AUSTIN (KXAN) — It took two overtime periods for Oklahoma State, but the Cowboys upended BYU 40-34 Saturday and will face the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 Conference championship game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Oklahoma State trailed BYU 24-6 at halftime but rallied to outscore the Cougars 34-10 in the second half and overtime to clinch a spot against the Longhorns. Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II ran all over BYU for 166 yards and five touchdowns.
Due to an unbalanced Big 12 schedule with the addition of four teams, BYU is one of them, Texas and Oklahoma State didn’t play each other during the regular season. The Cowboys earned the second spot in the title game via a tiebreaker, the Bedlam win over rival Oklahoma 27-24 on Nov. 4. Both the Cowboys and Sooners finished the Big 12 season 7-2 while Texas was 8-1. Oklahoma beat TCU 69-45 on Friday before Texas clobbered Texas Tech 57-7.
The Longhorns put its tiebreaker scenarios to rest quickly Friday with their pummeling of the Red Raiders, and the Sooners put pressure on the Cowboys to win after they won a shootout with the Horned Frogs. After scoring a touchdown on their second overtime possession, the Cowboys didn’t convert the required 2-point conversion try to leave the door open for BYU. However, Cowboys defensive back Trey Rucker forced a fumble and then recovered it, ending BYU’s possession and sending his squad to face Texas for the conference title.
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It’ll be the Cowboys’ second Big 12 title game appearance in the past three years. They lost to Baylor 21-16 in the 2021 title game. For Texas, it’ll be its first title game appearance since 2018 when the Longhorns lost 39-27 to Oklahoma.
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