The Sports Journal

The following article will appear in the October 26 edition of The O’Colly .

Oklahoma State has a bye this week, giving the team a much-needed opportunity to rest up and prepare for a November 3 showdown with Texas.

The Cowboys have been plagued by injuries recently, especially on defense, where five starters have been hurt this season. Coach Mike Gundy said the open week will give the players a chance to rehab.

“We need to get healthy on defense,” Gundy said. “An open week couldn’t come at a better time for our team. We need a little rest, we need to have some good practices and we need to give them some days off and try to get them back on the field.”

The Cowboys only practiced Monday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, and have the weekend off before returning to their normal routine next week. Gundy said the lighter schedule is good mentally for the players.

“I think one of the most important things is it gives the players a chance to get away from the coaches,” he said. “I’m sure they’re tired of us. They’ve been around us 10 weeks straight, all day.”

The players are also indeed forward to having some free time. Senior defensive end Nathan Peterson said he plans to go home and do some hunting, but he doubts football will be far from his thoughts.

“I don’t think it’ll ever totally be off my mind, but (the bye week) gives me, and all our team, a chance to relax, rest up and heal, maybe go home and see our families and stuff like that,” Peterson said

Offensively, OSU has been in a groove recently, averaging 39.4 points in its last five games, but sophomore quarterback Zac Robinson said he isn’t worried about the bye disrupting the offense’s momentum.

“No, I think we’re all ready for an off week,” Robinson said. “It’ll give us a chance to rest up and the coaches a chance to put together a game plan for Texas.”

The Pokes won’t have long to relax, however, with the game against the Longhorns, and all its Big 12 South implications, looming. The open week could give the Cowboys an edge, but that hasn’t always been the case in the recent past.

OSU is 4-5 after open weeks since 2001, including 1-2 under Gundy. Gundy’s first Big 12 victory came after a bye in 2005, pulling off the upset against Texas Tech, 24-17.

Still, the coach downplays the benefits of an extra week of preparation.

“I don’t think you gain a big advantage scheme-wise,” Gundy said. “You can only put so many plays in anyway. Now, if your players and disciplined and watch more tape, they should gain an advantage from recognition.”

Defensive coordinator Tim Beckman said he’s glad to having an extra week to work on improving defensively after allowing 529 yards of total offense to Kansas State.

Beckman said that injuries the defense suffered were no excuse for the team’s play, though he is making adjustments to work around hurt players.

Two linebackers, sophomore Patrick Lavine and senior Jeremy Nethon, had to leave the game against KSU. Now, senior Rodrick Johnson, who played at linebacker his first three years before switching to defensive end, will move back to linebacker.

While Johnson uses the extra week to acclimate himself back to the position, other players on defense are also happy to have more time to make adjustments.

“(The bye week) is really coming at a good time,” sophomore cornerback Perrish Cox said. “We have a lot of things we need to work on. Whatever we’re having trouble on, we can focus better on everything we need to do.”

Peterson said that how well players can recover from their injuries and make those necessary adjustments will determine how the rest of the season goes for the Pokes.

“We have injuries, but we also have many, many mistakes we have to correct,” Peterson said. “We played pretty poor throughout the K-State game on defense, so there’s a lot of things we need to get better at.

“If we want to seriously be a challenger for the Big 12, we have to play better defense.”

The following article is in the October 21 edition of The O’Colly.

Adarius Bowman couldn’t even watch.

As junior kicker Jason Ricks lined up to kick a 26-yard field goal in the final seconds of the game Saturday, the senior receiver sat down on the end of the bench with his head turned away, too overcome by the intensity of the moment to see the kicker drill the game-winner.

“I looked at the crowd, and I knew the crowd was going to tell me if we made it or not,” Bowman said. “They jumped, I jumped, and I’m still smiling.”

Ricks’ field goal would propel Oklahoma State (5-3, 3-1 Big 12) to a 41-39 victory over Kansas State (4-3, 2-2 Big 12) and keep the Cowboys in a tie for first in the Big 12 South.

