The Daily Texan Double Coverage 2020-10-30

T H E D A I LY TEXAN PRESENTS

Double Coverage VOL. 15 ISSUE 6 | Oct. 30, 2020

LEADINGTHE

CHARGE

The Longhorns will try to buck the Cowboys off their high horse. joshua guenther

/ the daily texan file

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4

DOUBLE COVERAGE

TEXAN

overall standings

STAFF PICKS

1.

Myah Taylor

Stephen Wagner

Nathan Han

Carter Yates

Brittany Archer

Matthew Boncosky

Daniela Perez

Brett Hintz

Texas @ No. 6 Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State

Texas

No. 3 Ohio State @ No. 18 Penn State

Ohio State

Ohio State

Ohio State

Ohio State

Ohio State

Ohio State

Ohio State

Ohio State

Ohio State

Arkansas @ No. 8 Texas A&M

Texas A&M

Texas A&M

Texas A&M

Texas A&M

Arkansas

Texas A&M

Texas A&M

Arkansas

Texas A&M

Michigan State @ No. 13 Michigan

Michigan

Michigan

Michigan

Michigan

Michigan

Michigan

Michigan

Michigan

Michigan

LSU @ Auburn

LSU

LSU

Auburn

LSU

Auburn

Auburn

LSU

LSU

Auburn

No. 16 Kansas State @ West Virginia

Kansas State

West Virginia

West Virginia

Kansas State

Kansas State

West Virginia

West Virginia

Kansas State

Kansas State

TCU @ Baylor

Baylor

TCU

TCU

Baylor

Baylor

Baylor

Baylor

TCU

TCU

Northwestern @ Iowa

Northwestern

Iowa

Iowa

Iowa

Iowa

Iowa

Iowa

Iowa

Iowa

Navy @ No. 22 SMU

SMU

SMU

SMU

SMU

SMU

SMU

SMU

SMU

SMU

Week 8 Results Overall Record

7-3 29-19

6-4 28-20

6-4 27-21

7-3 30-18

7-3 28-20

5-5 25-23

5-5 29-19

5-5 27-21

7-3 28-20

DOUBLE COVERAGE Double Coverage Editors Myah Taylor, Stephen Wagner Design Editor

Christina Peebles

Photo Editor

Jack Myer

Copy Editor

Brittany Miller

Jack Myer

EDITOR’S NOTE Another week, another opportunity for the Longhorns to thrust themselves back into the Big 12 title chase. The fifth-place Longhorns sit two games behind the red-hot Cowboys and have an opportunity to turn their season around in Stillwater. But Texas hasn’t won in Boone Pickens Stadium since 2014, and this year’s Oklahoma State team won’t make the challenge any easier.

Myah Taylor & Stephen Wagner

Writers Nathan Han

Matthew Boncosky

Carter Yates

Daniela Perez

Brittany Archer

Brett Hintz

Issue Designers Minka Atkinson Associate Managing Editors Trinady Joslin, Jason Lihuang

Isabella Waltz

Carter Yates

T-2. Myah Taylor, T-4. Daniela Perez

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T-4. Stephen Wagner T-4. Brittany Archer T-4. Jack Myer T-7. Brett Hintz T-4. Nathan Han 9.

Matthew Boncosky

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5

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020

GAMEsTO WATCH

By Brittany Archer

|

@brittanyarcher_

No. 13 Michigan State at MichigaN

Arkansas at No. 8 Texas A&M

Oct. 31, 11 a.m. CT, FOX

Oct. 31, 6:30 p.m. CT, SEC Network

Jim Harbaugh and his khakis are hoping to keep the Paul Bunyan Trophy in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines are looking to capitalize on their win against Minnesota and Michigan State’s loss against Rutgers to assume command of the Big Ten. But if Harbaugh is to defeat his in-state rival, he needs to utilize his running back talent against Michigan State’s revamped offense.

