Cowboys Fall to Sooners in Regular Season Finale
STILLWATER -- Hoping to exact some revenge on the Sooners having lost four-straight Bedlam games, Oklahoma State came up short as they fell 34-16 in the regular season finale.
The game started off well for the Cowboys. After quick score by Oklahoma, the Cowboys moved down the field efficiently and responded quickly as Chuba Hubbard found the end zone from three yards out to tie the game at seven.
The next time down the field, Oklahoma State came up with a huge red zone stop on a drive that featured a huge combined sack by Amen Ogbongbemiga and Malcolm Rodriguez, and great coverage in the end zone by Tre Sterling to force an OU field goal.
The next time out for the Sooners, the scored a touchdown that was followed up with an Oklahoma State field goal, and that's about how the night went for the Pokes. They were able to score, but they were answering OU's touchdowns with field goals.
The Cowboys also lost safety Tre Sterling in the second half due to a targeting call. It marked the first targeting call against Oklahoma State on the season.
“What this game comes down to is, you can’t kick field goals and beat a good football team,” said head coach Mike Gundy. “We got down inside the 15-yard line several times and kicked field goals. We put ourselves in a jam and could never get over the hump. We didn’t do a very good job against the rush. The guard/tackle pull play gave us a lot of issues. We weren’t very effective against the rush. We turned one over. I know there were two, but the last one was just a desperation fourth down. We lost the turnover battle. We were pretty sound penalty wise. Tre (Sterling) got up high… the first targeting we’ve had this year. We’ve been so good, and I was disappointed that he hit up high. For the most part, we were really disciplined in that game. In the end it’s simple, you can’t kick field goals and beat a good team like that. It’s tough to keep up with an offense like them, and they were effective rushing the football. That’s the way it comes out. Offhand, that’s kind of what I think happened.”
The Cowboys were led by quarterback Dru Brown and running back Chuba Hubbard. The pair combined for 328 of Oklahoma State's 335 yards of total offense.
As for Brown, he had a decent night going 22-of-32 for 207 yards with one interception, and four carries for 17 yards.
He nearly had two interceptions, but the defender had stepped out of bounds on his own prior to the interception, therefore forcing the referees to call it an incomplete pass.
“I thought he played pretty good,” said coach Gundy. “He made a poor decision, and he knew it. He got lucky with the call when the player stepped out of bounds. Overall he played pretty good. He ran the ball effectively at times. He made a bad decision there. He missed a throw to Stoner in the second quarter going down the middle of the field. I kind of felt like they grabbed our guy and pulled him down, but either way he missed that throw. They got some pressure on him, and I thought he played pretty good. He went 22-for-32, made one bad decision. He was effective on some draws and stuff, and I thought he played pretty well. I thought his preparation was good. I thought his competitive nature was good, and he made some throws. In the end it’s simple.”
As for Hubbard, he carried the ball 24 times for 104 yards and one touchdown, and hauled in three receptions for 13 yards.
Give OU credit, they came into the game knowing exactly what facet of Oklahoma State's offensive game plan they needed to focus on, and they did just that.
“They were putting safeties down in there, and that’s why we were trying to throw it,” said coach Gundy. “We got some pass interference and holding calls and got some calls over. They made the adjustment to drop the safeties down and what happened was, with us not keeping it within a one score game, it allowed them some more flexibility on defense. There’s kind of a big picture to it. They started by playing somewhat normally, then Chuba was hurting them. So they dropped down, and we started throwing. Then we got into a multi-score game and allowed them to be aggressive up front with twists and things like that. We almost became one dimensional.”
As for the Cowboy defense, they were led by linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez who recorded 11 total tackles, seven of which were solo stops, including a half sack.On the night, the Cowboys combined for three sacks on OU quarterback Jalen Hurts.
As a whole, it was the OU run game that really hurt the Cowboys. The Sooners combined for 283 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, including 160 yards and one touchdown by Kennedy Brooks.
With the regular season finished, the Cowboys will have an extended break before their bowl game, a time that they'll be able to take a breather, regroup and rest their bodies.
