Oklahoma State's Struggles to Put Together a Full Game Continue

Oklahoma State was close again on Saturday, but couldn’t come away with a win.

After falling to Kansas State a week ago, the Cowboys came into their matchup against UCF with real confidence that they could compete against Big 12 competition and potentially come away with a win. After securing a 14-0 lead after Zane Flores’ touchdown run going into halftime, the Cowboys appeared poised to finally change their one in the win column to a two.

Of course, that didn’t end up happening. In the second half, things turned in the Knights’ favor, but it wasn’t the same dramatic shift that the Cowboys had seen at various points throughout the season.

Instead, this was a slow defeat that everyone could see happening but couldn’t do anything to stop. The Knights made it 14-7 before tying it up, and in the final moments, it was clear that OSU might not have it.

Over the final minutes of the game, the Knights steadily drove downfield as OSU missed some key opportunities to get the ball back. Eventually, the Knights had milked the clock down to a minute and kicked the game-winning field goal.

While it was a disappointing finish for the Cowboys, the story of this game was somewhat similar to their past two defeats against Kansas and Kansas State. Last week against the Wildcats, OSU’s offense couldn’t put together any results to pay off the defense’s impressive outing, holding Kansas State to 14.

Meanwhile, a couple of weeks earlier at Kansas, the Cowboys were ahead for most of the first half with Flores looking solid in his return to action. However, any momentum OSU was able to build in the first half was quickly wiped away after halftime, leading to a blowout loss.

Now sitting at 1-10 and looking to avoid consecutive winless Big 12 seasons, the Cowboys must overcome these troubles when they host Iowa State next week. Sure, it’s an encouraging sign that the Cowboys have stuck with it in a season where it would’ve been understandable to quit, but if that encouragement can’t even result in one win, it would still be somewhat disappointing.

Add in that OSU is set to begin a new era in the coming weeks, and at least finishing this season on a high note would be a feel-good moment for the program and its players. However, if the game at UCF showed anything, it’s that OSU still has a long way to go to put together a complete 60 minutes of football.