Game 10 Grades: Cowboys Earn High Marks Despite Heartwrenching Loss

Going into the game, I picked Oklahoma State to lose by four touchdowns, so who am I to dish out bad grades after the Cowboys lose by a single point?

This game doesn’t get the Cowboys any closer to bowl eligibility, but it proved the Cowboys are at least better than TCU. Will they beat TCU? With how this year has gone, who the heck knows. I think it also proved the Sooners don’t have nearly a good enough defense to be in the College Football Playoff, but I digress.

Here are my grades from the latest of a ridiculous Bedlam game.

Taylor Cornelius: A

Taylor Cornelius only had two throws that stood out as particularly poor to me: There was the wheel route to Landon Wolf and the 2-point conversion.

It stinks for Cornelius because that failed 2-point conversion is going to be the most talked about play of the game, but he threw for 501 yards on the road against an in-state rival that happened to be No. 6 team in the country.

Third-and-long, Cornelius didn’t care. Fourth-and-long? here’s a 24-yard touchdown pass.

Against who will be a Heisman finalist, Cornelius had more total yards and more touchdowns than Kyler Murray. He was even took one fewer sack. In two games against sixth-ranked teams, Cornelius has 822 passing yards and eight total touchdowns.

Chuba Hubbard: A-

Chuba Hubbard is only a redshirt freshman. Filling in for an injured Justice Hill, Hubbard ran for 104 yards and three scores.

Hubbard’s 22 carries were more than double he had ever had, and he didn’t fall off. His fumble is obviously a play he would rather have back, but after it, he came back and delivered what I thought was his most impressive run of the night.

Offensive Line: A

The go-to stat for this section would be OSU allowing only two sacks, but here is a more impressive one: No OSU running back had a carry go for negative yards.

The Cowboys’ offensive line has been harped on all season, but banged up the group came into Norman had its best performance.

Tylan Wallace: A

Tylan Wallace is going to leave Oklahoma State as one of the school’s all-time great receivers. That’s saying something when guys such as Dez Bryant, Justin Blackmon and James Washington went to school there.

With two (maybe three) games left, Wallace has 1,282 receiving yards this season, that’s already the ninth-most in school history.

Against Oklahoma, Wallace’s 220 yards was his seventh 100-yard performance this year. Those seven already tie him for seventh in an OSU career.

Wallace had a few drops Saturday night, but his positive impact for the Cowboys far outweighed those drops.

I already showed the fourth-down catch so here is Cornelius playing the role of Mason Rudolph and Wallace playing James Washington.

Defense: C-

I’m not going to fully blame the OSU defense for not being able to contain Oklahoma’s offense because no one has been able to this season, but what isn’t acceptable is when you get to a ball carrier and fail to bring him down.

There aren’t many times where a team will when after allowing the opposing offense 702 yards while forcing no turnovers. It looks even worse when it averages to 9.1 yards per play.

But what are you even supposed to do against stuff like this?