Perhaps Bowman was so nervous because the Cowboys had struggled so many times before in similar situations.

Five of the Cowboys’ six losses last season were decided late in the fourth quarter, and OSU fell again in a 24-23 heartbreaker to Texas A&M two weeks ago. But between a victory earlier this year over Texas Tech and the comeback Saturday, the Pokes look like they’re learning to win the close games.

“It’s really been tough, cause we’ve lost so many close games, coming in from last year and carrying them over, and that’s what we talk about all the time — finish,” Ricks said. “Finish as a team, finish as a special teams unit, and that’s just huge momentum for us to carry into next week.”

The setback against A&M left a bad taste in OSU’s mouth, Bowman said, and the team has been determined not to let it happen again.

“All I could think of since the Texas A&M game was our guys were trying real hard on finishing,” Bowman said. “That’s been our thing the past three weeks of scrimmage, and our guys have been doing it on special teams, offense and defense.”

OSU had to overcome constant roadblocks to make it to that late field goal. The defense, ravaged by injuries, surrendered 529 yards of total offense, and twice the Pokes faced a 14-point deficit.

But the Cowboys kept making plays when they needed to. OSU recovered three K-State fumbles, and the Pokes converted on several key plays, including a 98-yard kick return for a touchdown by sophomore cornerback Perrish Cox.

“There were a lot of things that went our way,” offensive coordinator Larry Fedora said. “I think that’s all about preparation. When you’re prepared and you play hard, usually good things happen.”

Senior running back Dantrell Savage ran for 129 yards, his fifth straight game with more than 100 yards on the ground, and sophomore quarterback Zac Robinson had 109 rushing yards in addition to his three passing touchdowns.

But perhaps the most electrifying play of the game came in the fourth quarter when junior tight end Brandon Pettigrew broke a tackle and outran the Wildcat defense for a 39-yard touchdown catch.

Yet in spite of all their breaks and big plays, the Cowboys still found themselves with their backs against the wall after a Kansas State two-point conversion gave the Wildcats a 39-38 lead with just 1:10 remaining.

Robinson said the team never lost faith with the game on the line.

“We go through that situation every week in practice,” Robinson said. “That’s where I feel most comfortable, and the guys were fired up and ready to go. We knew we were going to get it done.”

Senior receiver Tommy Devereaux returned the KSU kickoff to the 42-yard line, and Robinson connected with Savage on a 24-yard pass to get the Pokes within field goal range.

Kansas State took all three timeouts to try to ice the kicker, but this was the Cowboys’ day, and with Ricks’ kick sailing through the uprights, Oklahoma State found a way to finish the close game.

“We’ve come a long way as a football team, and I’m proud of them for that,” coach Mike Gundy said. “Mr. Pickens always says, ‘Your team is learning to find a way to win in the end, and when you do that, eventually it’s going to pay off.’”

The following story will appear in the October 11 edition of The O’Colly .

As the final seconds ticked away on Saturday, the Cowboys hung their heads as they walked off Kyle Field after falling 24-23 to Texas A&M in another disappointing road loss.

“Losing is always tough,” sophomore safety Andre Sexton said. “We had a chance to be in 1st place and we worked so hard for it, and this really hurts us.”

Oklahoma State (3-3, 1-1 Big XII) was unable to protect a 17-point halftime lead and fell to 4-11 in road games under coach Mike Gundy, with only one road victory against a Big XII opponent.

Junior kicker Jason Ricks said he didn’t know why the Pokes continue to struggle away from Stillwater.

“I used to think it was an attitude thing,” Ricks said, “A couple years ago we just seemed a little flat. But (Saturday) we brought the attitude to win, and I thought we put ourselves in a situation to win the game. It’s just one of those tough things.”

