Cowboy Offense Shows Vintage Form Behind Its Stars

The Cowboys’ offense looked like its old self Saturday, and it did it with the usual suspects: Chuba Hubbard and Tylan Wallce.

In Oklahoma State’s 47-7 victory against Kansas, Hubbard ran for 145 yards and two scores. Wallace caught nine passes for 148 yards and two scores. After averaging 21.5 points in their opening two games, the Pokes finally looked like the offense that put up 32.5 points a game in 2019.

“We wanted to make sure that [Wallace and Hubbard] got touches,” OSU offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn said. “Those are our guys, and we wanted to try to make sure they got off to a good start. It just so happened that it lasted longer than we thought it would. Both of those guys continued to just roll with it and take advantage of the snaps they got, the touches that they had. Yeah, we were trying to get [Wallace] the ball, but we were trying to get 30 the ball, too. Those are our guys.”

It’s been an odd start to Dunn’s OC tenure. Early in his first game calling plays, Dunn lost his starting quarterback and two starting offensive linemen to injuries, but he has been able to lean on Hubbard and Wallace.

Hubbard struggled by his standards in OSU’s opening two games, especially in regards to ball security. It wasn’t an issue Saturday, as he was able to find cutback lanes and look like the NCAA rushing champion he was in 2019.

“Obviously, the last few games I haven’t done what I wanted to,” Hubbard said. “I don’t know, I just show up to play football every day, work hard every day. Some days it’s not gonna be the best. Some days it will.

“I felt the first two games we actually, we did pretty good. I really put the first two games on me. A lot of these mistakes, a lot of the things that we wanted to do fall back on me. I thought we’ve been playing pretty good these last few games, but I just need to step up.”

Thanks in large part to OSU’s early quarterback shuffle, Wallace hadn’t caught a touchdown pass in the Cowboys’ first two games. A mix up in the Kansas secondary left the former Biletnikoff finalist with 10 yards between him and the nearest defender for his first TD of 2020.

“That was probably the most wide open I’ve ever been,” Wallace said. “I think it was kinda a busted coverage, I guess.”

It wasn’t the smoothest of starts for OSU’s offense, and Kansas isn’t exactly a solid measuring stick. However, Saturday’s game was something OSU and Dunn can build off.

“Once we had a little bit of consistency with the offensive line and Shane had some snaps under his belt, it makes a big difference,” Dunn said. “We wanted to push the ball down the field today and open it up. We were pretty conservative in the first two games, and it was time to stretch it vertical. We took a couple shots, it worked out.”