While No. 8 Texas A&M enters Saturday’s game as the heavy favorite, the Aggies should expect a fight with Arkansas. Arkansas has been one of college football’s biggest surprises this season. The Razorbacks entered the season with a 20-game SEC losing streak but snapped that streak with a win against Mississippi State in Week 2. While the Razorbacks have strong momentum heading into the game, they are entering uncharted territory. Normally, this game is played at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the game was moved to Kyle Field. The Aggies have won every matchup since joining the SEC in 2012, but maybe the Razorbacks can snap this streak as well.

Texas at No. 6 Oklahoma State Oct. 31, 3 p.m. CT, FOX After getting back on track with a win against Baylor, the Longhorns travel to Stillwater to face the No. 6 Oklahoma State Cowboys. The last time Texas made the trip to OSU, Texas head coach Tom Herman and Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy nearly fist fought at midfield. Will Tom Herman and Mike Gundy throw hands this year, or will emotions be tamed?

No. 3 Ohio State at No. 18 Penn State Oct. 31, 6:30 p.m. CT, ABC Penn State is fresh off an upset overtime loss to the Indiana Hoosiers. This weekend, the Nittany Lions play host to the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes. In order to pull off the upset, the Nittany Lions defense must curb Ohio State’s explosive offense and Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Justin Fields. Ironically, Fields first committed to Penn State out of high school before decommitting to attend Georgia.

Begin Your Journey Whether you are a star on the field or a star in the classroom, start thinking

Memphis at No. 7 Cincinnati Oct. 31, 11 a.m. CT, ESPN In a rematch of last year’s American Athletic Conference Championship Game, the 4–0 Bearcats will continue their dark horse run into the College Football Playoff and host the Memphis Tigers. While the Bearcats come into the game with a better record, the Tigers have something to prove. Due to scheduling issues with FC Cincinnati at Nippert Stadium, UC has denied Memphis the opportunity to hold their walk-through and Victory Walk at the stadium. Will the Tigers use this snub to get the upset, or will the Bearcats continue to make their case for the College Football Playoff?

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6

DOUBLE COVERAGE

joshua guenther

/ the daily texan file

7

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020

RUNNING BACK University

Keaontay Ingram is moving past his mistakes to lead the Texas running backs.

By Myah Taylor @t_myah

N

o one in the Texas locker room pointed fingers at Keaontay Ingram, even though the optics could have made him an easy target.

Down 33-29 with under three minutes to go in their game against TCU on Oct. 3, the Longhorns were inching toward victory.

Then, Ingram fumbled the football at the Horned Frogs 1-yard line. It was a bitter end for Texas, which had been plagued by penalties and missteps all afternoon.

The junior running back fumbled the football again in Texas’ loss to Oklahoma the next week.

Ingram said he’s disappointed when he doesn’t meet his standards, but he’s chosen to give himself grace.

“I make mistakes just like any other back in the country,” Ingram said. “I don’t feel like I lost any confidence.”

His teammates haven’t lost faith either. Senior quarterback

Sam Ehlinger said after the loss to TCU that Ingram did not lose the game for the team. He reminded the running back that the outcomes of football games aren’t life or death.

Ingram found redemption against the Sooners, despite his early fumble. He caught Ehlinger’s 2-yard touchdown pass that sent the game to overtime.

“Keaontay is a heck of a player, and we all love him to death,” Ehlinger said after the loss to OU. “To call his number there at the end, shows all the trust that we have.”

Football is not the be-all-endall, but Ingram is still committed to improving. It’s something he wants to do for his brothers in the locker room who still believe in him.

“When I made those mistakes, I thought about those guys and took them into consideration and thought that I needed to ... get back to the fundamentals just a little bit harder,” Ingram said.

Last year, Ingram was a key contributor at running back, as the position group was ravaged by injuries. He has more help this season in sophomore Roschon Johnson

and freshman Bijan Robinson.

Ingram and Robinson’s combined 28 carries tallied over 100 yards rushing against Baylor last Saturday. While Ingram said being on the sideline more this season makes it harder to get into a rhythm, the running backs are able to support each other as they alternate reps.

“

I make mistakes just like any other back in the country.

I don’t feel like I lost any confidence.”

