The No.20 Texas Longhorns’ possible path to a Big 12 Championship game appearance will likely require a road win this Saturday against No.11 Oklahoma State.
Texas (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) enters the game riding a three-game win streak, while Oklahoma State (5-1, 2-1) could be wounded following a tough loss to TCU.
Nevertheless, Texas will have to overcome a raucous Cowboys’ sold-out homecoming crowd against the highest-ranked conference opponent they have faced so far this year.
Winning on the road has been difficult for the Longhorns under second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian. Texas is 1-5 in true road games under Sarkisian, including a blown 14-point lead at Lubbock this season in an overtime loss to Texas Tech.
The Longhorns have lost four straight on the road, their last win away from home coming at TCU in 2021. However, Texas did trounce arch-rival Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas this season.
“I don’t want to continue to keep losing away games,” said Longhorns running back Bijan Robinson, who leads the Big 12 in rushing at 111.4 yards per game. “It’s a tough feeling, and we need to go out anywhere we go and just execute and not worry about the external factors, the crowd, the hype behind anything.”
“We just need to go over there and just focus on us and go deliver a great performance,” he said.
Despite Texas’ road woes, it is the betting favorite against Oklahoma State, likely because of the uncertain status of Cowboys starting quarterback Spencer Sanders.
While Sanders did play against TCU last weekend, he has been dealing with a shoulder injury and did not look his usual self against the Horned Frogs, missing some throws he typically would have made, including a critical one late in the game.
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy declined to answer any questions on player injuries this week.
Even with the starting quarterback not being 100% healthy, the Cowboys still scored 81 points combined in its last two games against Texas Tech and TCU.
The Oklahoma State offense will hope Sanders is healthy and on the mark, as it would like to take shots against a Texas secondary that has allowed 250 passing yards or more in four of its last five games.
On the other side of the ball, the Longhorns offense will look to exploit a Cowboys defense that has allowed 1,037 yards and 74 points against Texas Tech and TCU.
With starting quarterback Quinn Ewers back healthy and Robinson almost guaranteed to surpass 100 yards rushing each game, Sarkisian sees a team better equipped to handle adversity.
He pointed to the gutsy 24-21 win over Iowa State last week as an example of a game Texas might have lost last season.
“It starts with maturity,” Sarkisian said. “Then you can have poise and composure. I think poise and composure is really important on the road. You’re in an environment, the crowd’s not cheering for you, they’re cheering against you.”
“When adversity strikes on the road, that doesn’t have to mean it’s adversity for the next quarter. It can be for that one play and then you’ve got to have the ability to move on to the next. I do think it takes mental intensity,” the coach continued.
The Longhorns have not changed anything about their road routine this season, said Sarkisian, but he still sees signs of change.
“This team has felt different to me from the very beginning and continues to show to me, even when we’re not at our best we have the maturity to kind of settle ourselves down and play good enough to win,” Sarkisian said.
Still, despite the differences that Sarkisian noted in his team, he was not completely satisfied with Texas’ performance last week. The Longhorns defense struggled to get the Iowa State offense off the field as the Cyclones converted 9-of-15 on third-down attempts and converted its only fourth-down try.
Sarkisian said Texas had “a come to Jesus meeting” on Monday after the Iowa State game.
“We’re going to need to play better than we played Saturday, that’s for sure, to go get this win. I do think that we’ve got the maturity — even this [Monday] morning in our meeting — to have the approach needed throughout the week to ensure that we play better Saturday,” he suggested.
Texas and Oklahoma State will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
