Mike Yurcich, Jim Knowles React to OSU’s 48-42 Iowa State Loss

STILLWATER — Everybody was searching for answers Saturday night after Oklahoma State — which closed as a near double-digit favorite to secure its fifth win of the season — fell flat in a 48-42 loss to Iowa State inside Boone Pickens Stadium.

The loss moved OSU to 0-2 in conference home games in 2018 and 2-5 in its last seven.

Below is what offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles had to say of the loss. (If you’re curious, here’s Mike Gundy’s thoughts.)

Yurcich on Making Adjustments

“You want to try to call the plays you’ve been working on all week. You try to fix, adjust and communicate on the headsets and try to coach them from the sideline and march forward. Obviously, if there is a problem schematically or matchup-wise you try to make adjustments as you go along.”

Yurcich on Cornelius

“I can’t give you a solid evaluation until I watch the film, but I think there is a toughness factor to him. I think he made some great plays. There are of course always some plays we want to have back.”

Knowles on the Defense’s Performance

“I like to tell the players that the mistakes on Saturday, they are my mistakes. There is no finger pointing. We had some match-up problems but that is not their problem, that is not the players’ fault. That is my fault. It is my job to put them in better positions to succeed no matter where we are at and whomever we are going against. When you score as many points as our offense did, we should win games. So I think that falls on me to continue to work, evaluate and to adjust what I do.”

Knowles on Iowa State QB Brock Purdy

“I think that was a great move on their part. I think it took us too long to adjust to that. I think that was a good game plan by them. We started out well the first couple of series and after that, it took us too long to adjust. We finally got adjusted to it but it took a while and hurt us.”