10 Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 22-19 Loss against Utah

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STILLWATER — Somehow, the Cowboys lost by only a field goal Saturday, but anyone who watched that game knows it wasn’t as close as the score suggested.

Oklahoma State fell to Utah 22-19 in Boone Pickens Stadium. Here are 10 Thoughts on the game.

1. What A Letdown

This game has been at the forefront of the Big 12 since the schedule game out, and after all that hype, the Cowboys came out and laid an egg.

Not only that, but the Cowboys also did so at home. And the Cowboys did so while Utah played a true freshman quarterback. The home crowd came out and braved the heat just to watch its offense gain 285 yards and score three points in the first three quarters.

South Alabama was a major letdown last season, but it came in a time where OSU was trying to figure itself out. The South Alabama loss came in a season where OSU was breaking in a new defensive coordinator and working through its options at quarterback after four-year starter Spencer Sanders left the program. This season, the Cowboys were supposed to know who they were. They are a team with the reigning Doak Walker winner at running back, one of the most experienced offensive lines in college football history, a seventh-year quarterback and a few All-Big 12 caliber players on the defensive side.

It’s not that the Cowboys lost this game; it’s that the Cowboys weren’t competitive for about 50 minutes of the game.

2. Worst Offensive Outing Since When?

For long stretches of this game, it felt as if the Cowboys were going to gain less than 200 yards of total offense for the first time since 2014 — so much so that I went and found that stat.

Through three quarters, OSU had 156 yards of total offense before nearly doubling that total in the fourth quarter alone (129 yards of total offense). If it wasn’t for those late-game drives, OSU could’ve finished with its worst offensive output since going for 192 yards against Texas in 2014, or worse, going for 109 yards against OU back in 2009.

When the Utes went up 13-3 with about two minutes to play in the third quarter, it felt insurmountable. Scoring 10 points seemed unreasonable for an offense that finished the game with seven three-and-outs and also had separate instances of throwing an interception on the first play of a drive and throwing an interception on the third play of a drive.

It wasn’t until the stadium was half empty when OSU’s offensive finally, mercifully got going to make the score look respectable in what had to have been the most lopsided three-point game in football history.

3. Bowman Replaced, Re-Inserted

Alan Bowman got benched at halftime in a decision that will be analyzed and over analyzed for at least the next week. For what it’s worth, Gundy said after the game that Bowman is still the guy moving forward.

Bowman went into the half having thrown for 89 yards and an interception while completing 36% of his passes. Garret Rangel came in, led four drives that produced no points and 31 yards through the air before Bowman came back in to lead the too-little, too-late comeback attempt.

There are people on all sides of what should have happened.

Given Bowman’s woeful first half and the fact that the offense went nowhere in that half, there’s a side to the argument that he should’ve been benched.

Then there’s a side to the argument that, given Rangel has played little over the past 12ish months, OSU should’ve kept Bowman in because, despite the offensive struggles, he gave OSU the best chance to win. It’s especially easy to be on that side now given Bowman did lead two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. So the wonder is what if Bowman was in for those four drives Rangel led? Could that have made the three-point difference?

Then there’s a side that wonders when the heck the world will see Zane Flores — especially after Gundy himself said at OSU’s media day that he thought the redshirt freshman is “ready now.” Like, if three points and 119 yards in a half isn’t enough to get Flores in, what will be? The counter to that is giving Flores his first taste of college ball against a Utah defense that is stumping a seventh-year quarterback is a tough introduction.

I honestly don’t know where I stand on the matter. I thought it brave OSU was willing to go to Rangel in such a big moment, but OSU has felt like a second-half team for a while now — even going back to Jim Knowles’ patented second-half adjustments. Gundy compared it to pitching.

“We don’t do it a lot here but sometimes you gotta get a guy out and calm him down a little bit,” Gundy said. “… I just felt like that we weren’t getting good play and we needed a relief pitcher, get somebody else in there. And Garret had a tough day, so we switched back. But as I said, we haven’t done that a lot here but sometimes you just gotta get a guy out and clear your mind a little bit.”

4. Rangel Stays Getting Put in Rough Spots

I’m not here to die on a hill defending Garret Rangel, but holy smokes just about every time he has played in his college career has been the toughest spot imaginable.

His first career start came as a true freshman in Lawrence in 2022 against a Kansas team that was a win away from being bowl eligible for the first time since 2008. The Rocks were certainly Chalking that day.

Start No. 2 came in a monsoon against West Virginia that season — weather not ideal for throwing the football.

Start No. 3 came against Wisconsin in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on a baseball field that no one could find solid footing on.

Then he was thrown in the three-quarterback rotation to start 2023. He might have been the best of the bunch during in-game action but a sickness that year saw him play little in the South Alabama game that essentially proved the three-QB rotation to be a terrible idea, and Bowman won the job.

He got some garbage time against Tulsa last week, which felt like the first normal bit of experience for a young quarterback. But then Saturday he had to go try to play hero for a team that had 119 yards of offense in a half.

Again, I’m not saying Rangel is the second-coming of Mason Rudolph or anything, but man he’s been put in some tough spots.

