Superlatives: Game MVPs, Top Plays and More from Oklahoma State’s Loss to West Virginia

The Cowboys got handled at home by West Virginia 38-14 and now face a long off week to try to figure things out. As we put a bow on the culminating loss of the first half of Oklahoma State’s season, lets hand out some awards.

Offensive MVP: Garrett Greene

I’ve given up explaining why I’m picking a non-Cowboy for Offensive MVP. OSU has not had any players that qualified.

West Virginia’s QB sliced up OSU’s defense with 245 total yards and a score. He wasn’t the world-beater in the passing game, but he didn’t need to be. His ability to break loose makes his stout rushing game better.

Here’s the first-half coffin nail he leisurely hammered into the Pokes.

UNTOUCHED! Garrett Greene Slips Into the Endzone#Big12FB | #HailWV pic.twitter.com/vRchZXc7S7

— Big 12 Studios (@big12studios) October 5, 2024

Honorable Mentions: Jahiem White, Garret Rangel

Defensive MVP: Jeff Roberson

Roberson has some big cleats to fill after Nick Martin was injured late in the K-State loss, and he did his best Martin impersonation, at least according to the box score. Roberson logged a career-high 12 total tackles (six solo), two tackles for loss and a sack.

That was one of the few bright spots for an OSU defense that will apparently be without Martin, and Collin Oliver, for some time.

Honorable Mentions: Lyrik Rawls, Kendal Daniels

Breakout Performance: Da’Wain Lofton

“Wait, who is No. 5?” you might have asked.

The former Virginia Tech transfer showed up in a big way in his OSU debut. It’s a shame that it will always be overshadowed by such an overall stinker inside BPS.

Lofton led all receivers in the game with 73 yards and caught all three balls thrown his way, including a 41-yard pass in the third quarter that set up OSU in WVU territory. Unfortunately, Alan Bowman was sacked for a loss of eight on the next play and threw his second interception of the game a couple plays later. Lofton also had a 22-yard connection with Garret Rangel.

Gavin Freeman did not dress and was not mentioned in the injury report, so it’s possible this was a move to allow him to redshirt. So don’t be surprised to see more of Lofton when the Cowboys reconvene in Provo in a couple of weeks.

Stat of the Game: Can We Punt on This Segment?

This defense has been bad, and I could toss out a whole slew of different stats to make that point, but I just decided to punt.

But seriously. OSU’s defense forced one punt in the entire game, but then it was negated after an OSU defender ran into WVU’s punter and gave the Mountaineers a first down. So technically, WVU didn’t have a punt on the stat sheet. It’s the first time that’s happened at least all the way through 2016.

Yes, technically, OSU got two stops, back-to-back turnovers on downs in the third quarter. WVU coach Neal Brown likes to go for it on fourth down, but both of those were deep in OSU territory and there was no reason to think the Pokes could stop them up to that point.

I’ll throw an actual stat in for good measure. WVU was 9-of-15 on third downs even though the Mountaineers averaged 7.1 yards to go on third down. How did they do that? It’s easy when you average 9.7 yards gained on said third-down plays. Part of that is the Garret Greene effect mentioned above, a bigger part of that is power defensive execution.

Play of the Game: Rangel to Stribling TD

The Cowboys did show a little life late with Rangel at the reins, but it was far too little too late. Regardless, let’s try to end this on a somewhat positive note. Here’s to seeing more of these in a couple of weeks at BYU.

De’zhaun Stribling Eluded The Defenders on this 4th Quarter TD #Big12FB | #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/rffz8UADi7

— Big 12 Studios (@big12studios) October 5, 2024