Bedlam Debriefing: OSU Impressive Even in Defeat

The Cowboys stepped into the ring with a heavyweight slugger as the decided underdog, but squared up like a true contender. As is the case in any tightly-contested slugfest, a jab here, a point there, made all the difference for the in-state title bout.

Now that I’ve had some time to digest what happened on Saturday in Norman, let’s debrief an all-time Bedlam game.

The Short Story

The short story starts with the long ball. One of the top gripes about Taylor Cornelius and his campaign to lead OSU’s offense all season has been his inability to hit his receivers deep, in-stride, with any accuracy at all. It looks like some found the user manual to the joystick and entered calibration protocol.

Cornelius was ? on several deep balls down the field, the first of which led Kyle Porter to set up a “Guys.” macro in our Slack chat.

The Pokes and the Sooners went blow-for-blow to start the game. Here are the first seven possessions from either team.

A game that started out like it would end with each team in the 70s, went into a lull offensively, but it never got out of hand either way. After OSU tied it at 14-all, no team led by more than 6 points.

It came down to a couple of plays, a misstep here, a gut punch there, but OSU still have a chance to take the lead on that 2-point conversion play that will continue to be dissected for years to come.

All-in-all, the Cowboys came to play, Mike Gundy coached to win, and it still was not good enough. From a fan’s perspective I think that is both comforting and disheartening.

Who Earned a Brand Helmet Sticker?

Offense: OL

I could honestly dole out decals to a handful of different Pokes from Saturday. Taylor Cornelius set the OSU Bedlam record with 501 passing yards and tossed three TDs. Tyron and Tylan were amazing, and despite his late-game fumble, Chuba Hubbard appears ready to etch his name in at RB1 whenever Justice is done in Stillwater.

But an offensive line that has taken its lumps both in the trenches and on Twitter, showed up to play. Taylor Cornelius has all the time in the world to throw. Of the two sacks he took, one was more the result of coverage than pressure. It may have been the group’s best outing all year.

Defense: Kenneth Edison-McGruder

KEM has a big-boy game, registering his first two sacks of the season on a guy I wasn’t sure OSU would ever touch.

His 12 tackles, three TFLs and that pair of sacks all acounted for career highs for the redshirt junior.

Question for West Virginia

Can OSU keep this up? That team that played in Norman looked like one that should be favored, at least slightly, against the Mountaineers next week at home. But more times than not, the Cowboys have looked like a team destined not to make a bowl game.

If the Pokes can’t replicate some of that fight, scheme, effort — whatever has been the difference in the UT and OU games versus the other five Big 12 games, they may very well be heading to Fort Worth in Week 13 fighting for the postseason. And if TCU beats Baylor next week, it could be a play-in for both teams.

Play of the Game

How do I pick just one? There were plenty of reel-worthy clips that I could have included but I’ll go with one that I personally won’t soon forget.

Tyron went full Chris Carson on a dude!