Notebook: OSU Somehow Comes out Clean After Dirty Game in Morgantown

If you were looking forward to Saturday’s battle of ranked opponents as a reprieve from the ugly football we watched in Austin, you waited all week just to be disappointed. If on the other hand, you like chaos and non-stop emotional roller coasters, then you’re probably still beaming from the display Oklahoma State put on in Morgantown.

There’s a lot to digest. Let’s get into the notebook.

• After a 38-yard highlight-worthy run on the first play of the game, Justice Hill got helmet-sandwiched by two Mountaineer defenders and lost the ball. The Big 12’s leading rusher was slow to get up and didn’t appear to know where he was or that he even had the ball to begin with. Then he came back and carried the ball 10 more times and scored two TDs.

Here’s the play where Justice Hill was injured. Not good. pic.twitter.com/XBvl6QRGDZ

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) October 28, 2017

• I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many loose footballs in a game. There were nine total turnovers (six fumbles), four for OSU and five for Dana’s crew. But it seems like I can remember the ball popping loose at least 19 times. On top of that we saw at least a dozen dropped passes. I guess the ball was wet but I don’t think that accounts for all of it.

• This game started out about as bad as it could for OSU. Hill goes down and loses the ball on the first possession, then J.D. King fumbles it on the next drive and all fingernails became endangered among OSU’s fan base. But the defense held strong and King came through with a career game.

• This was the first game in Mike Gundy’s career where his team turned the ball over on its first two possessions. This was before it started raining. OSU was 6-13 under Gundy when committing at least four turnovers before today.

"In the last 3 meetings between the Cowboys and West Virginia, including today, #OKState has outscored WVU 50-0 in points off turnovers."

— Hunziker Bot (@HunzikerSays) October 28, 2017

• That trend continued today points off turnovers. On five Mountaineer turnovers, OSU was able to score 27 points. The home team only got seven on the Cowboys’ four giveaways.

• OSU’s defense held West Virginia to three points on its first red-zone trip. Tre Flowers stripped the ball from Will Grier’s paws on what would have probably been at least a first down, if not six points.

• Oklahoma State should have had at least a 20-point lead going into the locker room at halftime. Probably could have been a 27-point lead. But with four minutes in the second quarter, OSU ran it three times and punted like there were 40 seconds left. West Virginia just needed on big passing play to get into the red zone and ended in the end zone, 23-10. A overly conservative mindset potentially swings the game 17 points. And West Virginia was getting the ball to start the third.

• If OSU goes up 7-0 next week in Bedlam, is Gundy going to go in to full clock-management mode and try to run clock?

I understand wanting to run the ball for the sake of balance. #Okstate looks like they are running it because they don't want to throw it.

— Sam Mayes (@AllmericanMayes) October 28, 2017

• J.D. King fumbled the ball on his third carry and then went on to write himself into an Oklahoma State folk hero. He’s such a tough runner and might be a more suitable Thunder to Justice Hill’s lightning than Chris Carson was last season. Dudes a beast.

First half summary. pic.twitter.com/vjBB6wGpm3

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) October 28, 2017

• While there is a question mark behind center starting this next January, the running game should be in capable hands (no fumble puns, I promise). Justice Hill will be a junior, J.D. King a sophomore and Chuba should be a freshman. Josh Henson should be able to build some depth up front. Both are things a young QB can lean on as he gets his feet under him. What a freshman Mason Rudolph could do with next year’s team.

• Mason didn’t have his best game but apparently didn’t practice all week with some kind of injury. And he still broke three school records. Dude’s a gamer and obviously puts the work in. We’re going to miss this guy after the next five or so games.

Gundy on Mason: “Texted me at 8:47 at night on a Thursday about play 37 of USC-Texas asking if we can add it. That’s commitment.” #okstate

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) October 28, 2017

• With OSU up 20 in the third quarter and rolling, a backwards pass is fumbled by LD Brown giving West Virginia the ball at the 38. After so many fumbles and stripped/lost balls why even get cute there?

• Oklahoma State’s defense is playing at a high level these last three weeks. It entered this game ranked 27th giving up just 1.61 points per drive and will rise in the rankings once they’re updated by BCF Toys.

• OSU’s secondary was great today. Ramon gets a pick. Fellow safety Jerel Morrow joined the club and A.J. Green nabbed two of them. But it was the six pass breakups and overall good coverage that effectively killed the “Will Grier is a better QB than Mason Rudolph noise.”

• Remember when OSU couldn’t get off the field on third downs? Me neither.

• This is going to come off cliche but after the Texas game Mike Gundy talked about a winning culture that his team has learned how to win. It’s true. His team can win ugly games. It can win road games. It can win ugly road games. This seems different than all of those 2015 wins where the ball just bounced OSU’s way at the right time. The ball has not bounced its way much over the last two weeks and the Cowboys are 7-1.

Oklahoma State won this sloppy, turnover-filled contest because it had a much better defense. If there’s anything that should give you confidence about next week’s Bedlam matchup, it’s that it can say the same thing about Mike Stoops’ unit.