Ugh. Ugly. The Cowboys and the Longhorns are tied at seven at the half. Here are some thoughts from Cade and Tyler.

Tyler:

• The officiating is atrocious.

It’s insane how many calls have been missed. The tiptoe along the sideline for Texas’s touchdown should have been reviewed. How was it not? Also, how was Hill’s fumble “confirmed”? 1) The knee was clearly down. 2) The forward progress was stopped.

For more, follow this thread.

• Mental mistakes are killing the Cowboys.

The one that immediately comes to mind is Ehlinger’s fumble that he recovered for a 3rd and 44 or whatever it was. I realize that Jordan Brailford wants the scoop-and-score since there was nobody in front of him. I get it - the Piesman Trophy would be sweet. However, given how the game is going, he just needs to fall on that ball and let the offense take over at the Texas 45.

• Offensive line is...not good.

The Texas defensive line has made the offensive line look ridiculous all day. Rudolph doesn’t have any time in the pocket to exploit the Texas secondary. He hasn’t had time to set and throw, because Texas is making our offensive line look like Swiss cheese.

• Defense is doing its job.

Texas had 168 total yards in the first half. 90 of that came on a single play. Take that play out and the defense gave up 78 yards total. That’s impressive, especially in a Big 12 game, where the teams are not known for a stellar defense.

• OSU just needs to play its game.

The Cowboys are trying to force the run too much. I realize Mason isn’t getting any time to throw, but running the ball into the teeth of the Texas defense isn’t working. They have to get it figured out, and quickly.

Cade:

• Obviously the fumble changed the course of the game, but OSU is banging its head against a wall trying to force the run. Rudolph was quite sharp in the first half, but they’re still forcing the run. OSU walked down the field when they started throwing it, and things slowed down dramatically when they tried to run it.
• The Texas defense is good, but it showed multiple weaknesses in the first half. OSU didn’t appear interested in exploiting it though. They had receivers running open for a lot of the half, but nothing came to fruition.
• The defense was spectacular. The defensive line flat out whooped the Texas offensive line. Wipe away that fluke 90-yard play from John Burt (I’m still not sure he was in bounds), and Texas has 78 total yards at half.
• Also, can we talk about this ABC crew for a second? My gosh! I’m not usually one for the “Rah rah, THE ANNOUNCERS, rah rah,” but I think we talked about Texas for 28 of 30 minutes in the first half. I saw the Sam Ehlinger baby picture at least three times. Cute, but let’s move on.

Still, I think OSU wins this game. They shot themselves in the foot over and over again. Get to the locker room, regroup, and get back on track.