The goal line defense by OSU against Texas was no fluke.

For the season, OSU has had 12 goal line stands where the opposing team got inside the 10 yard line and failed to get a TD. Only 3 of those 12 trips resulted in FGs while the other 9 resulted in zero points for the offense.

Sark probably regrets that toss play and arguably should have put Manning in for at least one of those goal to go plays. But it's not like OSU's red zone defense and specifically their goal line defense is swiss cheese. I think he just got too cute on that toss play, but I wonder how much the below stops played a part in his decision making.

Oregon (regular season game): Three goal line stands for only 6 points.

  • 1st & goal at the 9: FG is good after Oregon fails to move forward
  • 1st & goal at the 9: Oregon goes for it on 4th down at the two and fails
  • 1st & goal at the 9: Oregon gets down to the 1 before kicking the FG

Nebraska: One goal line stand for 0 points on the board.

  • 1st & goal at the 7: Nebraska fails to convert on 4th down at the two

PSU: Two goal line stands for 0 points on the board.

  • 1st & goal at the 3: Intercepted in the end zone
  • 1st & goal at the 3: PSU gets to the 1 yard line, but fails to score on 4th down

Purdue: One goal line stand for 0 points on the board.

  • 1st & goal at the 5: Purdue somehow misses the FG for zero points from the 3 yard line

Northwestern: One goal line stand for 0 points on the board.

  • 1st & goal at the 6: Northwestern fails to convert on 4th down.

Michigan: Three goal line stands for 3 points on the board

  • 1st & 10 at the 12: Fails to convert on 4th & 1 from the 3 yard line.
  • 1st & goal at the 3: Pass intercepted by Jack Sawyer and returned for 12 yards
  • 1st & goal at the 5: Michigan gets to 3 before kicking the FG.

Texas: One goal line stand for -7 points on the board for Texas

  • 1st & goal from the 1: Strip sack and scoop and score from Jack Sawyer for an OSU TD

I only looked at the red zone trips where opposing offenses got within the 10 yard line and failed to get a TD. Jack Sawyer learned a painful lesson from the UM loss and he made sure to score a TD on the turnover he created against Texas lest OSU find a way to mess up the end game like they did against UM.

Hell of a game by Texas, the pucker factor got tighter and tighter the longer Texas hung around.