Good, Bad, Ugly and Unclear: Cowboys Escape with Win, but Not Quite Unscathed

First off, let’s appreciate a win against a Division I football team. It had been a minute.

The Cowboys knocked off what is probably a good FCS opponent on Thursday night, extending Mike Gundy’s home-opener win streak to 21 games, and OSU’s to an FBS-best 30.

Now to the stuff that really matters.

Let’s take a look at the Good, Bad, Ugly (and Unclear) from Oklahoma State’s Week 1 win over UT-Martin.

The Good/and Bad

There was a short time in the first quarter — before fans inside BPS and watching from home were quite ready to admit it — that the Cowboys looked almost promising as a football team. They still do, but with caveats.

A new QB was exciting and, most importantly, showed a propensity to score touchdowns. Then he was apparently winded. And then he was apparently hurt and out for the game.

Hauss Hejny ignited the Pokes’ offense and that fire spread to the sidelines and up the cramped walls and into the seats of BPS. Actual, genuine, enthusiasm for football. And then it unceremoniously flickered out.

We still got to see Zane Flores for the first time, and he was good at times, but the offense was less effective. Whether that was due to playcalling to hide his inexperience and his lack of Hejny’s wheels remains to be seen. More on that below.

There’s still no word on how bad Hejny’s injury is or how long he might miss, as of writing, but those first two drives were good and the looming questions are bad.

The Ugly

The main reason that we saw such a difference in output between Hejny and Flores is probably more about the Cowboys’ ineffective run game than anything.

Look, it’s basically a completely revamped offensive line, and it was only Week 1. And the Skyhawks return some of a defense that ranked sixth (in the FCS) in rush defense from a year ago.

But, at least in a small sample size, we saw a quarterback be the most effective runner on the team. And he left and did not return. And starting center Kasen Carpenter went down and did not return.

Aside from Hejny’s ability to beat the numbers, OSU’s rushers totaled just 100 yards at 2.6 yards per try. The Pokes were one-dimensional which led to trying to protect the only healthy contender for QB1 they had (at least at the time) and there were a lot of underneath throws and few shots down the field. Flores was also sacked twice.

A lot will depend on how well Hejny can walk around tomorrow, but it underlines an issue the Cowboys have had with and without a QB that can burn people, and it lies up front. It might be getting better. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Speaking of that.

The Unclear

I don’t know if this defense is good, but it’s got fun pieces.

I pulled a rando prediction out of my hat last week, and I am not crowning myself the de facto inaugural president of the Wendell Gregory Fan Club.

Wendell Gregory has three sacks in his first three quarters at #okstate, tying a Big 12 freshman record.

When Collin Oliver won Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2021, he didn’t break the three-sack mark until his sixth game against Texas.

Last year’s sack leaders? pic.twitter.com/3IIRiRsENh

— Kyle Cox ✍️ (@KyleCoxWrites) August 29, 2025

Add in big numbers from Bryan McCoy Jr. and Brandon Rawls and there’s reason for excitement. Plus, if you take away one trick play, Todd Grantham’s defense would have pitched an OSU shutout for the first time in four years.

It’s FCS. We have no clue how many points they’ll give up in Eugene, but I think there are some fun players on this D.