Notebook: Drops and Wilson’s Message to the Team

STILLWATER — The world did not stop despite Oklahoma State’s loss to a Sun Belt squad in Week 3 of the college football season.

The Cowboys are back at practice following their 33-7 loss to South Alabama. They met with reporters after Monday’s practice at the Sherman E. Smith Training Center. Here are two storylines that came from the availability.

Dropped Passes

Telling wide receivers they need to catch the ball is probably about as useful as yelling ‘Rebound!’ when your team gives up an offensive board. They know.

Still, drops have uncharacteristically been an issue for the Cowboys three games into 2023 with the most recent example of that coming during Oklahoma State’s opening drive of the Cowboys’ 33-7 loss to South Alabama on Saturday when Jaden Bray dropped what looked to have been a touchdown.

The Cowboys’ passing game needs all the help it can get right now. Averaging 203 passing yards a game, OSU ranks 12th in the 14-team Big 12, and OSU’s 5.3 yards per attempted pass ranks at the bottom of the league.

So no matter who is throwing the ball, the Cowboys need their receivers to catch it.

“We’re always on the JUGS,” redshirt freshman Talyn Shettron said. “The main thing is we all know we can catch the ball. If we couldn’t catch the ball, we wouldn’t be here. A lot of it is just focus. We’re really just focusing on the details, looking the ball all the way in.”

Wilson’s Message to the Team

There have been a lot of opinions flowing after Oklahoma State’s loss to South Alabama, and expectedly so, not many have been positive.

Preston Wilson said he let his opinion known to his team in the days following the first loss of OSU’s season. He harkened back to some nervy finishes at the beginning of the 2021 season when OSU had one-score games against Missouri State, Tulsa and Boise State in the noncon before winning the Fiesta Bowl.

Here is Wilson’s full quote on what he told the media he said to the team:

“Hey guys, look, we’ve been in this situation before,” Wilson said. “This is not the first time we’ve ever lost. It’s very inconvenient. Nobody wants to deal with it. It sucks, but we have another game to play next week. We’re 0-0 in conference, so let’s go in with a level head this week, put the loss behind us, learn from it and ultimately go fix our mistakes and go have a great rest of the season.

“We’ve had some rough starts and finished out strong before. Looking back at ’21, there was some games that we almost lost at the beginning that could’ve went the other way and we ended up having a great year. There’s still a lot of season left to be played and a lot of ball left to be played. That’s my attitude is keep a level head and put your trust in Christ and keep on working, and we’ll reach our goals.”