The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Oklahoma State’s Loss to Cincinnati

Not sure how — or if this even makes sense — but that might be the most encouraging 32-point loss in Oklahoma State history. Or maybe I’m suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

At times, Oklahoma State threatened to make it a ball game with No. 24 Cincinnati in town for Homecoming. But while there were some encouraging improvements on both sides of the ball, the Pokes ended up getting throttled.

Let’s take a look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from the Cowboys’ sixth loss of the season.

The Good: The Run Game

The good part is that the Cowboys actually had a run game.

OSU rushed for 228 yards and 4.8 yards per carry against a pretty good rushing defense. Cincinnati came in allowing just 129 rushing yards per game and 3.7 per carry. The Bearcats had allowed just four rushing scores in six games. They gave up two to the Pokes.

It was the best rushing performance of the year, by far, and provides at least a glimmer of hope for sustained drives at some point this fall.

Play-calling seemed to be improved, especially early, after interim head coach Doug Meacham handed off some of those duties to QBs coach Kevin Johns. The depleted offensive line looked better that it has for stretches. And Rodney Fields Jr. is a stud.

Mostly, Rodney Fields Jr. is a stud.

The redshirt freshman had a career night, slicing up the defense for 163 yards and a score while picking up 7.8 yards per handoff. He had a 41-yard run and the 20-yard touchdown, but he never lost ground. He had a one-yard run and two three-yards but every other handoff went for four yards or more.

The Cowboys were able to treat the Homecoming crowd to some nice moments before things got completely out of hand, and Fields was a big reason for it.

The Bad: Consecutive Turnovers

At times, Sam Jackson V looked much improved. In his second start at OSU, he seemed to have a better command for the offense and was extending plays. He even had TD run to pull OSU within 14-10 in the second quarter.

But after Cincy began to pull away and there was just the smallest sliver of hope to stay in it, he coughed up the rock on consecutive possessions.

If instead of getting pick-sixed by Matthew McDoom (lived up to the name), he finds Cam Abshire in the endzone, the Cowboys are within 11 points with six minutes to go. Then on the next drive another snap miscue resulted a 19-yard loss to set up Cincy for the chip shot back-breaking TD.

We can continue to say this. Jackson started the year off as a wide receiver. But, as of now, he’s OSU’s starting quarterback and turnovers are bad.

The Ugly: 700 Days, No Bowl Hope

When the Cowboys show up in Lubbock will be exactly 700 days since their last conference win, which just so happened to be the game preceding their trip to the Big 12 Championship game against Texas in 2023. What a change.

I haven’t expected the Pokes to go bowling for a while, but the oncoming finality of it is ugly enough.

Mathematically, the Cowboys could still make the postseason, but they’d have to win their last five games starting with a visit to a No. 7 Texas Tech team which will not be No. 7 after its road loss to Arizona State.

Before their loss to the Sun Devils, the Red Raiders hadn’t scored less than 34 all season. The Cowboys have barely sniffed 30 all year. The Raiders will be hankering to get that taste of their mouths and desperate to stay in the mix for the Big 12 title race. The Cowboys are in for a tough road trip.