Texas Football Rewind: Vince Young runs all over OK State in 2005

A sour memory for the Oklahoma State faithful is star Texas football quarterback Vince Young running all over them in 2005.

There were a number of victims for the Texas football program and star quarterback Vince Young on their way to winning a national title during the 2005 season. Texas got VY to beat a lot of the teams they faced in 2005 with his legs, including head coach Mike Gundy and the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

In 2005, the Texas Longhorns football program got through Big 12 play with not a whole lot of close calls. The win over Oklahoma State didn’t look too close in the box score, but the first half definitely gave the Longhorns a big scare. Oklahoma State took a 28-12 lead into the locker room at halftime on Oct. 29, 2005. The game was on the road in Stillwater too.

Gundy and the Pokes rode a big first half from running back Mike Hamilton to the two-possession lead at halftime. But the Texas defense completely locked down that balanced Oklahoma State offense in the final 30 minutes. Oklahoma State wouldn’t get any points in the second half.

And that’s where VY and the Longhorn offense really started to take off.

In the first minute after kickoff in the second half, VY had a 80 yard touchdown run. The next touchdown the Longhorns would was also thanks to Young’s legs. He had an eight yard scamper for a score to close the Oklahoma State lead down to two points in the third quarter.

That 80 yard touchdown run was one of the most memorable plays of that entire season, and in recent memory for the Longhorns. He completely faked out Oklahoma State defensive back Donovan Woods and scampered down the sidelines, outrunning the rest of their defense, for the 80 yard score.

Texas would score three more touchdowns in a row in the late third and fourth quarters to close out the 47-28 win to stave off an early Oklahoma State upset bid. Two of those three touchdowns came from running back Ramonce Taylor, and the other was a 21-yard pass for a score to tight end Neale Tweedie. That touchdown pass to Tweedie was his only of his five-year career at Texas (one redshirt season).

What really made this game special for VY and the Longhorns was his career-high in rushing yards and how fast he got this offense going when it was needed the most. Texas got a whopping 367 rushing yards and four scores in a massive day for the ground game.

VY had 267 of those rushing yards, and two of the four scores. He wasn’t great through the air, but got it done when he needed to. Young would complete 15-of-30 passing attempts for 239 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. That was good for a passer efficiency rating of 132.3 and 7.8 adjusted yards per attempt.

That was not nearly as good as the 12.7 yards per carry that Young amassed using his legs as a weapon. Taylor was the only rusher to average more yards per carry in this game than Young did. He averaged more than 14 yards per carry on a big day that saw him amass 71 rushing yards and two scores.

Texas only got 20 rushing yards on seven attempts from then freshman running back Jamaal Charles. He wasn’t able to make much of an impact yet at this point in his initial season playing with the Longhorns.

Throughout the entirety of the 2005 season, VY posted by far the most rushing yards of any quarterback Oklahoma State faced. Texas also tied for the most rushing touchdowns of any team the Pokes faced in 2005. They had the second most rushing yards and the second most yards per carry.

In fact, the only other player to amass more than 200 rushing yards on this Oklahoma State defense in 2005 was the Oklahoma Sooners legendary running back Adrian Peterson. And AP posted 237 rushing yards and two touchdowns in Bedlam. He averaged 9.9 yards per carry, so he had less total rushing yards and was less efficient on each attempt.

Texas would go on to win the last five games of their 2005 season, including the 2006 Rose Bowl/BCS National Championship Game over the USC Trojans. VY was the hero that Texas needed that season, and he was someone that definitely had a good argument to win the Heisman Trophy although he finished second in the final voting.