KEAONTAY INGRAM junior running back

The rotation at the position is something head coach Tom Herman has implemented, not only to improve the Longhorns’ running game, but to prevent one player from becoming a workhorse.

“When you got a bunch of

guys that have earned the right to play and nobody has separated themselves from one another, … then I think the prudent thing to do is to keep everybody fresh,” Herman said.

Texas’ running backs, who have rushed for a combined 510 yards this season, will watch a master at work in redshirt junior Chuba Hubbard when they head up to Stillwater on Saturday.

Hubbard has put up video game numbers for Oklahoma State this season with a total of 478 rushing yards through four games.

But the Cowboys’ Hubbard is for the Texas defense to worry about. The Oklahoma State defense on the other hand will try to limit the Longhorns’ ground game and maybe force a few fumbles.

Ingram is not dwelling on the past, but he knows what it will take to be successful this weekend.

“They’re pretty well disciplined on defense so we’re going to have to tighten up fundamentals,” Ingram said. “We’re going to have to be real disciplined, and we’re going to have to execute.”

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DOUBLE COVERAGE

DANIELA’S DIGS

Tom Herman will not be leaving the Forty Acres anytime soon.

By Daniela Perez @danielap3rez

erman is back in the hot seat.

U n h a p p y Texas fans have started setting their sights on prospective new head coaches who could replace fourth-year head coach Tom Herman. Dissatisfaction with a head coach is common in collegiate sports, and it’s nothing new on the Forty Acres. It’s easy to give in to this sort of chatter, especially when Texas Football is 3–2 with a budget close to $156.9 million, according to an audit

by CPA firm Maxwell Locke & Ritter. Championships are always the expectation on the Forty Acres, and with one Big 12 Championship appearance in three years, the agitation is normal.

Still, it wouldn’t be practical for Texas to part ways with Herman. The pandemic has presented the athletic department with a more pressing set of challenges that would make his departure this year extremely unlikely — not to mention some of the success seen on the field and the multimillion dollar contract extension in 2019.

The COVID-19 era has stripped the University of its ability to make this drastic change. On Sept. 1, Texas Athletics laid off 35 employees and

joshua guenther

eliminated 35 vacant positions.

Coaches and employees took pay cuts left and right, and furloughs became the new norm.

Herman, who would have earned $6 million this year, took a $900,000 salary reduction. Herman’s buyout is north of $15 million dollars, according to USA Today Sports.

Is it worth it to make this change when the University is expected to lose millions in revenue? The short answer: no.

Athletics Director Chris Del Conte has been adamant about creating a family-like atmosphere in his department.

Del Conte kept this in mind when he extended Herman’s contract, which keeps him on

the Forty Acres until 2023. It was a testament to the faith the athletic department has in the coach. The animosity and outrage that existed during the Charlie Strong era are not comparable to the criticism in the Herman era.

But fans have grown accustomed to short-term head coach stints since the departure of Mack Brown in 2013. The Strong era was a short-lived, but painful time for fans that ended in a 16–21 record and one bowl appearance.

Assessing the success of the Herman era is tricky. The 2017 season felt like a rebuilding year, while 2018 was capped with a Big 12 Championship

appearance and a Sugar Bowl win against Georgia. Then came 2019, when high fan and institutional expectations were met with rude awakenings — like an atrocious 50-48 win over Kansas that tumbled into an 8–5 final record. Firing former defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and offensive coordinator Tim Beck after last season brought much-needed life back into Texas. Fans reaped the benefits of Orlando’s replacement soon after when the Longhorns mangled Utah, an 11–2 college playoff contender banished to the Valero Alamo Bowl, in a 38–10 win. Herman improved to 3–0 in bowl appearances, a feat that has not been accomplished

since 2004, when Brown went on a five-bowl-game win streak that included a national championship win.

Under Herman’s leadership, defensive coordinator Chris Ash has mostly brought success with a new-and-improved defensive scheme, and Mike Yurcich’s offense has put up 225 points against opponents this season and continues to highlight senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s grit. Against Baylor on Saturday, a more focused zone defense missed fewer tackles and left little space for routes in the middle.

