Connect with us

Football

10 Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 27-7 Victory against UT-Martin

On the QBs, the running game and more.

Published

8 months ago

on

[Devin Wilber/PFB]

BOX SCORE

STILLWATER — It wasn’t always the prettiest, but the Cowboys won a football game for the first time in nearly a calendar year Thursday night.

Oklahoma State beat UT-Martin 27-7 to start the 2025 season 1-0. Here are 10 thoughts on the game.

1. Hejny Was Fun While He Lasted

Hauss Hejny sure could wiggle, but it didn’t last long.

Hejny went out in the first quarter with a reported lower-body injury and didn’t return. Gundy didn’t give much of an update on his status moving forward after the game.

In his three series, Hejny was 5-for-10 with 96 passing yards and a touchdown while having four rushing attempts for 27 yards and another score.

His plays that really stood out were his touchdown run and a beautiful pass on the move to UCO transfer Terrill Davis.

The touchdown run was a beauty both in the plan and execution. From the 6-yard line, the play started with Kalib Hicks motioning out of the backfield, leaving Hejny back there by himself, but the motion also took a UT-Martin linebacker out of the box.

Hejny took the snap on the left hash and was fast enough to still beat the defense to the left edge and outrun everybody to the end zone.

The pass came a little before that. Hejny again rolled left, but was able to flip his shoulders and put the ball on Davis in stride for a 34-yard gain.

So, what we saw from Hejny was good, but I would’ve liked to see much more.

2. Flores Was Solid

Zane Flores played solid, as well, even if it wasn’t as electrifying as Hejny’s opening stint.

Flores finished 13-for-20 with 136 yards, leading two drives that ended in field goals and another that resulted in a touchdown.

Although it wasn’t anything to write home about, I thought it was good enough. Not only had Flores not taken a college snap before tonight, it had been going on three years since he played in a live game. So, I’ll take a 65% completion percentage and no picks and hope he builds on that moving forward.

Funnily enough, his two best plays were a run and a pass, as well.

The pass, also to Davis, came midway through the third quarter, where Flores ripped it from the right hash all the way up the left sideline. He threw it from his own 28-yard line, and it landed where only Davis could catch it at about the UT-Martin 26-yard line. It was a 41-yard play from the line of scrimmage.

The run came on a third-and-long from the shadow of his own endzone. Flores almost instantly had Skyhawk defenders bearing down on him, and he bounced off two would-be sacks before running for 19 yards to keep the drive alive. If he eats that sack, that punt isn’t easy to get off, and at the time OSU’s lead was 20-7.

3. The Running Game Wasn’t Good

This is where the offensive issues were.

OSU running backs on Thursday carried 33 times for 88 yards — that’s 2.7 yards a carry.

It’s hard to not think back to the Tulsa game last year, where against an inferior opponent the Cowboys struggled to get a lot going on the ground. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time because Oklahoma State had just beaten Arkansas and throttled TU 45-10, but those rushing struggles ended up being a theme throughout the season.

Unlike last year, there are a lot of new pieces on this offense — in fact, it’s nearly all new. So maybe there’s a world where this O-line continues to build chemistry and the running game gets better as the season goes along, but for one game, I’m a little worried.

4. Which Brings Up Another Point about Quarterbacks

If OSU’s run game is an issue, a mobile quarterback could relieve some of that.

Hate to bring up last year again, but the first half of that BYU game looked much different offensively than the Cowboys had much of the season thanks to Garret Rangel’s ability to keep the edge of the Cougars’ defense honest. It keeps at least one guy out of the dogpile that OSU’s run plays have turned into.

The issue with that is, like Rangel in that BYU game, running quarterbacks get hurt. Depending on how long Hejny is out, that means that either a true freshman is one play away from going in the game or maybe even a wide receiver is one play from being OSU’s quarterback (Sam Jackson V played QB at TCU and Cal). That’s certainly not ideal.

Flores is mobile enough, but you probably don’t want him taking a ton of hits given what I just mentioned. But Flores, an inexperienced quarterback, would probably appreciate some run support. It’s a bit of a catch-22.

