Instant Recap: Cowboys Clinch Spot in Big 12 Championship Game with Double-Overtime Win against BYU

Ollie Gordon ran long enough to get the Cowboys all the way to Arlington.

Oklahoma State came back for the second straight week to beat BYU 40-34 in double overtime on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium to seal its spot in the Big 12 championship game next week in Arlington against Texas. It will be the second time in three years that the Cowboys will compete for a Big 12 title. An OSU loss would have sent OU to the title game for a Red River Rematch.

The Cowboys woke up Saturday in control of their own destiny after the Longhorns beat Texas Tech on Friday night, erasing any erratic tiebreaker that could keep OSU home next week even with a win. It wasn’t until after Trey Rucker ripped the ball from Isaac Rex’s grasps and a confirmed review that anything was for sure, though.

OSU scored 21 unanswered in the second half to take a 27-24 lead with 53 seconds left after trailing 24-6 at halftime. Gordon scored his third touchdown of the game– and assumingly his last– to give his team its first lead of the day. But then BYU scurried down and Will Ferrin nailed a 42-yard field goal as time expired for the Cougars’ only points of the second half.

BYU kept scoring when it got the ball to start overtime with a 6-yard rushing touchdown from quarterback Jake Retzlaff. But Gordon wasn’t done running.

The hole was blocked before Gordon cut back and scored a 3-yard touchdown before Alex Hale’s PAT sent the game to another overtime. It was Gordon again in the second overtime.

And again, Gordon’s path to the end zone and OSU’s path to Arlington seemed closed, but Gordon redirected to score his fifth touchdown of the game– a 2-yard game-winner.

BYU got its chance to answer, and reach six wins and bowl eligibility, but Rucker ripped the ball from Rex to put the ball on the turf then fell on it to officially punch the Cowboys’ ticket to the Big 12 title game.

Gordon started the game tied as the nation’s leading rusher with 1,404 yards and finished it with 166 more yards on 34 carries, averaging 4.9 an attempt, plus four catches for 10 yards. Gordon also joined Barry Sanders as the only Cowboy to rush for five touchdowns in a game. Sanders did it three times.

However, Sanders never won a Big 12 title or Doak Walker Award (which wasn’t given out then), and Gordon has the chance to accomplish both when December starts.

OSU will play Texas for the Big 12 title in the Longhorns’ conference farewell game at 11 a.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium.