Baylor Debriefing: Multitude of What Ifs Lead to Loss No. 4 in Waco

The Cowboys waltzed into Waco like they had just beaten the No. 6 team in the country but played like a team with a losing conference record. If it could have gone wrong for the Pokes, it did and they had no one to blame but themselves.

Let’s debrief.

The Short Story

Penalties, special teams snafus, a couple of bad whiffs on defense and a sack (more on that below) harpooned Oklahoma State’s chance to lock up bowl eligibility in Week 10.

There are a multitude of what ifs, any one or couple of which could have changed the outcome of a crucial road game. I suppose that’s normally the case, but those were dramatically pronounced on Saturday when viewing the game through an orange-colored lens.

The Pokes out-played Baylor in just about every way one team can while still losing the game. A team that was once known for eking out games they shouldn’t win has now earned a reputation for finding losses in games they shouldn’t lose.

Who Gets a Marshal Badge

Offense: Tyron Johnson

I feel like we could pencil in Justice Hill or Tylan Wallace for this award most weeks but I’ll give it to Tyron for taking advantage of Taylor Cornelius finally looking left of (the) center.

Tyron caught eight catches on 14 targets (both career highs) for 81 yards. He was able to win his one-on-one battles consistently and it helped Oklahoma State move the ball down the field. Even without a big “Tyron” play, he gets the helmet stick for just playing an all-around solid game. Feed the man.

Defense: Kolby Peel

The true freshman has been pretty consistent all year and in his fifth career start he matched a career-high seven total tackles with a career-high six solo. He was basically gifted this tackle for loss but that didn’t change its effectiveness.

Also receiving consideration was another freshman, Brendon Evers who recorded his first career sack.

A Question Before Bedlam

Ohhhh boy. There are plenty. The Sooners took care of business on Saturday night in Lubbock sans Alan Bowman who was done at halftime after re-aggravating a scary partially collapsed lung.

OU’s defense may not be good, but they won’t need to be to win the Big 12 again this season. Their offense — which came into Texas Tech at No. 4 in points per drive and then scored seven TDs in primetime — is good enough to run OSU off of the field if the Cowboys aren’t firing on all cylinders.

This brings me to my question, and it resides behind center. Where does OSU go from here at QB? Maybe there is no question at this point, but I think it warrants revisiting.

Taylor Cornelius was good, not great in Waco, but definitely not bad enough to consider benching from that performance alone — at least based on how the coaching staff has handled the position thus far.

He threw for a score and ran for one and, for just the third time this year, didn’t throw an interception. But that sack on that back-breaking fourth-down play was a tough one to take. Gundy even mentioned it after the game, but Corn also took a couple of bad sacks against Texas the week before. Fortunately they came at less crucial times.

We talk about players having an “it factor,” but I think that we’re really talking about is an ability to focus, process a situation and think and act fast when the pressure is cranked up. I haven’t seen much from the fifth-year senior through nine games to convince me that he has “it.”

So, again where does that leave Oklahoma State? You have two guys on the bench that could play every snap the rest of the way without affecting their redshirt status, both of whom you would like to see the field for meaningful reps at some point.

But Oklahoma State has painted itself into a corner with this redshirt rule change. I think the hope was that a Corn-fed offense could get OSU closer to 7-2 than 5-4 entering this final three-game stretch. But it hasn’t.

Are you going to trot out Spencer Sanders for his first Division I snap in Norman? Has Dru Brown not shown enough to warrant even one rep thus far? I understand that Oklahoma State hasn’t been exactly blowing teams out but for only one QB to see the field since Week 2 is kind of astounding.

I think OSU needs to see what they have from one of the other guys, but I’m not sure how much sense that makes now. Hindsight is an unfair indicator but it points to a possible gaffe by Oklahoma State concerning this new rule and opportunity.

What I do know is that if the Cowboys roll into Fort Worth for their season finale needing to win just to make a bowl, and neither QB2 or QB3 have yet to see the field, it’s a pretty preposterous look.

Play(s) of the Game

I’ll go offense-defense here.

The catch of the game for me was this big-time play by Dillon Stoner. On third-and-long, Cornelius went to Stoner who made this nice grab in traffic, absorbed contact and reeled it in for 23 yards.

Rodarius Williams grabbed his second interception of the year to save a would-be TD on Baylor’s opening drive. That turnover led to Oklahoma State’s first scoring drive capped by a Corn Dog scamper into the end zone.

Next Up: The Cowboys will head into a hostile environment in Norman as heavy underdogs against an elite offense with plenty to play for. ? for A.J. and Rodarius.