Photo Attribution: US Presswire
These are from the Miles/Gundy era (the non-dark ages). Speaking of, we need a good name for the last 10 years…maybe it’s just the Gundy era since he was the OC under Miles for a while. Maybe it’s the “we score more every week than we did every season in the 90s” era. I don’t know but I’m willing to take suggestions.
I know this is going to be difficult for some of you to swallow but sometimes I like (and appreciate) great OSU games that result in losses more than I do the wins.
That’s crazy, I know, but if you’re Andy Roddick that ’09 Wimbledon final has to be more special than, say, a random Cincinnati Open you won in the mid-2000s, doesn’t it?
There’s this dark beauty to the great ones, the devastating losses, that just isn’t there in the Savannah State games, the Kansas games. Does the 3OT Durant game in GIA mean less if Boggan doesn’t hit the final three. I argue no but I know some of you would disagree.
Anyway, on to my top five1.
5. The 2005 game in Stillwater – When D’Juan caught the play-action pass on 4th and 1 and then the one-handed tipped ball later on for a score you thought magic might happen in Stillwater with #2 in town. But Vince Young happened and they put up 38 straight in a game that wasn’t as close as the 19-point final margin.
4. The 2008 game in Austin – This is one of the underrated games of the Zac era. Kendall Hunter had 19 touches for 191 all-purpose yards and we came within a 50-yard bomb of upending #1 in their house.
3. The 2011 game in Austin – Save the heart-stopping Justin Gilbert kick return this was one of the more dull games of the Weeden/Blackmon era. If you call being the first team to go back-to-back in Austin in consecutive years since the early 1900s “dull.”
2. The 2007 game in Stillwater – This game destroyed me. Zac broke the passing yardage mark with 430 but Texas put up 24 points in the last 12 minutes to sneak out with a 38-35 win. Other than the 2004 Bedlam affair this was the one football loss that really affected me. Mack on Colt afterwards: “the last nine minutes of the game, he never blinked.” Strangely I don’t think I did either.
1. The 2010 game in Austin – The shedding of a 70-year-old gorilla off our collective backs. Blackmon’s personal introduction to the national stage. Mack on Weeds: “[he] was unbelievable. He made some throws tonight very few college quarterbacks can make.”
Here’s to this year’s version topping off this list and giving us our first W against them in Stillwater since 1997 (and second ever!)
- Strangely I attended all five of these games. That’s college I guess… ↩
The 2008 game in Austin was actually my favorite, even above our wins the last two years. We didn’t come home with a win but Hunter’s monster game in DKR was unforgettable as were the Texas fans on the way out of the stadium: “Good game- go beat OU!” 2008 Bedlam turned out to be an even more epic game, with a heartbreaking ending.
It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come from 2005 (my freshman year). Ah, memories.
I remember that 1997 game. It was an early kick-off. I had to work a morning shift and missed the start. I was just walking into Lewis Field as R.W. McQuarters returned a punt for a TD to put us up 21-0. Up to that point, I don’t think I had ever heard an OSU crowd that loud outside of GIA.
My favorite texas game was also the 97 game. Loved the fact that texas won the toss and deffered to the second half and we elected to kick. Rob ryan was our defensive coordinator. They had ricky and our defense basically shut him down
I’m with you on the 2007 game, Kyle. That was probably the worst OSU experience I’ve ever had. I literally wanted to throw up walking out of the stadium that day. I don’t think I said a word to a single soul for the following 24 hours.
Everything was going so well for us that day. Jacob Lacey (who couldn’t cover my grandmother while at OSU) had not 1, not 2, but 3 (THREE!!) picks that day. It felt as if they couldn’t stop our offense at all. And then Gundy made one of the worst decisions he’s ever made as a head coach with 12 mins left… imo.
4th and about 4 or 5 on about Texas’ 38 yard line up 21 Gundy decides to go for it. I was screaming just punt the freaking ball out of the endzone. We run some rinky dink crap end around to Bowman for about a five yard loss. Momentum swing. Within two or three plays Texas was in the endzone and it was a whole new ball game. Sitting through the last ten minutes of that game was literally a living hell.
Yeah, the 2007 game was a heart-breaker….I didn’t make the game, watched it from home. My wife to this day tells everyone she returned home late that evening to find me curled up in my underwear on the bathroom floor whimpering…..I don’t think I spoke to anyone for like 3 days….
I would have to argue that if Boggan had missed the final 3 then that game wouldn’t mean nearly as much but it would still be way more memorable than say another Baylor Blowout in the early 2000′s. I think a big game win can be almost sacred, a close, big game loss can be very special and a blow out can be wholly forgettable, unless marinated with a need for vengeance (looking at your this year Iowa State).
Good post though, I’ve loved the recent Texas v OSU battles, with the exception of the 2010 blowout in Stillwater of course.
I was at the 2004 game at DKR. I had no expectations whatsoever, so if we lost I was not going to be disappointed, but then the team gets my hopes up as they are up 35-7 just hammering UT. Then it all unraveled. As you said on Twitter last night, Texas fans are pretty decent, whether OSU was winning or losing. Usually fans turn ugly when their team starts losing, even if they were nice before (CU is an example of this, when I went to 2008 game there).
The 2007 game was painful. If I actually saw the Iowa State game, I would probably say that was the most painful, but concerning games I watched, it was my least favorite. But that has healed somewhat over the past 2 years.
It bears mentioning that Dan Bailey won the starting kicking job after the 2007 Texas game.
I was a student on campus from fall 92-fall 96. Borrowing a title from the cultic TV show, I have a good term for the era between ’90-2000… The Wonder Years
Wonder what it would be like to be OU or Nebraska? We are getting a glimpse now
Wonder if these 2-3 nonconference wins over midmajors makes us an average team? No
Wonder if I will ever get to go to a bowl as a college student? I was done before ’97
Wonder when basketball season starts? (Byron, Bryant, Brooks, Randy, Eddie, those were the days)
Wonder how many will be in the stands for the last game of the season? maybe 12-15k,…maybe
Wonder if we will always be a “young team”? Always were.
Wonder when they will fire Jones? They let him go the first day of Christmas break 1994 to avoid the jubilant riots in the streets by the student body.
Aah The Wonder Years…