While the setback against Texas A&M was disappointing for the Cowboys, OSU did have its best road game of the year by far while playing in perhaps the toughest environment in the Big XII. Offensive coordinator Larry Fedora said he thought the team’s performance in the second half had nothing to do with the A&M crowd.

“There was never a situation where I felt the crowd noise itself complicated anything for us,” Fedora said. “Our guys did a good job communicating and handling all those things.”

The challenge for the Pokes now will be building on the game’s positives while moving past the loss. Heartbreakers like A&M sometimes have a tendency to stick in players’ minds and affect future games, but the Cowboys can’t allow that to happen to them with their upcoming schedule.

Oklahoma State stays on the road this Saturday, going to Nebraska (4-2, 1-1 Big XII). Though not currently ranked, the Cornhuskers have been ranked as high as 14th this season, and they have the conference’s leading rusher in junior Marlon Lucky. With Nebraska celebrating its Homecoming against OSU, the stadium will be even louder than usual.

To avoid another disappointment, the Cowboys will have to have the right attitude about their loss to A&M. They’ll have to look at that game and not dwell on failure, but instead see areas for improvement.

“We’ve got to learn from this,” defensive coordinator Tim Beckman said. “We’ve got to learn to be finishers. If we want to run for a Big XII championship, we’ve got to learn how to finish these games and not let what happened in the second half happen again.”

If the Cowboys can learn from past mistakes, they might just find that breakthrough road victory they’ve been looking for and walk off the field in Lincoln with their heads held high.

“We’re not going to get down, we’re just going to bounce back,” Sexton said. “We’re going to go up to Lincoln, and we’re going to finish this game.”

The following story will appear in the September 24th edition of The O’Colly . Also check out the O’Colly site for a full recap of Saturday’s game.

Oklahoma State won a thrilling Big XII opener Saturday against Texas Tech, 49-45, surviving the shootout by calling time and again on a dominating running game.

The two teams combined for 1,328 yards of total offense, and Tech quarterback Graham Harrell’s 646 passing yards were the fourth most in a game in NCAA history, but at the end of the day, the Cowboy runners led the team to victory.

In losses to Georgia and Troy, the Cowboys had to abandon the running game in an attempt to play catch-up, but against Tech, OSU ran well throughout the game. Quarterback Zac Robinson and running backs Dantrell Savage and Kendall Hunter all rushed for more than 100 yards, the first time in school history that three players hit that mark in a single game, as OSU piled up 366 yards on the ground.

“We always have felt like we can run the football,” offensive coordinator Larry Fedora said. “It’s still based on taking what people give us. They didn’t stop us from running the football.”

Leading the way for the Pokes was Savage. The senior back missed the last two games with a groin injury, but returned against Tech to carry 25 times for 130 yards, the highest rushing total by a Cowboy this season, and a touchdown.

“Dantrell is an unbelievable player and definitely having him back was huge,” Robinson said. “We have a ton of running backs that can run the ball, but when he’s got the ball in his hands, I wouldn’t trade him for anybody in the country.”

Savage was quick to praise Hunter, a true freshman who ran 14 times for 113 yards and a touchdown and has a running style very similar to Savage’s. Savage said Hunter is a better back than he already, adding that Hunter would only get better with more experience.

Robinson was making just his second career start, and in addition to 211 yards passing with two touchdowns, he ran 13 times for 116 yards and a pair of scores, including a 48-yard scramble for a touchdown that was the Cowboys’ longest run of the year.

“Going in, I didn’t know just how much I’d run, but it ended up that’s what we did, and it worked out well,” Robinson said. “The offensive line played great—they were moving guys all day, doing a great job with the blitz.”

The play of the offensive line was crucial to OSU’s success. Questions about how the line would perform were swirling all week with the news that starting center David Washington would miss the rest of the season after breaking his leg in the Troy, but the line answered any doubts by opening huge holes for the Cowboy runners.

