Instant Recap: Oklahoma State Falls to Tulsa 19-12

BOXSCORE

The Cowboys showed some fight late, but the result remains.

Oklahoma State fell to Tulsa 19-12 at home. It extended the Cowboys’ losing streak against FBS opponents to 11.

Tulsa had lost 10-straight games to the Cowboys and had not won in Stillwater since 1951. Neither represent the type of history the Cowboys wanted to be involved in.

After OSU marched down the field on the opening drive, the Cowboys’ field goal felt like a letdown. But what Mike Gundy would have given for one over the next two quarters. The real letdown was OSU’s next seven possessions. Four-straight punts followed by two-straight turnover-on-downs.

Meanwhile, after allowing Tulsa to march down and score a touchdown on its opening drive, OSU held Tulsa to four-straight field goals to at least keep it within striking distance midway through the third quarter.

At halftime, the Cowboys had gained just 117 yards (45 passing, 72 rushing). That’s less than they had at halftime at Oregon. At least this time, they were down 16-3 and not 41-3.

The Cowboys did turn things around a bit in the second. The offense was actually sustaining drives, and the defense got some stops. But it was too little, too late, and there were too many missed opportunities.

Tulsa running back Dominic Richardson bullied his former team to the tune of 146 yards on 31 carries, but he also gave them at least a glimmer of hope, one of several missed opportunities for the Cowboys.

Richardson had been doing his best to get some payback on his former team. He was up to 70 rushing yards on 20 attempts midway through the third when he took a handoff and went airborne before the ball flung out of his hand. Dylan Smith jumped on it to give the Cowboys the ball at the Tulsa 42. The Cowboys breached the redzone but then came up short, turning it over on downs one of three times on the night. It was one of several near momentum swings that took the wind out of BPS.

Zane Flores looked as good in the second half against Tulsa as we’ve seen him at all in college. He finished 25-of-40 for 214 yards, 56 yards rushing with a TD. He’s yet to throw for a score. Rodney Fields Jr. led the Pokes with 113 rushing yards. Eleven Cowboys caught a pass but none broke the 50-yard mark in receiving yards.

Tulsa won many facets of this game, but the Golden Hurricane showed its mettle when it counted. Tulsa was 7-of-19 on third downs and 3-and-3 on fourth downs. They came in 8-of-12 on fourth downs in their first three games. Meanwhile, OSU went 4-of-15 on third downs and was 1-of-4 on fourth down.

The Cowboys got some stops late and then used a late field goal to edge back within 19-12 with 5:49 left but was unable to make the plays necessary to get over the hump. And that hump was a 1-2 Tulsa team at home.

With the loss, the Cowboys fall to 1-2 on the season. Next up, they host Baylor for their Big 12 opener at 2:30 p.m. Saturday inside Boone Pickens Stadium. The Bears are 2-1 and host Arizona State on Saturday.