• Box score

COLLEGE STATION — It wasn't just that Texas A&M lost a football game to Oklahoma State on Saturday that will bother Mike Sherman in the days ahead.

This was a matchup of two top 10 teams, two teams with experience and explosive playmakers, two teams capable of running the table.

Oklahoma State has the kind of speed that creates difficult matchups all over the field, and Sherman knew his team's resilience and poise would be tested. He could not feel comfortable even with the Aggies leading by 17 points at halftime because they were in almost the same situation a year ago and let a 14-point lead turn into a three-point loss.

And yet when he looks at the video —he probably will have done so a half-dozen times by the time you read these words — and peels away the layers of this 30-29 defeat, he's going see things that alternately worry and infuriate him.

The Aggies didn't just lose. They came apart. They came out of the locker room flat in the third quarter and never recovered. When they were pushed, they lost their composure a time or two. They looked tired. Afterwards, they were blunt about it.

"You've got to have the will and want to," A&M cornerback Terrence Frederick said. "Everyone didn't have the will and want to."

Wait, it gets worse.

"What this comes down to is I thought our team was in better physical condition by a long shot," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said.

Ouch.

(From the you-knew-this-was-coming department, a small knot of Oklahoma State fans serenaded the Aggies with "Big 12! Big 12!" as they left the field. A&M's players should have answered, "How's that Pac-12 thing working out for you folks? Do you have gas money to get home, or do you need to call Daddy DeLoss?")

OK, back to the Aggies. This season of optimism was interrupted by an epic second-half meltdown. It was complete. It was embarrassing. It was the kind of thing good teams aren't supposed to do.

"We had so much on the line," A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. "We were so excited."

Let's go to the tote board for a summary of Texas A&M's second half: four — count 'em, FOUR — turnovers, three personal fouls, a pass interference penalty, a false start penalty and a defensive offsides penalty.

In the third quarter, Oklahoma State ran 40 plays for 290 yards as quarterback Brandon Weeden torched the Aggies again and again on his way to a 438-yard passing day.

If the Aggies looked a little gassed, who could blame them? They were on the field so long that a few defensive players appeared to resort to asking for injury timeouts to slow the Cowboys.

That didn't work either.

"We gave the game away," free safety Trent Hunter said. "We didn't step up. We didn't come out with the same passion."

All this happened after the Aggies had been almost perfect in the first half in rolling up 301 yards and a 20-3 lead.

And then they either quit or got tired or got out-coached or thought they had the Cowboys beaten.

But being flat or tired doesn't excuse the personal fouls. Sherman referred to them as "stupid penalties."

Now with the toughest part of their schedule still in front of them and with their margin of error reduced, their final season in the Big 12 could end up being a giant disappointment.

"They turned the game around," Sherman said. "We helped in that regard, but they did a good job. We landed a couple of body blows, but we didn't knock 'em out."

Sherman's job would be easier if there was one thing to attack. Unfortunately, when it started to go bad, it all went bad.

Tannehill threw three interceptions. One happened because Jeff Fuller fell down. Another bounced off a receiver's hands. Another was thrown as a defender hit Tannehill.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma State began the second half by driving 80, 89 and 56 yards for touchdowns. Weeden was amazingly accurate, and Justin Blackmon and Josh Cooper caught 11 balls apiece for 244 yards.

The Aggies were short-handed in the secondary after cornerback Coryell Judie was unable to answer the bell because of a hamstring injury, but one guy couldn't have stopped the avalanche.

"I hope they're (ticked) off about the way they played," A&M defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said. "I'm (ticked) off about the way I coached."

The Aggies said all the right things about accountability and there being nine games left on the schedule.

"It's not like we haven't been here before," Sherman said. "We lost one football game, and it's very disappointing. We had an opportunity to win, and that's what it makes it so disappointing. What I told the players last night was that these opportunities don't come around very long."

He repeated that one game is one game is one game. For one game, though, it was awfully painful.

richard.justice@chron.com

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