Saturday’s 34-41 overtime loss to Texas might have cost No. 14 Oklahoma State a shot at the College Football Playoff but the Cowboys are still in the driver’s seat for a spot in the Big 12 Championship game.

Saturday was a golden opportunity for Oklahoma State because West Virginia beat K-State, who previously was the unbeaten in league standings.

There are hurdles.

OSU (4-1, 3-1 in the Big 12) must travel to Kansas State  Saturday for a 3 p.m. game with the Wildcats. The Cowboys are one half game back of K-State and Iowa State.

A win at Manhattan would be a big step to being one of the top two teams to make the championship game. Kansas State got clobbered by West Virginia, 10-37, Saturday. That was the most points that the Wildcats have surrendered all year.

KSU freshman quarterback threw three interceptions against the Mountaineers with one being returned for a score by WVU.

“We’re for sure not going to hang this on Will Howard, because I think he’s continuing to improve,” KSU coach Chris Klieman said. “I thought he made some really good throws. We have to be better for him, and we have to be better with a lot of the things we’re doing offensively. We’ve got to block better. We’ve got to catch the ball better. We’ve got to do a lot of different things.”

After Kansas State, OSU gets a week off before heading to Norman for the Bedlam game with No. 19 Oklahoma. Except for the home game against Texas Tech, four of the final five games for OSU (KSU, OU, TCU and Baylor) are on the road.

“We’ve just got to win out,” said OSU QB Spencer Sanders, “and go to practice the next day — it’s the next-day mentality. We just have to keep going and stay focused. We can still win this thing out, and we’re just going to give it the best we’ve got. It’s sad to lose this, but you can’t hang your heads. We’re men. We’re just going to keep pushing. What’s really going to define us is how we respond to this.”

With all the mistakes the Cowboys made Saturday, it is remarkable that they took Texas to overtime.

“This was not pretty,” Texas coach Tom Herman said. “But when you take the ball away four times and you don’t turn it over at all, you give yourself a chance to win.”

Sanders set a career mark in passing, passing touchdowns, completions and attempts but he also created three of the Cowboys’ four turnovers (five if you count a roughing the kicker penalty that set up a Longhorn score). In the first quarter, Sanders fumbled a handoff to Chuba Hubbard. Sanders had another fumble and he threw an interception.

 “As I’ve said many times before, disciplined football, special teams and turnovers, is what determines the outcomes of games until you get to the latter part of the season,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “And we failed in those areas today. And this is the result you’ll get.”

In the first overtime possession, Sanders hit Jelani Woods for a touchdown pass but it was called back because an ineligible player was downfield.

 “It’s kind of confusing how it happened,” Gundy said. “It was a goal-line play that was called outside of the 10. The play got strung out a little bit more than normal so I think Tevin (Jenkins) just kind of lost where he was on the field.”

The overtime ended with Sanders being sacked.

 “We had a good feel that they were going to bring pressure, Gundy said. “Somebody got tangled outside and missed a block. I can’t say until I watch it and have a good idea. But we’re trying to make a play and convert the first down. They got after us and put us in a bad situation and they made the play at the end of the game.”

It was a do-or-die game for Texas (4-2, 3-2 in the Big 12) and their hopes to get to the Big 12 title game. Another loss and Texas would be virtually eliminated.

“A lot of resiliency shown by every member of this team,” Herman said. “We feel like we’re never out of game. We haven’t been out of a game. We lost one by two points with an opportunity with the ball on the 1-yard line, and we lost a four-overtime thriller to our archrivals.

“We’re a lot different team than we were back then too. … We are a work in progress.”

Gundy praised Texas.

“You have to give Texas credit. They made the plays at the end to win the game but we didn’t give ourselves a chance,” Gundy said. “You have four turnovers and you have a roughing the punter which is five turnovers. And we give up a kick return for a touchdown.”

OSU had 530 yards of total offense while Texas gained nly 287 yards. Texas was 2-of-15 on third downs and 2-of-2 on fourth downs.

The OSU offense kept putting the defense in bad field position.

“We put them in terrible position time after time after time,” Gundy said of the defense. “And they rallied a few times and held them to field goals. So I’m going to say they played pretty good. We can’t put them in that position that many times particularly against a quarterback like (Sam) Ehlinger.”