STILLWATER, Okla. -- Watching the Texas A&M football team Saturday night was like having a root canal.

You kid yourself that having a dentist poking around inside you mouth for 3 hours isn't going to be that bad. And at times, it's not. But long after the Novocain wears off, it still hurts like the dickens. And you sure don't want to do that again, at least not any time soon.

That's got to be how A&M feels after Saturday night's 56-28 loss to Oklahoma State.

The four-touchdown underdog Aggies were just as bad as the oddsmakers thought. A&M lost three fumbles and two interceptions. Twice, A&M tried to sneak a 12th man onto the field. A&M also gave up a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown, a 57-yard kickoff return and leveled the return man before catching one punt, good for a 15-yard penalty.

OSU had a couple receivers so wide open you looked at the officials to throw a flag, thinking maybe that the Cowboys had slipped a 12th man in.

Aggie fans had to close their eyes and wince on many plays. If the 21st-ranked overrated Oklahoma State Cowboys can do this, what will seventh-ranked Texas Tech do? What about fifth-ranked Texas? Or top-ranked Oklahoma?

Yet if you hung in for the entire game, you saw the Aggies do so many good things.

A&M rolled up a season-high 402 yards, which was a yard more than OSU managed. How much money would you have bet on A&M outgaining the high-powered Cowboys? Surely not next month's rent or mortgage payment.

Jerrod Johnson looked good at quarterback at times, using his legs to make something out of nothing. The popular Jorvorskie Lane got some productive playing time at tailback, and Mike Goodson, the starter, had a couple nice plays. Freshman receivers Ryan Tannehill and Jeff Fuller combined for 12 catches for 116 yards and two scores.

A&M's defense played well in the first half, holding OSU to one score in six possessions.

That's all good, but the bottom line was OSU 56, A&M 28.

"We did move the ball, I thought, and did some good things that are positives that, hopefully, we can build off of," A&M head coach Mike Sherman said. "It's just hard to swallow the score of the football game at this point."

This one looks the same as last year's 42-14 loss at Oklahoma. Or the 45-10 loss to Cal in the Holiday Bowl two years ago, or those lopsided losses to Colorado, Iowa State and Texas Tech in 2005.

A&M fans are tired of moral victories, and Sherman knows that. He refused to dwell much on mounting injuries. Quarterback Stephen McGee didn't play. Linebacker Matt Featherston, the team's leading tackler, and defensive end Paul Freeney, who returned a fumble for a touchdown last week, were lost early in the game to injuries. Offensive guard Lee Grimes, safety Jordan Pugh, Goodson, linebacker Jamie McCoy and linebacker Anthony Lewis also missed some snaps but played through injuries.

"That's part of the game," Sherman said. "We just have to go and get the next guy ready to go."

A&M didn't lose this game because of injuries. It lost because of a lack of execution.

A couple high passes from Johnson that went off the hands of McCoy and Bradley Stephens led to a pair of gift touchdowns for OSU. You can call those interceptions a fluke if you want, but when something happens twice, there's a reason for it. And the Aggies have to find a way to cut down on the turnovers yet keep all those good plays.

And the defense has to find a way to force turnovers. Freshman Terrence Frederick had an interception go right through his hands. A few plays later, OSU scores. A fluke? Nope. Just poor execution.

Frederick and the Aggies have a chance to learn from Saturday night's painful mistakes. If not, it's gonna hurt even more the next time.

Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.