Jenni Carlson: Nothing goes to plan for OSU's Zac Robinson in loss to Texas
BY JENNI CARLSON
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38
Published: November 1, 2009
STILLWATER — Zac Robinson congratulated his buddy Colt McCoy, then waited to do the same with the Texas quarterback's coach.
The Oklahoma State quarterback waited out a television interview before finally speaking with Mack Brown. Then with his teammates long gone from the Boone Pickens Stadium turf, Robinson trotted off the field alone.
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A game that held so much promise ended with a thud, a 41-14 loss to Texas. This was a high-stakes contest against a top-caliber opponent. This was a night that OSU needed its stars to shine brightest.
Robinson knew it, too.
"I felt like I would have to play almost a perfect game, run around and make plays," he said.
Robinson needed to be great.
He was anything but.
He played his worst game of the season, throwing four interceptions, two that were returned for touchdowns. He managed only 143 yards passing and 32 yards rushing, a far cry from the eye-popping, head-turning numbers he's posted of late.
To understand how much he struggled, you need only look at two numbers — Robinson's passing yards (143) and the Longhorns' interception return yards (139).
Until late in the fourth quarter, Texas had more yards on interception returns than Robinson had passing.
That's no way to beat the Longhorns.
"The margin of error against a team like this is so small," OSU co-offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer said. "In this type of defense where they put a lot of pressure on you ... we've got to be able to make the plays when we get our opportunities. We didn't come up with those.
"You've got to give them credit, too. They made some plays defensively. Unfortunately when they made them, they ended up either in scores or they were really big. They hurt a lot."
Texas has an outstanding defensive secondary. The Longhorns are fast and quick and athletic. Because of that, they can take chances other defenses can't, jumping a route or breaking on a ball, and oftentimes, they can make plays that offenses don't see coming.
On Robinson's first interception, for example, he saw Dameron Fooks in man coverage.
"This is going to be a first down," he thought when the ball left his hand.
Instead, Curtis Brown broke on the ball, stepping in front of Fooks and intercepting the ball.
He returned it 77 yards for a touchdown.
"The guy just made a great play," Robinson said. "It seemed like they were all over just about everything we had. There were probably times that I should've just taken it and tucked and ran or something."
That became more and more difficult to do the deeper the hole the Cowboys dug for themselves. When they found themselves down 20 points early in the second half, they had to throw the ball.
That only compounded the Cowboys' woes and Robinson's struggles.
"As a quarterback, you start thinking that you need to get it back," he said. "You do start pressing a little bit when you get down like that. You start forcing things."
Robinson and the Cowboys didn't expect to be in such dire straits against the Longhorns.
The way he was playing heading into the game, he had a chance to put his team in a BCS bowl and himself in the Heisman Trophy race. Had Robinson led the Cowboys to an upset of the Longhorns, all sorts of glory would've been within reach.
Like so many things Saturday night, that didn't go as planned for Robinson.
"As a college football player, everyone has bad games," Cowboy tailback Keith Toston said. "Unfortunately, one of his bad games was on a big stage."
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Hook 'Em! Poor Okies! Poor Cowboys!
Things happen, get over it. There are a lot of good things to come if you keep working
Judging by the comments here today by said fans, Jenni Carlson has written an excellent article - well done, ma'am!
You must have missed the embrace of McCoy and Robinson after game,it was clear on TV broadcast,where were you Jenni.
UT according to announcers on TV stated that this UT team was the best team they had seen all year.Personally a matchup between UT and winner of Alabama and Florida at end of season is interesting,UT should play Florida in National Championship this year.
For OSU to lose to Houston and Texas is not necessarily a bad thing,everyone else has not fared so well w them either.
OSU is 6-2 and OU is 5-3 and Houston is 7-1 of course UT is 8-0.
UT should have been in National Title game last year after beating OU heads up and losing on last play of game by a remarkable play by Crabtree of T Tech.
Gundy has done a good job this year keeping the team up after losing to
All-American players in Bryant and Hunter.
What else do you expect a coach to do for goodness sake?
OU is not a lot better than OSU,this wil be a good game for sure,OU is a great program and pride but they are vulnerable this year even though their
defense is terrific,as good as Texas but offense is not.
But if you want the bottom line, you cannot beat Texas when you turn the ball over 5 times. As a matter of fact there are not a lot of teams that you can beat when you turn the ball over 5 times.