It’s far from over for Herman in Texas. An Oklahoma State

/ the daily texan file

victory this weekend could solidify Herman’s status and stop these rumblings.

Del Conte made it clear in June 2019 that continuity is most important for Texas to get back on track for a national championship.

“We know that we are on an upward trajectory,” Del Conte said to The Dallas Morning News. “I wanted to show him, our coaching staff and the Longhorn nation that we’re putting the pieces back in place to get ourselves in a position to compete for championships.

Part of it is continuity. That continuity is not only verbiage, but in statement. We wanted to make that statement.”

9

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020

Texas defenses in the past. The Vegas line is set at over-under 58.5 points.

But, in this budding rivalry, nothing is predictable. Yurcich learned this in 2017.

GAME TO REMEMBER:

By Nathan Han

In his six years as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State from 2013-2018, Mike Yurcich’s Cowboys went 5–1 against the Longhorns, putting up totals of 30, 38 and 49 in three different games.

The five wins from 2013-2018 account for more than half of Oklahoma State’s all-time wins against the Longhorns, who lead the series 25–9.

The only Cowboy wins not from the past decade came in 1944 and 1997.

Yurcich will try to keep it that way this Saturday, as the play-caller joined head coach Tom Herman’s staff this season.

“I had always admired (Yurcich’s) offenses at Oklahoma State,” Herman said in a Monday teleconference. “We talked ball before I even got in the Big

|

@NathanHan13

12. Our paths had crossed casually, and we’d talk ball.”

In its past decade of success against Texas, Oklahoma State hasn’t struggled to put points on the board, averaging 31.2 points across 10 games.

Yurcich’s high-powered offense led six of those games.

His offense in 2017 set the Cowboys’ school record, averaging 577 yards per game. But the 2017 matchup between the Cowboys and Longhorns was a gutsy, 13-10 overtime win for Oklahoma State. Texas limited one of the top offenses in the country but failed to score on its own end.

So history tells us Saturday could be a shootout with an Oklahoma State offense that has so often burned

While Texas appeared dominant over Oklahoma State in the 2000s, the game scores could be slightly misleading.

In 2003, the Cowboys led the Longhorns 16-7 in the second quarter before losing 55-16. Oklahoma State had a 35-7 first-half lead over Texas in its 2004 matchup before losing 5635. Then, in 2005, the Cowboys led 28-9 before losing 47-28.

The Longhorns pulled off arguably the greatest of their four comebacks against the Cowboys in 2007.

Texas fell behind 21-0 in the first minute of the second quarter and trailed 35-14 in the fourth quarter before then-junior running back Jamaal Charles put his mark on the game.

Charles, who would end the game with 180 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns, scored on an 18yard touchdown run to make the

score 35-21.

Then, on his next rushing attempt on Texas’s next drive, Charles took the rock 75 yards to the house to bring the Longhorns within striking distance at 35-28.

Then-sophomore quarterback Colt McCoy threw a 60-yard pass to then-sophomore wide receiver Jordan Shipley to set up another touchdown on the next drive, evening the score at 35-35.

“The last nine minutes of the game, (McCoy) never blinked,” thenhead coach Mack Brown said to the Associated Press.

It seemed like the Cowboys would manage to get the last shot and eke out a win when Oklahoma State lined up for a 32-yard field goal with only one minute and 13 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. But then-senior kicker Jason Ricks missed, and the duo of McCoy and Charles took the Longhorns back down the field to set up a 40-yard field goal try for then-sophomore kicker Ryan Bailey.

Unlike Ricks, Bailey put the ball through the uprights under pressure and capped off a great Texas comeback.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING: Sept. 21, 2019 University of Texas at Austin vs. Oklahoma State University, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, 36-30

Oct. 27, 2018 University of Texas at Austin @ Oklahoma University, Boone Pickens Stadium, 35-38

Oct. 21, 2017 University of Texas at Austin vs. Oklahoma State University, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, 10-13

Oct. 1, 2016 University of Texas at Austin @ Oklahoma University, Boone Pickens Stadium, 31-49

Sept. 26, 2015 University of Texas at Austin vs. Oklahoma State University, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, 27-30

10

DOUBLE COVERAGE

BIG 12

5. TEXAS LONGHORNS

By Matthew Boncosky

|

@mboncosky

POWER RANKINGS

1. Oklahoma state cowboys Oklahoma State survived its first big test of the season last week, beating Iowa State 24-21. The No. 6 Cowboys look every bit like a top-10 team with an offense that is putting up 420 yards a game and a defense that is allowing just over 300.

