Second-Half Adjustments Help Oklahoma State Defenders Play Fast, Shut Down West Virginia

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For most of the first half, it looked like Oklahoma State’s defenders had the worst seat to a one-on-one rushing competition between West Virginia running back Cam Cook and Mountaineers quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr.

Cook had 121 yards and averaged 8.6 yards per carry, while Hawkins Jr. had 62 and two touchdowns while averaging 4.8. Seventeen of their combined 27 first-half carries resulted in a touchdown, first down or gain of at least four yards.

“I thought early in the game, we weren’t great taking some angles on Hawkins, especially when we got down in the red area,” coach Eric Morris said. “We had linebackers and safeties, felt like we were in position. And he did what he does, and he made them miss, and he scored touchdowns. I thought we did a much better job of closing the gap and taking the space away.”

Hawkins Jr. averaged 2.9 yards a carry in the second half and added only 40 more rushing yards. Cook’s average also dipped considerably, down to 4.8, and he rushed for 72 in the second half.

Together, the duo picked up a first down, touchdown or a gain of at least four yards on only 13 of 29 carries as the Cowboys defense shut things down enough for Oklahoma State to take firm control in the team’s 41-24 victory.

“I think us going back to a little bit more of what we know and play a little faster and not think as much. … Just settling everybody down and doing something they’ve repped a million times,” Morris said when asked about second-half improvements. “And going out there and letting it loose and play extremely fast. I think it allowed us to play a lot more free as a defense and see it and play by the rules. That was a good adjustment by Coach (Skyler) Cassity.”

Morris said the Cowboys started the night off in a three-down front in an attempt to put an extra guy in space to help on the perimeter.

Linebacker Ethan Wesloski felt that decision helped in the second half even if the Cowboys didn’t execute as well early.

“We wanted to show them a new look,” Wesloski said. “And we continued to show that look sporadically throughout the game trying to keep them off rhythm, off their playbook. … We were able to settle in a little bit and play a little faster.”

Wesloski criticized his own play, mentioning there were at least five or six plays he left out on the field. He still left Morgantown with a game-high 17 tackles, seven of them solo, and a half sack.

“Those guys play a lot of football,” Morris said. “Between Ethan, and (Isaiah) Chisom and Tate Romney, I mean those guys are out there, and they’re fighting for one another. Proud of their performance in the second half.”

Romney finished second in tackles with 12 total, including six solo, a sack, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup. Chisom added seven total tackles, including three solo, to finish fifth among the Cowboys.

After giving up eight of 11 conversions on third down through the first half of the third quarter, Oklahoma State’s nation-leading defense finally showed up.

Nickel Christian Bodnar stopped Hawkins Jr. at the line of scrimmage on 3rd-and-4, forcing WVU to settle for a field goal. Then safety Quinton Hammonds and nose tackle Jerry Lawson stopped Hawkins Jr. on 3rd-and-1. This set up Keviyan Huddleston and Saadiq Clements to come up with a 2-yard tackle for loss on 4th-and-1 against WVU backup running back Amari Latimer in the final minute of the third quarter.

“The fourth-down stop was huge, right?” Morris said. “And I think, at that moment in the game, the crowd was still into it, and I thought that was where you could kind of see them deflate a little bit and our guys kind of go and take it at that point.”

Oklahoma State stopped the Mountaineers two more times on fourth down to seal the win. The plays came on somewhat manageable situations, 4th-and-5 and 4th-and-3, considering the Mountaineers ranked first nationally on fourth down (2-for-2) and 15th nationally on third down (53%) when the game began.

“Coach Cassity called a couple really key blitz, timed blitzes where we got them down,” Morris said. “Another big fourth-down stop where we hadn’t blitzed a ton, and he sent the house one time, and we were able to get them down and turned the ball over on downs.”