Grades: Coaching Fails Oklahoma State in Loss to Kansas State

The Cowboys have the talent to be a really good football team this season. The question now is if they have the coaching to accomplish what they’re capable of.

Oklahoma State returned the reigning Doak Walker Award winner, the most experienced offensive line in college football history, a seventh-year quarterback and was entering Year 2 of Bryan Nardo’s new defensive system. It seemed to be Big 12 championship or bust in the first year without Oklahoma or Texas in the conference. Only five weeks later, though, and 2024 is a bust after the Cowboys lost to Kansas State 42-20 on Saturday to start Big 12 play 0-2.

Here are my grades from a loss that quashed OSU’s season.

Offensive Play Calling: F

Play calling failed the talent OSU has and the plays that talent made Saturday. The turning point in this game was when it was actually the Cowboys who made the plays to gain all of the momentum. Alan Bowman hit De’Zhaun Stribling for a 77-yard TD to take the lead. Then one play later Korie Black had an interception to give OSU the ball on K-State’s 33. But with that field position, offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn called back-to-back quarterback runs with Bowman, who’s never been a mobile QB, for a gain of four yards combined before a two-yard pass to Ollie Gordon in the flats on third down. OSU settled for a field goal and K-State proceeded to score 35 unanswered points. That sequence does enough to summarize OSU’s play calling on Saturday, and most of this season other than against a weak Tulsa team.

Dunn is in charge of calling plays. He’s the name trending on social media with fans asking for his head. But it gets to the point where there’s also someone making the decision to continue to let Dunn make all those decisions. It seems almost every week Mike Gundy admits that he and his staff were out coached. But nothing changes until something changes.

Quarterback Management: F

Last week, Bowman was benched at halftime after an abysmal first half from OSU’s offense against Utah. Garrett Rangel then failed to provide any sort of spark, so Bowman was back in four drives later. The offense was definitely improved with Bowman back in command, reaching the end zone on the Cowboys’ last two possessions.

Bowman, a seventh-year senior, was again lackluster against Kansas State, though, throwing three interceptions and consistently under throwing receivers. He can’t help it, but he’s also not a mobile QB, and at times Saturday it seemed like Dunn was trying to transform Bowman into a dual-threat QB as Avery Johnson ran all over the place for K-State.

Yes, Bowman led the Cowboys to a Big 12 championship last season. And I even boldly stated before this season that he could go down as one of the greatest QBs in OSU history if expectations were met. But the last two weeks, he’s looked more like the journeyman he is who was a third-string QB at Michigan. He’s a game manager, not a game changer. And with no running game right now, there are only losses to be managed without something more. This is exactly who Bowman is, though. He’s not bad. He just hasn’t been the guy the Pokes need.

PFB’s Marshall Scott even asked Gundy postgame if he ever thought about switching QBs again.

“No.”

Why not?

“I don’t think that’s what’s best at times for what we’re trying to get accomplished offensively.”

I would assume what you’re trying to accomplish offensively is put points on the board, which OSU failed to do most of the game.

We already know what Rangel is made of. He got a chance last week and was benched after just over a quarter. He got a chance to win the job last season, too.

Then there’s Zane Flores, the redshirt freshman with all the hype. Fans always want the unknown. They haven’t seen Flores fail yet. All we’ve heard out of OSU’s practices is how good Flores is, even since last year while he was redshirting. In August, Mike Gundy told us Flores was ready. But on Monday when he was asked if he ever thought about putting Flores in last week, he backtracked and said Flores wasn’t ready because he doesn’t get as many practice reps as Bowman and Rangel.

It might have been Flores now or never on Saturday. The Cowboys once again couldn’t get anything going, and desperate for a spark while knowing exactly what they have in Bowman and Rangel, Flores got as much opportunity as I did against K-State.

Gundy will never know if Flores is actually ready or not until he gives him a chance. And in today’s college football world, if OSU doesn’t give Flores a chance, someone else will.

Avery Johnson: A+

I was wrong about Avery Johnson, K-State’s sophomore quarterback. There are plenty of receipts out there of me stating Johnson was just a glorified running back. That is definitely part of his game, but he proved Saturday that it’s only a fraction of what he’s capable of. Johnson accounted for five touchdowns — three passing and two rushing. He threw a pick early then bounced back by leading his team to 35 unanswered points.

Johnson has improved tremendously week to week. And unfortunately for the Cowboys, they could have to face him for another two seasons.