ABC
Live Stream: ESPN+
Keys to Victory
Texas needs to protect Sam Ehlinger. Ehlinger can run but this game he just needs to take a break with that. Just keep Ehlinger in the pocket or even put him on the move in play action but make it to where he throws the ball away or that he can slide. One wrong hit on Ehlinger and this game becomes an entirely new beast with Buechele at quarterback. Defensively, focus on stopping the run and let Taylor Cornelius make mistakes. Cornelius couldn’t get anything going through the air against a weak Kansas State team and that has to be the same case this week.
Oklahoma State must play efficiently on offense. Kansas State is nowhere near as good as Texas is on defense and held the Pokes to a mere 12 points and even held them under 200 passing yards. Cornelius has to pass for over 60% this week at minimum and, for God sakes, Mike Gundy give Justice Hill the ball. Hill is the most talented player on this offense and he got a total of 13 touches last week. Let Hill do something this week at home or regret it. Defensively, the Cowboys must make the Longhorns win on the ground. Ingram is a good player but he is still very green. LEt Ingram make some freshman mistakes and take advantage of these situations.
Betting Odds
Points Spread: Texas -3
Over/Under: 62.5
Next. CFB Playoff and bowl projections entering Week 9. dark
Prediction
So Texas hasn’t exactly been a dominant force in games where they should dominate teams (look at Tulsa, Kansas State, and Maryland for examples) so this game will end closer than it should. Sam Ehlinger will make some mistakes given that his arm still isn’t at 100 percent but in the end it won’t matter. Texas’ defense overwhelms Taylor Cornelius and Justice Hill finishes with under 20 carries yet again.
Final Score: Texas 28, Oklahoma State 24