Game 11 Grades: A Tale of Two Halves for Cornelius and Pokes

We’re 11 games into this season, and I’m still not sure how good Oklahoma State is.

Just when you think they’re toast, the Cowboys shock the world. When you think they’re starting to figure things out, they get molly whopped by Kansas State. So, here are my grades from OSU’s upset victory against West Virginia. They’ll probably be drastically different next week.

First-Half Cornelius: D

Second-Half Cornelius: A

Adjustments: A

This kind of ties in with Cornelius’ tale of two halves, but spreading the field out in the second half was a definitive success.

I already wrote a post on the offensive adjustments, which you can find here, but defensively the Cowboys tightened up, too. OSU allowed only 10 points in the second half, and after running for 162 yards in the first half, the Mountaineers had only 29 rushing yards in the second.

Offensive Line: B+

Considering this was an offensive line without Johnny Wilson, Arlington Hambright and Shane Richards, this group got some work done against a tough foe.

Center Ry Schneider drew his first career start, and as a whole, the line gave up only two sacks and only four negative rush yards from running back Chuba Hubbard. I’m not sure why OSU’s O-line is good some games and bad in others, but Saturday was a definite upswing.

Chuba Hubbard: A-

Chuba Hubbard carried a ton of hype with him this season, and he has lived up to it.

When you hear someone ran the 100-yard dash at the World Youth Championships and was a three-time national champion sprinter, you get pretty excited to watch him run. In his second week of being “The Guy,” Hubbard had another 100-yard performance and was a vital part to the Cowboys’ late-game success.

He also had tough runs like this one and notched another TD through the air to go with 225 all-purpose yards.