Here is Why OSU Lost to Texas

Oklahoma State took its first loss of the season on Saturday, 41-34 to Texas, despite out-passing the Horns, out-rushing the Horns, out-defending the Horns and winning virtually every meaningful metric over the Horns by a comfortable margin.

Except the turnovers.

The Pokes lost three fumbles on the day to Texas’ zero, and had one INT to Texas’ zero. That, combined with some serious special teams miscues, was the difference in the game.

But to really dig in, here are the reasons OSU lost — ranked.

1. Turnovers: In our pregame predictions piece this week, our staff all agreed on one thing: OSU must win the turnover battle to win this game. Mistakes needed to be limited if not excised entirely. Instead, Spencer Sanders lost both his fumbles, LD Brown lost a fumble, and Sanders threw a costly INT early in the game to set Texas up with great field position. As a result, Texas scored a total of 18 points off turnovers. It was the difference in the game.

2. The flubbed Dillon Stoner catch reversal: In the pantheon of wow, the officials completely botched that and it happened to go against OSU, the Dillon Stoner catch reversal has to be up near the top, right? I just … how do you call this a catch and then decide, you know what, nah? How? It was a back-breaker that cost OSU the possession — it would have given OSU a first down — and forced them to punt.

3. Special teams miscues: The roughing the punter penalty is probably just ahead of the kickoff return TD allowed in this category. But both were big woof. The stuff of Halloween nightmares. (To be frank, however, I think the roughing the punter penalty was super soft.) Regardless, it cost OSU’s defense a stop — and Texas was able to extend the possession and wound up scoring. As for the kick return … sometimes ya gotta tip your cap. (Though that doesn’t make it any less costly.)