Longhorns look to reverse trend against Oklahoma State

Texas hasn't beaten Oklahoma State in nearly three years. On Saturday, the Longhorns will look to change that as they face the Cowboys in their Big 12 opener. 

Oklahoma State beat Texas last year in Austin, 38-26. In 2010, the Cowboys snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Longhorns with a 33-16 victory at Darrell K Royal Texas-Memorial Stadium. 

"It's definitely not fun to be beaten twice in a row by a team, especially at home," said junior defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat. "We don't like that."

UT wants nothing more than to end the trend Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla. 

"It's not sitting very well with the team," said left guard Trey Hopkins. "It's been unacceptable the last couple years. We're going to go on the road and just get a little payback, I think."

With two straight losses to OSU, most of the Longhorns haven't experienced victory against their conference rivals. Texas has just nine scholarship seniors who have beaten the Cowboys. UT last beat OSU in 2009, 41-14. 

"My record with them is all messed up," said senior safety Kenny Vaccaro, who is 1-2 against OSU. "It definitely means something to us and we need to go up there and win."

The Cowboys are one of three teams from automatic-qualifying BCS conferences to win at least nine games each of the last three seasons (Alabama, Oregon). Since 2009, Oklahoma State has the best record in the Big 12 at 20-5. 

"They have steadily improved and they've really done a great job recruiting the state of Texas. If you look at them, nobody talks about their recruiting, but they've always got really good football players," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "So I think part of their success is coaching, but a big part of it is the evaluation they've done in East Texas and down through Houston. They've really done a good job and gotten some good players." 

The good news for the Longhorns, though, is their 6-1 all-time record in Stillwater. 

"We just want to go out and get a win, there's no way to go out and show up somebody unless you win," said sophomore corner back Quandre Diggs.

By Austin Laymance/Special to the Star-Telegram