Junior running back Chuba Hubbard continued his strong season with his third straight 100-yard game last week. A win against Texas would put Oklahoma State firmly in the driver’s seat of the Big 12.

Texas snapped its two-game losing streak with a 27-16 win over Baylor last week. The Longhorns controlled the game for the most part, but they didn’t look amazing either. There were still some boneheaded errors in the second half that allowed Baylor to make it somewhat interesting. A huge matchup at No. 6 Oklahoma State looms this week.

6. WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS Here’s where the rankings start to become a bit of a mess.

West Virginia lost to Texas Tech last week, though much of that can be attributed to a Texas Tech scoop and score in the fourth quarter that West Virginia couldn’t overcome.

The Mountaineers sit at 2–2 in Big 12 play heading into an intriguing matchup with No. 16 Kansas State.

7. baylor bears

2. Iowa state cyclones Iowa State played well in its close loss to Oklahoma State last week. Sophomore running back Breece Hall ran through a solid Cowboys defense to the tune of 185 yards. Although the loss caused the Cyclones to slip in the AP Top 25, they should get back on track against Kansas this week.

3. KANSAS STATE WILDCATS

Just three games into Baylor’s season, it’s still hard to know exactly how the Bears will fare this year. They sit at 1–2 with a win over Kansas and losses to West Virginia and Texas.

First-year head coach Dave Aranda remains unproven and has yet to establish a decent running game. Baylor hosts a struggling TCU squad this week in a game that could serve as a confidence boost.

8. TCU HORNED FROGS

Kansas State moved to 4–0 in the Big 12 after its drubbing of Kansas last week. However, the Wildcats will only go as far as freshman quarterback Will Howard can take them. Starter redshirt senior Skylar Thompson is out for the rest of the season after suffering an upper body injury in early October against Texas Tech. Kansas State travels to West Virginia this week.

TCU sits at 1–3 following its loss to Oklahoma last week, with its lone win coming against Texas. The Horned Frogs defense is giving up 400 yards a game, and their offense has struggled outside of sophomore quarterback Max Duggan.

TCU will look to right the ship this week against Baylor.

4. Oklahoma Sooners

9. texas tech red raiders

Despite the rough start to their season, the Sooners appear to be rounding into shape. Oklahoma has won two straight games after beating TCU last week. Look for that to continue this week when Oklahoma travels to Texas Tech. Redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler continues to improve as well with over 1,500 yards of passing on the season.

Texas Tech got a nice win over West Virginia last week, but that remains the only bright spot on its season so far. Texas Tech has to rely on its offense since its defense is giving up 37 points a game. A brutal matchup against an Oklahoma offense that’s stepping up their game awaits the Red Raiders this week.

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10. kansas jayhawks Kansas was humiliated by Kansas State last week, losing 55-14. The Jayhawks remain winless, and there doesn’t appear to be much on their horizon. Kansas faces No. 23 Iowa State this week, No. 24 Oklahoma next week and Texas in mid-November.

11

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020

NOTES FROM THE OPPONENT

By Stephen Wagner @stephenwag22

The Daily Texan spoke with Sudeep Tumma, sports editor of Oklahoma State’s student newspaper The O’Colly, ahead of Saturday’s matchup between the Longhorns and the No. 6 Cowboys.

The Daily Texan: Last week

was the closest thing Oklahoma State has had to a statement victory in their win against a

very good Iowa State team.

Now that this undefeated team is well into the season, do you feel like they’re gaining momentum?

