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Superlatives: Winners, Losers and More from OSU’s Win Over South Alabama

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6 years ago

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STILLWATER — On the weekend anniversary of the 2016 Central Michigan debacle, Oklahoma State avoided similar fate on Saturday and put away South Alabama in convincing fashion to move to 2-0 on the season.

The Cowboys used a balanced effort from both the offense and defense to oust the Jaguars. They racked up 617 total yards on offense — 453 of which came through the air — and used three turnovers, including a pick-six, to claim a decisive 55-13 win.

It wasn’t all sunshines and rainbows though.

After a pretty impressive start to the game, QB Taylor Cornelius tossed a pair of interceptions — one in the end zone — and finished with a relatively inefficient 25-of-40 stat line. It’s hard to complain about his 428 yards passing (trust me, I’m not!), but his decision-making at times was questionable at best and oh my gosh, wuuuut at worst.

Let’s get to the best plays of the game and take a look at the superlatives from Game 2.

Winner: Oklahoma State defense

Giving up 13 points to a non Power-5 program isn’t sexy, I’ll concede. But the defense had a pretty overall solid night. As a unit, it allowed only 78 yards rushing and 136 yards passing. It was what you’d expect a significantly more talented team to do to a significantly less talented team.

Loser: OSU’s special teams

Just when you thought OSU’s special teams unit couldn’t be worse than last year …

Wrong Donald Trump GIF by Election 2016

A muffed punt, several “oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh” moments on punt return, and a “leaping” penalty (did you know there was such a thing?!) were all enough to get under Mike Gundy’s skin after the game.

Scariest play: J.W. Walsh throwback

Early in the first quarter, South Alabama’s QB went full J.W. vs. Florida State 2014 and promptly coughed up the ball just as J.W. did. The play was later reviewed and determined he was down.

But the scary part was his landing. He didn’t exactly stick it, and, man, his neck.

Fortunately he was fine and continued playing.

No no no no YES play of the game

I find myself doing a lot of “no no no no yes!” when Cornelius drops back to pass. I especially found myself doing it here.

This is what the average viewer would call a “dime.” It’s what I call elevated blood pressure. One of a number of questionable decisions Cornelius made on the night, but this one paid off. Gundy said after the game his advice to Cornelius is to never roll right and throw it to the right side again — it’s the same motion he’s used to complete two awful INT’s early this season in the wrong end zone.

The best no context tweet

Nothing more needs to be said.

Weirdest stat of the night

Cornelius had a 34-yard rush, but only finished with 3 yards rushing. In total. That tells you all about how many times he was either pressured and tackled for loss or outright sacked. Kind of bizarre. USA brought the heat.

Hardest hit

So yeah, this earned Logan Carter an ejection. Full decleat.

Close runner-up for hardest hit of the game: This unnecessary, yet extremely satisfying, smackdown that JD King laid down to score a TD late in the game.

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