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Advanced scouting helped the Pokes discover a weaknesss in the place-kicking unit of the ‘Horns.

In the first half of the 49-31 loss by the Texas Longhorns to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Saturday in Stillwater, the Cowboys were able to tie a school record by blocking three point-after attempts by the Longhorns.

In fact, all of those blocks came in the first half, on three consecutive tries.

‘‘It was happening with the guards over loading it,’’ said head coach Charlie Strong during his post-game press conference.

‘‘They were pressing one side of it and coming through. What we needed to do was get all the way to the second guy…the first guy was pinning the guard and the second guy was running through. He was stepping right over the center.’’

NCAA rules prevent three players standing shoulder to shoulder targeting a blocker on point-after attempts and also prevent contact on the deep snapper for one second after the snap.

As Strong described, Oklahoma State defensive tackle Vincent Taylor was sliding past Holbrook and into the backfield (highlighted with the long arrow below).

This rule is rather difficult to interpret and enforce — if the officials rule that the player coming through the A gap makes contact with the deep snapper before one second expires, it’s a penalty. However, if the deep snapper makes contact with the defensive player first, then the one-second window doesn’t apply.

So by creating space with one defender getting push against the guard, Taylor then <a href="