Sudeep Tumma: They were definitely doing well from the very beginning. The first game against Tulsa was a little edgy with a bunch of injuries, (redshirt sophomore quarterback) Spencer Sanders went out early, two offensive linemen went

NOTES ON THE

By Brett Hintz @BHintzUT

Quite a bit has changed for the Longhorns since their 41-38 victory over USC in the national championship 15 years ago.

Since Vince Young capped off one of the best college football games ever with an iconic scramble into the USC end zone, Texas has endured its fair share of turnover.

The program has seen eight new quarterbacks start games, along with the hiring of two separate coaching staffs.

In the midst of all the turnover, one thing has remained the same since 2005: Mike Gundy is still the head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

A lot has changed for Gundy and the Cowboys since his infamous “I’m a man! I’m 40!” tirade back in 2007 — perhaps most interestingly Gundy’s haircut — but his credibility as the Oklahoma State head coach has remained largely unquestioned throughout his tenure.

At least part of Gundy’s growing legend among fans can be attributed to the amount of time he’s spent in Stillwater. The 53-year-old head coach has spent over half of his life as an Oklahoma State Cowboy in some capacity, beginning in 1986 when he took over as the starting quarterback

out early. But I think with the defense and how they were playing in the very beginning, there was a sense of, “This looks like a really good team.” I think this game against Iowa State really solidified “OK, this looks like a real contender.” For so long you would see their ranking in the top 10, and it was like, “That team’s top 10?”

DT: After the photo surfaced of head coach Mike Gundy

COACH

for the team midway through his freshman year.

Sharing a backfield with two NFL Hall of Fame running backs Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders, Gundy threw for 7,997 yards and 54 touchdowns throughout his career, leading the Cowboys to two 10-win seasons along with wins in the Holiday Bowl and Sun Bowl.

He joined the Oklahoma State coaching staff immediately following his playing career in 1990 and didn’t waste time ascending the coaching ladder. After only five years on the staff, Gundy became the offensive coordinator in 1994, when he was 27 years old.

The coach then moved on to work as the passing game coordinator at Baylor and Maryland for the

next few years before rejoining Oklahoma State as offensive coordinator in 2001.

Oklahoma State quickly named Gundy as head coach after Les Miles’ departure for LSU in 2005, and he has since led the Cowboys to realms of sustained success that had not been seen prior to his arrival.

Gundy’s accolades as head coach are seemingly endless.

Perhaps most impressively, his Oklahoma State Cowboys were one of only 10 teams across college football to post a winning season every year from 2010-2019 — all the more impressive considering Gundy didn’t exactly inherit a perennial winner when he took over in 2005.

copyright osu athletics, and reproduced with permission

wearing a One America News Network T-shirt at a fishing trip over the summer, redshirt junior running back Chuba Hubbard and several players threatened to boycott. Has the team more or less recovered from that?

ST: For a good while, it seemed like things teetered on the line of Mike Gundy getting legitimately fired. Because you not only consider all the things that were happening over the summer, but you combine that with the fact that Mike Gundy hasn’t been doing that great. You see the record against OU, you see the lack of Big 12 Championships. The one thing that kind of kept him was he’s been the best coach that OSU has ever had. It just felt so weird. But I think things really calmed down

a few weeks after that when athletic director Mike Holder and (deputy) AD Chad Weiberg released the results of their investigation. They investigated the team to see if there was an issue of race, and all they found was Mike Gundy didn’t have strong enough relationships with his players. I think everything really calmed down. It almost came to a screeching halt … .

DT: Despite being at home, the Cowboys are just 3-point favorites. Are you surprised at this?

ST: I saw that too, and I was like “Oh wow,” but I guess we can kind of put it together. Home field advantage in college football is not the same home-field advantage it usually is, and I think Texas is a little better. It

definitely played better last week, and (Texas) has Sam Ehlinger.

That’s a very, very, very important talent for any team. And the way OSU is, traditionally it’s been a high-flying explosive offense, whoever gets the ball last is going to win. But this year is so different, because right now OSU has the (second-best) defense (in the Big 12), and I don’t think that’s a fluke at all. You look at the talent on this team from top to bottom, each and every position, secondary, linebackers, defensive line, they’re two-deep at every position. That’s something Mike Gundy has never had, even when he’s had good defenses. This defense is just at another level, which is why I anticipate it being a close game against a team I think is getting better in Texas. I can understand three points.

