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Under pressure, Cowboys thrived
 
By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer
Published: 10/13/2008  2:04 AM
Last Modified: 10/13/2008  3:19 AM

Saturday's conquest of Missouri might be remembered as a turning point for the Oklahoma State program.

Against a quality opponent — an opponent that was unbeaten and ranked No. 3 nationally — OSU had a slim fourth-quarter lead. Mindful that the Tiger offense had been so prolific in previous games, Missouri's crowd of 68,000-plus was ready to celebrate a late touchdown and a come-from-behind victory.

In 2006 and 2007, the Cowboys melted down in similar situations.

On Saturday, OSU made the decisive play — Patrick Lavine intercepted a Chase Daniel pass with 1:41 remaining. The Cowboys secured a 28-23 triumph, and now they are among the hotter stories in college football.

In a span of three weeks, OSU has gone from being unranked to being 21st in the AP poll, and then 17th, and now No. 8.

With a win over Baylor this week, OSU would be 7-0 for only the second time in school history — and for the first time in 63 years.

College football is crazy. OSU may lose three or four times. Then again, does any remaining opponent really seem unbeatable? Texas Tech nearly lost at home to Nebraska. Oklahoma's defense and kickoff-coverage unit were thrashed by Texas. The Longhorns are No. 1, but are they an intimidating, sensationally talented No. 1? No.

Before the season, it seemed difficult for the Cowboys to reach the eight-win mark. Now, with OSU surging to a 6-0 start, and with the defense improving so much since a year ago, an 8-4 regular-season finish would qualify as a disappointment.

The Missouri upset could wind up being a highlight date in a very special season. There will be comparable challenges. There will be more pressurized fourth quarters and the Missouri experience might have been immeasurably beneficial for the Cowboys.

Recalling the postgame locker-room scene at Mizzou, OSU coach Mike Gundy said, "The players were very excited. I think they believed in themselves. But I'm not sure they were really surprised. They had a lot of respect for Missouri, but they had faith in the plan."




Bill Haisten 581-8397
bill.haisten@tulsaworld.com


FOURTH-QUARTER PRESSURE

Before Saturday's 28-23 upset win at Missouri, the Mike Gundy-coached Cowboys had been haunted by fourth-quarter collapses:

Kansas State 31, OSU 27 (Oct. 7, 2006, at Manhattan): During the final four minutes, the Cowboys squandered a 10-point lead.

Texas A&M 34, OSU 33 (Oct. 21, 2006 at Stillwater): The Aggies converted on a fourth-and-13 play, scored a tying TD with three seconds left and won in overtime by blocking OSU's extra-point kick.

Texas A&M 24, OSU 23 (Oct. 6, 2007 at College Station): Cowboys lost after blowing a 17-point, third-quarter cushion.

Texas 38, OSU 35 (Nov. 3, 2007): The Longhorns rallied from a 21-point, fourth-quarter deficit.

By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer

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COMMENTS 
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Carpe Cerevisi, (10/13/2008 8:36:01 AM)
Awesome win, however Patrick shouldn't have had to make that interception. To all of you gundy fans, he about lost the game with that bs prevent the win defense. We were winning the game by pressuring daniel, and get ahead two scores and gundy plays prevent, daniels picks apart the d, and scores easily. Gundy quit being a dumbazz and using the prevent. One other thing, I used to kinda like mizzou, after the cowboys of course, non conference games I pull for the big twelve, conference, OSU and whoever's playing ou. Anyway, mizzou is a bunch of no class cheap shot scumbags, there should have been several more personal fouls on all of the dirty shots they took at Dez. Go Texas beat the dogsnot out of mizzou!!
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Stomp, (10/13/2008 4:27:00 PM)
'bend don't break' should be called 'lose don't win'. I will never understand why you would abandon the scheme that got you into a winning position. But Patrick Levine made it a moot point. Better depth sure helps, but please please, for the love of God, please stop using the 'bend don't break' defense at the end of games...Go Pokes beat Baylor!
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KinFolk, (10/13/2008 8:49:03 PM)
Carpe Cerevisi.....Did you watch the game or follow OK State football? Gundy don't make defensive calls. It was Tim Beckman's decision, and it was a good one. After all, they won. Also, Stomp. The bend don't break should not be called Loose don't win. Why would you say that. Although Mizzou had a 95 yard drive, look at how long it took them to score, considering this is a team that usually score in 2 minutes. If you keep the offense in front of you and you tackle well, you will give up points. You just don't give them up quickly. It makes the game shorter. With our offense, we can score quick as well, but the plan was to keep the clock running and let the time run out on Mizzou. If we were playing as aggressive in the end, someone could have gotten behind the defense and you give up a big play with a lot of time on the clock. Take notice, when Mizzou attempted to play "aggressive" Damien Davis slipped behind them twice for 2 huge open touchdowns. I bet Mizzou wishes they were in a prevent or bend don't break defense! OH, but in Mizzou can't, they didn't have a run game!
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MexiMike, tulsa (10/13/2008 9:03:43 PM)
Carpe, you should be rooting for Mizzou this week, not Texas. In case you have forgotten we are in a huge battle for the Big 12 South. A Texas loss is a VERY good thing for OSU. Also, to know that a team we just beat can go into Austin and win gives us confidence and a game plan for success in how to take down the Longhorns the very next weekend. With that being said, they are EXTREMELY dirty players and if this were the NFL, at least 2 of their guys would have been suspended and fined for what they did to Dez.
 

 
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