Oklahoma State Survives Tulsa With Fourth Quarter Surge

STILLWATER – After a rather slow start, Oklahoma State came alive via a sequence of three impressive touchdowns to secure a 28-23 win over Tulsa.

With the win, the Cowboys move to 2-0 on the season and will face Boise State on the road on Sept. 18.

“There was really good defensive football played today,” said head coach Mike Gundy. “I was proud of our defense for continuing to put us in a great situation and were good on third downs again. They continue to play well as we try to grow up on offense and get some young players developed to work through a few things. We need to come together as coaches and make a decision on who we are offensively right now with our personnel and what direction to go to give us the best chance to score more points.”

The sequence of the game for OSU came in the fourth quarter. After the end of the third quarter, Quarterback Spencer Sanders found freshman Bryson Green on the edge of the end zone, where he hauled in a diving catch while keeping his foot in the end zone to tie the game up at 14-14.

It marked Green’s first touchdown of his career.

The next drive, TU drove down the field and threatened to get into the end zone, but the OSU defense held strong and forced a field goal, but TU up 17-14. On the ensuing kickoff, super senior LD Brown returned the kickoff 98 yards for the touchdown, the seventh-longest kickoff return in school history, to put OSU back on top 21-17.

“It was right in front of me, so I had a good view of it,” said coach Gundy. “Kanion Williams blocked his guy for about 50 yards in space, which was pretty impressive. He’s been a really good special teams player for us for a while. This changed the game and gave us a little bit of juice.”

After a TU punt, Spencer Sanders rushes for 37 yards down to the eight-yard line but fumbled the ball. However, the Tulsa defender was out of bounds when he recovered it, giving OSU the ball back on the eight-yard line. A few plays later, Jaylen Warren danced around for about 25 yards, before finding the corner and getting into the end zone, putting the Pokes up 28-17.

“Fabulous. Zig zagged three or four times, ran a couple guys over,” said offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn. “He just fell from the end zone, and it was perfect. Exactly what we want from him. He’s shown that through fall camp and he showed it again today on the field. He deserves the carries he’s getting. He’s playing well for us. Still, we didn’t run the ball effectively, not effectively enough, but better. We’re making improvements and they’re up there battling. When you go into the locker room right now, there’s a bunch of exhausted guys and that’s what you want to see. 

The Golden Hurricane drove down the field relatively quickly, as they scored with just over three minutes left in the game, but Christian Holmes knocked the pass away on the two-point conversion, keeping it a five-point game, 28-23.

The Cowboys would recover the onside kick attempt by Tulsa and on a third and long, Sanders picked up nine yards on the left side to pick up the first down and secure the win.

Sanders finished the game going 15-of-26 for 173 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. He also had 10 carries for 25 yards.

As for the receivers, it was freshman Jaden Bray who led the way. Bray finished with four catches for 84 yards and the first touchdown of his career.

Fellow freshman Bryson Green also scored the first touchdown of his career, finishing with two catches for 16 yards.

Jaylen Warren led the way on the ground for the Pokes with 14 carries for 37 yards and one touchdown.

Super senior linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez led the way on the defensive side with 13 total touchdowns, eight of which were solo stops.

“He’s making me look good,” said defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. “That’s what I tell him before the game and after it ‘I’m glad you’re here with me and go out and make me look good.’ We work really well together. He’s almost like a son to me. He knows the scheme and knows how I think, and I do my best to put him in situations where he can see the play and react to it because he’s a guy that gets people on the ground.”

What seemed to be a promising opening drive, which featured an 11-yard run by LD Brown, ends with a 10-yard sack of Spencer Sanders.

On Tulsa’s first drive of the game, Malcolm Rodriguez recorded five total tackles, including a forced fumble, which was recovered by Jarrick Bernard-Converse. However, the play was reviewed and overturned. Just a few plays later, Jason Taylor II, who was in the game for Tre Sterling, picked off a pass from Davis Brin and returned it for a touchdown. However, that play was also overturned, this time by a defensive holding call.

The defense continued to come up with stops throughout the first quarter, but so did the Tulsa defense as Spencer Sanders and the offense combined for just 40 yards of total offense. In comparison, Tom Hutton had two punts for 88 yards.

Less than a minute into the second quarter, Devin Harper laid a pretty good hit on Keylon Stokes across the middle but was called for targeting. After a review, the refs overturned the call, keeping Harper in the game, a huge break for the Cowboy defense.

After multiple stalls on offense, on a 3rd and 17, Spencer Sanders finds a wide-open Jaden Bray, who breaks a tackle at the line to gain and gets into the end zone from 29-yards out. That marks the first touchdown of the day for the Pokes, and the first touchdown for freshman Jaden Bray.

After the Pokes’ defense forces another TU punt, Sanders threw a 55-yard pick six across the middle of the field, giving Tulsa its first points of the afternoon, tying the game up at 7-all. Another stalled offensive drive for Sanders and the OSU offense resulted in a punt with less than 20 seconds in the half, with Tulsa taking a knee to end the half.

The Cowboys combined for 135 yards of total offense in the first half, 107-yards through the air and just 28 on the ground, with the lone score coming in the form of 26-yard pass from Sanders to Bray.

Malcom Rodriguez led the way for the defense eight total tackles, four of which were solo stops.

The start of the second quarter was a stop for the defense, followed by a 13-yard pick up and a first down by Dominic Richardson on his first carry of the season, then am 11-yard rush by Sanders. However, the drive stalled out a few plays later, resulting in yet another Tom Hutton punt.

Tulsa would march down the field and score with relative ease on the next drive, taking their first lead of the game, 14-7.

Sanders found running back Jaylen Warren with a pass out of the backfield, resulting in 21-yards and an impressive hurdle on the end of the play by Warren, resulting in a first down for the Pokes. Warren would pick up another first down following six yards up the middle, followed by a nine-yard run by Richardson. The hit on Richardson by Tulsa defender Kendarin Ray was called targeting, which was upheld by review, resulting in a 2nd and 10 for OSU on the 25-yard line, following an offsetting illegal formation call on the Pokes.

The Cowboys will face Boise State on the road on Sept. 18.