5 Takeaways: Lifeless Pokes Lulled into Submission by Wildcats

Oklahoma State came out with its sleep mode engaged on Saturday afternoon, and Kansas State happily lulled the Cowboys into a 45-40 submission inside Boone Pickens Stadium.

It was much more lopsided than the final score might indicate. It was a complete blowout — a “pack the bags, shut it down and roll on out” blowout — for three-fourths of the contest. But as the Cardiac Cowboys are wont to do, they made a comeback attempt that fell flat, but made things interesting.

Down 29 points at one point, OSU miraculously had a shot to take the lead with two and a half minutes left in the game. However the OSU offense stalled in the biggest possession of the game, turning the ball over on downs and allowing K-State to drain the clock in victory formation. A flashback to the final offensive possession in Bedlam.

“For whatever reason I can’t figure out what I’m doing or not doing that keeps us from showing up in the first half of our home games, and I shared that with the team,” said Mike Gundy. “We all need to look at ourselves and figure out what’s going on because we, for whatever reason, we’re not showing up and we get in a hole. And then today we were in an unbelievably deep hole.”

The loss gives OSU its third home loss of the season, something the Pokes haven’t done since 2005 — a team that went 1-7 and finished last in conference play. It also moves the Cowboys to 2-3 at home on the season, with its lone wins coming against Tulsa and Baylor.

Let’s get to the five things we learned from a Stillwater stunner.

1. No energy

The last time I covered a game in Stillwater (Bedlam), energy from OSU and the fan base earned the highest of marks. It was a tremendous gameday atmosphere, despite the loss. But Saturday couldn’t have been more opposite.

OSU fell behind after K-State drained the clock, along with the energy in the building, to score on its opening drive (which lasted 6 minutes). OSU would go on to score a TD and field goal to take a lead but fell behind again quickly and trailed the remainder of the game. The only apt description — about the players, the performance, all of it — was lifeless.

“I don’t think it was that,” Gundy said, rejecting the notion that OSU was lacking life. “That’s why I said I’m a little confused from my standpoint, I didn’t feel like it was that. We just weren’t making any plays. You throw everything in and you stir it up, there were times we didn’t block very good, there were times we didn’t cover very good, times we didn’t throw very good, times we didn’t catch very good, and there was a time we didn’t cover the kickoff very good.

“I didn’t think it was lifeless, I just am a little puzzled why, in the first half playing at home with the crowds we have that are unbelievable, why we can’t perform better in the first half.”

Credit the crowd and those who chose to stay. On the field with 3 minutes to play, it sounded like there were 50,000+ in the Boone. Even if it was half full.

2. K-State special teams

OSU’s special teams ranked 127 out of 130 before Saturday in terms of total efficiency (ahead of only UMass, UAB and Ball State). You would never guess this, but a well-coached Bill Snyder team exploited that weakness to perfection.

K-State logged 160 yards on kick returns, including one game-changer from the man of the afternoon: Byron Pringle, who scored 4 total touchdowns.

.@pringle_byron for 6! #JUCOPRODUCT pic.twitter.com/I22meGT9ja

— JUCO Football Frenzy (@JUCOFFrenzy) November 18, 2017

“We worked extremely hard this week on all of our special teams,” said Gundy, “because obviously that’s where Kansas State makes a living. And our coverage units, other than that one, and our punts were good, but we lost that one.”

It might’ve been just one, but it sure as heck was a costly one. Heck, maybe Pringle gashes the OSU defense on the ensuing play if he doesn’t bust it open here, but it’s certainly one of the way-too-many big plays OSU simply couldn’t afford to give up. It was one of four 46+ yard scores for Pringle. The man made a Heisman statement!

3. K-State didn’t reinvent the wheel

Kansas State is what Kansas State is. The Wildcats aren’t flashy, they don’t have NFL talent at quarterback, and their skill-player talent — outside of Byron Pringle — is on a lesser level than OSU.

That’s why OSU’s performance against K-State was so head-scratching.

“It’s the same stuff, the same stuff they’ve done,” Gundy explained. “And that’s what’s interesting is we had several three-and-outs today, but then we give up big plays. And you have to minimize big plays against a team that runs that style of offense in my opinion because you can get your three-and-outs, but you can’t give up big plays, can’t turn guys loose in the secondary.”

Five of K-State’s scores came from 39 yards out or further. That is the definition of big plays and an indictment on an OSU defense that simply couldn’t limit balls being thrown over their heads.

“You have to play some man coverage to stop all the quarterback runs,” said Glenn Spencer. “They’re a great running team. Those big plays count though. It’s not like you can say, ‘Hey, you guys did all right except for the big plays,’ you know. Big plays count. Again, it’s all about scoring defense. We didn’t score too much.”

4. Mason Rudolph struggled early and often

Maybe the most forgettable performance of No. 2’s career? OSU was flat on the whole, and Rudolph certainly was a part of that. He threw both of his interceptions early in the game, inexplicably, into awful situations. Here was his second — a flat-out miss.

Mike Yurcich took credit for Rudolph’s struggles, admirably, but Rudolph also took blame for his play.

“I think I have to do a better job of preparing him,” said Yurcich. “I take full responsibility for it. The kid is a great quarterback, and I’ve got to get him more prepared and do what we have to do to get him executing better.”

Ask me six months ago where Rudolph’s NFL Draft stock is, and I’ll shoot you first round status without hesitation. But for those who have cooled on him as a prospect, I finally came around to see that perspective. He struggled to diagnose defensive coverages and threw far too many errant passes that sailed over receivers.

Gundy put it flatly in grading his senior gunslinger.

“Mason did not play good in the first half.”

5. Big 12 hopes dead

Maybe OSU was watching TCU-Texas Tech in the locker room before the game. Based off how it played, that would certainly make some sense. In any case, OSU’s Big 12 hopes are officially dead in the water.

A TCU loss and OSU winning out would have given OSU control of its own destiny, but even a TCU loss to Baylor next week leaves OSU on the outside looking in with three conference losses. A devastating plight for a team that entered the season with playoff aspirations.

“It sucks,” said Rudolph. “It’s not fun. But we’ll turn it around and come back focused tomorrow.”