The Pokes moved players around to find a working combination on the line. Andrew Lewis moved from left guard to center, David Koenig moved from right to left guard, and Steve Denning came off the bench to start at right guard. In addition to paving the way for the big day for the running game, the offensive line never allowed a sack.

“That’s something that some people tend to overlook because of the way the game went, but we had a new center in there starting the first game of his career,” Fedora said. “We had just lost a three-year starter, but Andrew Lewis did a heck of a job. He was pretty dang solid the whole game, and that’s huge for us.

“The kid’s been getting reps from spring, and he’s a smart kid. He’s intelligent, and he knew what to do. There was never a question in the game where he didn’t know what to do.”

Even Brandon Pettigrew got in on the act. While Cowboy fans will surely remember the tight end best for his remarkable game-winning 54-yard touchdown catch, he had been held without a catch until that point and was making his biggest impact as a blocker. Pettigrew said that Tech was probably his best game ever blocking.

The running game gave the offense its most productive day of the season and more confidence going forward. With a pivotal victory under their belts, the Cowboys will look to continue improving and try to make some noise in the Big XII.

The following article will appear in the September 21th edition of The O’Colly .

Oklahoma State will open Big XII play Saturday when it hosts Texas Tech in a pivotal game for the Cowboys.

Off to a disappointing 1-2 start, the Cowboys need a victory at home to get their season back on track. If the Pokes win tomorrow, they can still get on a roll and make some noise in the Big XII South. If they lose, then even making a bowl game could become challenging with a brutal schedule still ahead.

In order to gain that key victory, the Cowboy offense will have to step up and play better against Tech (3-0). Tech’s high-powered offense will be difficult to stop, so the Pokes will have to put up points of their own.

“They are very similar to what they’ve been in the last few years, so it will be a great challenge for us,” coach Mike Gundy said. “Hopefully, offensively our game plan will be in place and we can run the ball effectively, throw the ball and limit our turnovers.”

Oklahoma State’s offense has been unable to live up to its preseason hype to this point, but the good news for the Cowboys is that Tech’s defense has traditionally been a weak point for the team. Tech has held its opponents to a respectable 21 points per game this year, but the three teams it’s played thus far have a combined record of 2-7.

Leading the offense will be sophomore quarterback Zac Robinson, who made his first career start last week in the loss at Troy. Robinson was impressive after coming in for an injured Bobby Reid in the Florida Atlantic victory, but struggled in his first game after winning the starting job, turning the ball over three times.

Robinson will need support Saturday from the players at the skill positions, who, other than receiver Adarius Bowman, have been fairly quiet this season. Tight end Brandon Pettigrew set career highs for receptions and receiving yards in the opener against Georgia, but since then has just three catches in two games. The receiver starting opposite Bowman, sophomore Jeremy Broadway, has five catches for 33 yards in three games.

The Pokes will again be without senior running back Dantrell Savage, who’s been out since the Georgia game with a groin injury. In his absence, sophomore Keith Toston and freshman Kendall Hunter will split time. Hunter is coming off a career-high 125 rushing yards against Troy, OSU’s only 100-yard rushing game of the season.

“Kendall played pretty good,” Gundy said. “He put the ball on the ground once, but I was proud of the way he played as a true freshmen. He stepped in and he got a little tired at times, but for the most part he did a nice job.”

Two reasons the offense has struggled to get on track this season are turnovers and penalties. The Cowboys have turned the ball over eight times in three games, tying them with Iowa State for the most turnovers in the Big XII.

Penalties have been particularly frustrating for Gundy, as OSU has averaged 72 penalty yards per game.

“We have to be smarter,” Gundy said. “That’s why we’re struggling on third downs, because we are in third-and-longs, not third-and-mediums or third-and-shorts. All that stuff kind of comes together and those are the things that have to be corrected.”

If they can fix these problems and get in a groove offensively, the Cowboys have the fire power to be able to win a shootout against Texas Tech. If they can’t, it may be a rough day for the Pokes and their fans.