Instant Recap: Oklahoma State Holds Off TCU to Claim 34-27 Victory

Short-handed but not outgunned, Oklahoma State flexed its fierce ground game against a stout TCU defense and took its shots when they came. The Cowboys defense made play after play, and despite missing his first field goal of the year, Matt Ammendola put the Frogs on ice putting OSU up 10 with two minutes to go. They would hold on for a 34-27 win.

The biggest question coming into this game was how Oklahoma State would replace the loss of Tylan Wallace. Mike Gundy’s answer was two-part: 1) Dillon Stoner and 2) more designed runs than pass attempts for Spencer Sanders. It worked.

Sanders’ first four targets went to Dillon Stoner and he paid them off for 71 yards between two catches including a 57-yard touchdown. Sanders and Stoners connected again for 2 yards and a score in the second quarter. Stoner lead the Cowboys with 93 yards on just three catches and those two scores.

Sanders tied a career high with 19 rushes for 88 yards (and even had another long rushing score called back by a penalty). He threw for 158 yards (9-of-15), two touchdowns and an interception.

Of course, the player of the game was Chuba Hubbard who rushed for 223 yards, picking up 11.2 yards per carry and two scores.

Several Cowboy defenders had big days including Malcolm Rodriguez leading the team in tackles for the fourth consecutive week (eight) and adding a QB hurry and a sack.

Kolby Harvell-Peel continued his stellar play adding six tackles, two pass breakups and two interceptions. Tanner McCalister showed up with six tackles and a tackle for loss.

My condensed recap and then a slightly-less truncated retelling of the Cowboys’ sixth win.

1st Quarter = Awesome
2nd Quarter = Meh
3rd Quarter = Frustrating
4th Quarter = Bonkers

Fueled by big play after big play, OSU won the first quarter by 7 and out-gained TCU by over 100 yards. But the tables turned in the second with the Horned Frogs owning a touchdown advantage and a similar advantage in yardage. That added up to a 17-all tie going into the half.

The second half was filled with crucial stops by the defense and scattered with near misses by the offense, until Chuba broke loose. But the deciding factor was the 4-1 turnover battle the Cowboys won. Don’t look now but OSU has a 7-2 advantage in TOs over the last two games.

Spencer Sanders got the best of the freshman-on-freshman QB battle. Max Duggan threw 143 passes in college before his first interception last week against Texas. He threw three in Stillwater on Saturday (what an exciting new trend for OSU’s defense).

Jim Knowles’ group forced four turnovers but, unfortunately, its offense made little used of them.

On the first interception on TCU’s third drive, OSU answered with a three-and-out. After the Cowboys forced and recovered a fumble in the third quarter, they followed it up with another three-and-out. When Jarrick Bernard grabbed his first interception of the year and gave the ball to the offense at the TCU 23-yard line, they Cowboys went three-and-out with a missed field goal.

Chuba Hubbard would have no more of that. After Kolby Harvell-Peel grabbed Duggan’s third pick, Hubbard took the second snap of the drive 62 yards to the house.

And that wasn’t his longest play of the game. Chuba’s 92-yard score in the third quarter was a career high and tied for the fourth-longest in OSU history.

After TCU was able to pull to within 7 on a late field goal, all the Cowboys had to do was recover the onside kick to take a knee and punch their ticket to the postseason.

The result gives Oklahoma State consecutive Big 12 wins for the first time in two years and broke a two-game losing streak to TCU. Most importantly, it makes the Cowboys bowl eligible heading into a week off before a final stretch of Kansas, at West Virginia and Bedlam at home.