Why CRFF Hates You: Texas edition

Everything's bigger in Texas. Including the hype, the fourth quarter special teams debacles, and the second-half comebacks. Hating Texas is not a difficult thing to do. It’s as easy as hating Oklahoma or even Baylor.

But Texas is different. Texas is the other orange team in the conference. The shade of burnt orange that is just unappealing to look at. Orange is a great color but not when you burn it. Oklahoma State prides itself on being “America's brightest orange.” Nobody brags about being “America’s burntest orange.” I hate that ugly shade of orange, and I’m ashamed to call it orange. It’s almost as bad as crimson. Well, not really, but it’s still an eyesore.

What is undeniable, however, is the dominance Texas has had over Oklahoma State. Texas is 24-6 over the Cowboys overall, and from 1998-2009, the Longhorns won 12 straight. It’s not quite 85-18-7, but it is enough to garner a generation of hate. It is surprisingly meaningful to beat Texas, even if their program is down. And it really sucks losing to Texas. We’ve seen a decade of painful losses, and most of them have a reoccurring theme.

In 2004, Oklahoma State took a 21-point lead into halftime on the road over No. 6 ranked Texas, only to see the Longhorns score 42 unanswered in the second half to coast to a 56-35 win.

The following year, the Cowboys had undefeated and No. 2 ranked Texas on the ropes, taking a 28-12 lead into halftime. Visions of Vince Young sprinting by a floating Donovan Woods still float through my mind. For the second consecutive year, the Cowboys were held scoreless in the second half, and blew double-digit halftime leads.

Oklahoma State outdid themselves in 2007, and found a way to blow a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter. Oklahoma State was up two scores at halftime. I think you know where I’m going with this. . .

2012 is the most recent painful loss to Texas. Quinn Sharp put the Cowboys up by two with under two minutes remaining, but the Longhorns connected on a 21-yard pass deep in their own territory on fourth-and-six. The Cowboys were screwed on a fumble call near the goal line, resulting in the Texas go ahead touchdown. Oklahoma State wasted 199 rushing yards from Joseph Randle and a solid game from J.W. Walsh.

Those are plenty of reasons to hate Texas, and maybe you even shed a tear in one or two of those games. But there have been some good times recently. The 2010 win on prime time television. Justin Blackmon caught his nation leading 16th touchdown, and Brandon Weeden threw for 409 yards in a 33-16 win. Most importantly, it snapped a 12 game losing streak to Texas.

And who could forget last year? Texas literally gave us that game through penalties and a hilarious muffed punt. Oh how we ridiculed that poor kid and the rest of the Longhorns. And that felt so good. Beating Texas, similar to beating Oklahoma, never gets old. And even though many of us have had to readjust our expectations for this year, a win over Texas tomorrow could really go a long way.

One final thing. I hate how overhyped Texas gets in the media. Texas went from unranked to No. 12 in the nation for a three point win over Notre Dame in week one. The Fighting Irish are now 1-3, and coming off a home loss to Duke. Calm the frick down on your expectations for Texas just because they are Texas. The Longhorns haven’t been good this decade, or since Mack Brown left. They aren’t the best team in Texas, they’re maybe the second best team in Texas, but more realistically they’re probably the third or fourth team in the state of Texas.

Oklahoma State still hasn’t won a home game over Texas since 1997. This is a very even match up, and I could see it going either way. The Big 12 is wide open this year, and this game will probably have large ramifications. I’m tired of losing at home, especially to Texas. We need this game to save our season, and to defend Boone Pickens Stadium; something we haven’t done a very good job of in general.

I hate Texas. You hate Texas. We all hate Texas. Let’s all get up early to hate on Texas tomorrow, and regain a little hope for this season.