5. But How About the Running Back Rotation?

Rodney Fields was held out of Thursday’s game, but it sounded like he could be ready to go come next week. With five guys sharing ORs on OSU’s first depth chart, the running back position was rather intriguing entering this game.

Oklahoma transfer Kalib Hicks got the start. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound redshirt sophomore carried 21 times for 56 yards. That was more than double the amount of carries as any other running back. Here are the running back stats:

Kalib Hicks — 21 carries, 56 yards (2.7 yards per carry)
Sesi Vailahi — 9 carries, 32 yards (3.6 yards per carry), 1 catch, 14 yards
Freddie Brock IV — 3 carries, 0 yards, 1 catch, 5 yards

My game MVP pick of Trent Howland was a bad pick, as he didn’t take a single handoff.

It’s hard to glean much from that given how poohy the run game was, but the carry numbers were interesting. It feels like Hicks has carved out a bigger work load. Does that change much when Fields returns? Guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

6. And the O-Line Rotation

The starting O-line was a tad different than the first depth chart.

That depth chart had Kasen Carpenter and Austin Kawecki battling for the center spot, but both Carpenter and Kawecki started Thursday, with Kawecki starting at right guard.

Noah McKinney was the listed right guard on the depth chart. He rotated in there and at right tackle for Nuku Mafi — that was until Carpenter went off injured in the second half. Then Kawecki moved to center and McKinney played at that guard spot. Depending on how hurt Carpenter is (Gundy didn’t provide injury updates after the game), the group going forward would be:

LT — Markell Samuel
LG — Bob Schick
C — Austin Kawecki
RG — Noah McKinney
RT — Nuku Mafi

Like I alluded to in the section on the running game, I’m willing to give this O-line a little more time to gel. That line from last year had played together seemingly forever. But again, I am at least a little worried about it.

7. The Defense Bent a Few Times But Rarely Broke

There were times the Skyhawks were able to push down the field a bit, but Todd Grantham’s defense bowed up when it needed to.

The only UT-Martin score came on a double pass, which you can probably live with a bit of trickeration being what got you.

UT-Martin finished with 225 yards of total offense and 3.1 yards per rush attempt. The Skyhawks are an FCS team, so I’m not acting like 3.1 yards a carry puts this defense up with the 2021 Jim Knowles D, but only once last year did OSU hold a team below 3.5 yards a carry, and that was Colorado who hung 52 points on the Pokes. There were five opponents last year who averaged 6 yards or more per carry against OSU.

8. Wendell Gregory Looks Dang Good

Hello, Wendell Gregory.

Tyler is writing a more focused piece on his game, so I won’t linger here long. But Gregory looked like a four-star recruit from the state of Georgia with offers to Michigan, Auburn and others.

He had three sacks — all in the first half. Kendal Daniels led OSU in sacks last season with 5.5. Gregory was threatening that in a half. Back in 2022, Collin Oliver led the Pokes with five sacks for the whole year.

9. The Linebackers Tackled Like Madmen

Transfer linebackers Bryan McCoy Jr. (Akron) and Brandon Rawls (Saginaw Valley) each reached double digits in tackles Thursday, with McCoy wrapping up 14 ball carriers to Rawls’ 11.

Tackling is what linebackers are for, and tackling is what those linebackers did.

10. I’m Choosing to Not Overreact to FCS Games

Under more normal circumstances, OSU has had some interesting games against FCS foes, so I’m trying my best to not have any definitive takeaways from this first game with an almost entirely new roster.

Back in 2021 — a year OSU won the Fiesta Bowl — Missouri State was driving late down a touchdown against the Cowboys. OSU ended up winning that game 23-16 before going on that magical run that ended with a win against Notre Dame.

Just last season, OSU beat the two-time defending FCS national champion South Dakota State by 24 points, just for the Cowboys to end up going 3-9.

Thursday’s game was a data point that I’m not going to ignore, but I’m also not going to base all of what I think this team can be off this one game.

Related Topics:

Most Read

Copyright © 2011- 2025 Pistols Firing Blog