5. Battle of Seventh-Year QBs? You Thought

Much of the national hype leading into this game was centered on Bowman vs. Cameron Rising — two quarterbacks who have been in college for seven years.

Well, one didn’t play and the other got benched. So much for that.

6. Three-And-Outs

OSU’s defense was on the field for 42 minutes on Saturday — that’s a long time.

That happened because OSU’s offense couldn’t go anywhere. As mentioned, Kasey Dunn’s group had seven three-and-outs, another instance where Bowman threw a pick on the third play of a drive and another instance where Bowman threw a pick on the first play of a drive.

Players are now allowed to look at tablets on the sideline. So much for those tablets, the Cowboys’ defense hardly had time to get a swig of water before they had to go back out.

It also resulted in Utah having 81 plays to OSU’s 59.

7. The Defense Actually Played Well

With all that being said, OSU’s defense was battling Saturday.

Utah mustered 5.6 yards a play to OSU’s 4.8. A 0.8-yards-per-play difference seems outlandish in a game that finish with a total yards tally of 456 to 285.

OSU’s D just kept getting stops, and even when it couldn’t completely stop the Utes from scoring, it’d force a field-goal attempt.

Trey Rucker, in particular, has been incredible. Again, it isn’t ideal for a safety to lead a team in tackles, but Rucker took down another 14 ball carriers Saturday, bringing his season total to 53 just four games into the year. On top of that, Rucker had two first-half interceptions. He’s putting up All-American-type stats.

The defense has certainly had its own issues this season, but in a day where OSU’s offense was anemic, the Pokes had no business being anywhere remotely close in that game if not for the defense.

8. Presley, Gordon Touches Down

Through OSU’s first three games, Brennan Presley and Ollie Gordon (probably the Cowboys’ two most dangerous players with the ball in their hands) averaged a combined 31.3 offensive touches a game. The duo combined for 19 on Saturday.

And even that feels a bit inflated because Presley didn’t have a completion in the second and third quarter and had two of his four catches in the final six minutes of the game.

Gordon ran for 3.8 yards a carry, which isn’t on the level he was last season but was better than what he did the past two games. The issue is he had only 11 carries. Gundy said after the game he didn’t think they abandoned the run but the lower number of carries was a result in the fewer number of total plays OSU ran. That could also be a factor in the steep drop-off in total touches the two combined to have.

It looked early like the plan was to get the two involved — particularly in OSU’s second drive. That drive saw Gordon line up as a wildcat quarterback and hand the ball off to Presley, who lined up as a running back beside him. Presley rushed for 11 yards on the play. Those were the good ole days of the game when it looked as if the game was still going to be fun to watch.

Maybe it was simply the number of plays being the cause for the two not being as impactful on the game, but in a game where nothing was working offensively, it would’ve been nice to see more of a point to be made to get those two guys the ball.

9. Utes Aggressive on Fourth Down

For as much that went right for Utah on Saturday, the Utes sort of stunk on third down, going just 5-for-18 (28%).

But that 5-for-18 was more like 9-for-18 (50%) because Utah converted on four fourth-down attempts. OSU, the team that lost this game, didn’t go for it on fourth once.

There were two solid opportunities for the Pokes to roll the dice and try to spark something. OSU had a 4th-and-1 in the first quarter from the 50 when the Pokes were up 3-0. Instead of going for it, the Cowboys took a delay of game and punted the ball away.

Then trailing 10-3 in the third quarter, OSU had a 4th-and-2 from the 50 and again punted.

“You know why we didn’t go for it?” Gundy said. “We hadn’t got a first down the whole game. What makes you think we can convert fourth and two on the 50? It was still a one-score game.”

That second one instantly came back to bite OSU, as Utah ripped off a 62-yard rush on the first play of the ensuing drive, so the Pokes might as well have gone for it.

It’s not like the Utes were reckless in going for it. All five of their fourth-down attempts were fairly deep into OSU territory. If two more of them didn’t work, who knows what this looks like. It’s a results-oriented stat, for sure.

10. Something Positive

Saturday is disappointing for OSU fans because of how poorly the Pokes played, but this is far from the end of the season. Everything (literally everything) is still in front of the Cowboys.

I’ve long thought OSU still has a decent shot at making it to Arlington by splitting this two-week stretch of Utah and Kansas State. Saturday’s result certainly makes next week’s trip to Manhattan that much bigger, but OSU isn’t eliminated from Big 12 title contention after just one Big 12 game. And with the 12-team playoff, that glory isn’t out of reach either. It’s a tad farther away now, but still within reach.

If that was the case, the Cowboys wouldn’t have made it to Arlington last year after losing in Ames. Shoot, OSU lost to South Alabama 33-7 the week before that. The 2023 Cowboys proved how drastic a turnaround a team could make.

On top of that, it feels unlikely OSU’s offense will be that bad again. Sure, this might not be Rudolph’s 2017 offense or Weeden’s 2011 group, but there are good players out there. I wouldn’t hold my breath for another seven three-and-out day where a quarterback gets benched and re-inserted.

So as we all overreact now, tomorrow and this upcoming week, let’s all remember that seasons have their ebbs and flows. A win in Manhattan next week, and these Cowboys are right back on track.