OSU’s current streak of 14 straight bowl games being the best in the program’s history further cements his history of prolonged success and is even more staggering when considering that the Cowboys had only made 16 bowl appearances in their 92-year history prior to Gundy.

Although he has led Oklahoma State to extreme success on the field as the Cowboys

head coach, Gundy has also been involved in a good amount of controversy throughout his tenure.

Whether it’s the “I’m a man!

I’m 40!” fiasco mentioned earlier, the extensive Sports Illustrated report that levied several allegations of boosters and coaches paying players under the table, or most recently, when the head coach

issued an apology after being seen in a One America News Network T-shirt, Gundy has seemingly grown a knack for attracting negative media attention throughout his time in Stillwater.

Despite that, Gundy and the Cowboys currently sit second in the Big 12 at 4–0 and will look to remain undefeated when they take on the Longhorns on Saturday.

12

DOUBLE COVERAGE

OPPONENTS TO WATCH

By Carter Yates @Carter_Yates16

Fresh off snapping a two-game losing streak last weekend, the Longhorns will face their toughest test of the season when they travel to Stillwater to face off against No. 6 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are 4–0 on the

season and are second in the Big 12 standings.

A win for Texas would mark a signature performance for head coach Tom Herman and may even buy him some more job security. A loss will lead to increased grumbling among a Texas fan base that is impatient with the team’s progress.

Here are four Cowboys to watch for Saturday:

No. 30 Chuba Hubbard — Running Back

One word comes to mind when describing redshirt junior Chuba Hubbard: dynamic. The reigning 2019 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year has picked up right where he left off last season, averaging just under 120 rushing yards per game along with picking up five touchdowns on the season.

Hubbard was projected to be a 2020 NFL Draft pick last season, but he chose to stay at Oklahoma State for a chance to win the Big 12 title.

The Canadian running back is not much of a receiving threat out of the backfield, but he is the undisputed workhorse for the Cowboys offense. The Texas defense only gave up 64 rushing yards to Baylor last weekend, but the Longhorns will have their hands full trying to contain Hubbard.

No. 2 Tylan Wallace — Wide Receiver A 6-foot, 190-pound speedster, Tylan Wallace is one of the mostfeared receivers in the country because of his ability to take the top off a defense. The leading receiver for the Oklahoma State offense, Wallace is averaging 16.7 yards per catch. Last season, the senior out of Fort Worth, Texas, was named a second team All-Big 12 performer despite missing half of conference play with an injury.

The scariest aspect of Wallace’s game is that he is always one play away from blowing open a football game. Herman and the Longhorns found out this the hard way in 2018 when Wallace exploded for 222 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Look for Texas to shadow Wallace throughout the game with over-the-top safety help to ensure he doesn’t get behind the defense.

No. 31 Kolby Harvell-Peel — Safety

No. 3 Tre Sterling — Safety Tre Sterling, the other half of one of the top safety tandems in the Big 12, is no longer in the shadows of fellow defensive back Harvell-Peel. The safety out of Sunnyvale, Texas, is leading the Cowboys defense in tackles with 28. While he hasn’t registered an interception this year, Sterling has found ways to impact the run and pass games. He is a big reason that Oklahoma State is the No. 2 defense in the Big 12 so far in the early season. The Cowboys as a team, however, have not yet faced a team built like the Longhorns yet, who are the No. 2 offense in the Big 12.

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A 2019 first team All-Big 12 performer, Kolby Harvell-Peel is the defensive leader for an Oklahoma State defense that is giving up 12 points per game. The safety out of College Station, Texas, is leading the team in interceptions with two so far this season. He has also broken up two passes. A true junior, Harvell-Peel is a part of one of the top safety tandems in the Big 12 with redshirt junior Tre Sterling. The duo has been integral to the Cowboys holding opponents to 176 passing yards per game through the first four games of the season.

This defense, however, has not yet seen a quarterback as mobile and talented as senior Sam Ehlinger this season.