Ollie Gordon Has Historic Day in Kansas Win as Oklahoma State Great Terry Miller Was Honored

On a day a third running back was inducted into the Cowboy Football Ring of Honor, Ollie Gordon showed that he too may have his No. 0 atop Boone Pickens Stadium one day.

Gordon is by no means at the level of Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas or Terry Miller yet, but he did accomplish feats in Saturday’s 39-32 win over No. 23 Kansas that not even they did. Gordon set not only personal bests, but also set some OSU milestones as Miller was inducted into the Cowboy Football Ring of Honor at halftime.

“Terry Miller, that’s my guy,” Gordon said. “We had our media day and I took a couple of pictures with him. I saw him early this week. I saw him before ‘The Walk’ and he was just talking to me and told us to go out there and handle business, so I feel like I had to do it for him, and he got inducted today, yeah, that’s my guy.”

Gordon tallied 284 all-purpose yards on Saturday, excelling as a ball carrier and pass catcher. It was the most all-purpose yards since Chuba Hubbard had 303 against Kansas State in 2019.

Gordon rushed for 168 yards on 29 carries– averaging 5.8 yards– and had a 42-yard touchdown. He also caught six passes for a team-high 116 yards and a 17-yard touchdown. His rushes, rushing yards, receptions, receiving yards and all-purpose yards marks were all career-highs.

The performance made Gordon the first OSU running back to reach 100 yards in both rushing and receiving in the same game since Gerald Hudson, also against KU, in 1989. The span between then and now included the likes of Hubbard, Jaylen Warren, Justice Hill, Kendall Hunter and Tatum Bell, none of which reached the century mark in both categories in the same game.

In fact, none of those listed even reached 100 receiving yards in a game. Gordon was the first running back with 100 receiving yards in a game since Rafael Denson in 1992. Gordon and Rashod Owens also became the first Cowboy duo since last year’s Bedlam to both tally 100 receiving yards in a single game.

“I couldn’t really do it without the guys up front and my quarterback being so great, our linemen being great,” Gordon said. “I couldn’t do it without them.”

Gordon’s historical performance started from the beginning — literally. Gordon caught a pass from Alan Bowman that he took for 50 yards on the first play of the game. It was a career-long reception for Gordon and the longest opening play for OSU since Jaylen Warren had a 52-yard reception against Kansas State in 2021.

The Cowboys’ first drive ended with Gordon catching a 17-yard touchdown pass from Bowman. Gordon surpassed 100 all-purpose yards before the first quarter was even over.

One historic performance later, Gordon’s night ended with him up on the concrete wall surrounding the field at Boone Pickens Stadium to celebrate with a fan base that’s all too familiar with great running backs. They, along with Miller and Warren, had just witnessed what Gordon could do when given the chance in a stadium with the names and numbers of elite running backs overlooking its field.

“That’s real cool,” Gordon said. “It really shows that Oklahoma State is RBU.”