Perfection on Offense for Dunn Meant Back-ups Keeping Up the Effort
STILLWATER – We started on defense with our review and the Cowboys coming close with what could be considered a near perfect game in a win over the cellar dweller in the Big 12 in Kansas. Now, Kansas has played some teams in the Big 12 tough as they challenged Baylor for a half, ACC non conference foe Duke for three quarters, and the week before coming to Stillwater they pushed Oklahoma to nearly the end of the game before losing 35-23 as the Sooners scored a late touchdown. That didn’t happen with the Pokes.
“We watched OU in a fourth quarter battle with KU and honestly, we didn’t know what to expect,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn explained in postgame. “They looked better, and they were moving around playing faster, KU was defensively. They made some plays against OU and matched up. So, we had no clue what to expect and I thought our guys jumped out there and got after it and never looked back. I thought they played hard early and obviously, we didn’t score on the first possession. Disappointed about that, but they came back on the next possession.”
They did push the second drive in for a touchdown on quarterback Spencer Sanders touchdown run set up in part on a screen pass to Jaylen Warren that went for 25-yards. A pair of interceptions by the defense fueled a long field goal and another touchdown for a 17-0 lead after the first quarter.
Oklahoma State scored on 9-of-13 possessions in the game.
A balanced attack totaled 535-yards of total offense with 292 on the ground and 243 through the air.
The offense had no penalties and no turnovers.
“I think it’s great and the kids are excited,” Dunn added. “I think they feel like, ‘here we go,’ it’ll be good to back this thing up and have another solid performance. What I'm really happy about is that we've gone two weeks now without a turnover. That helps not putting the defense in a bad position or anything like that. It's been two weeks of holding onto the football. We need to continue that."
Quarterback Spencer Sanders hears the talk. He does a good job of ignoring, but he is also human. He is now responsible for 11 touchdowns passing and 4 touchdowns with his legs. He skipped in again on Saturday night for the first score against the Jayhawks. I like it, a trademark for the veteran quarterback. He has the 15 total touchdowns he is responsible for versus the five interceptions he’s thrown. A 3-to-1 ration. I think the detractors can shut up and start enjoying Sanders’ talents and how he is leading the offense.
"Honestly, it's just a great chemistry moment,” Sanders said of the game. “I feel like we really grew, today. We kind of stayed together as a team and no matter what the score was, we just kept moving. New drive, same drive we just kept doing what we were doing."
Sanders came around the left side of the offense leading the way for Brennan Presley on the reverse. He was hunting, not being a spectator and he led with his right shoulder and pummeled a Jayhawk defender to the ground. The block was a highlight of the game.
"You know it was just like heat of the moment,” Sanders said. “It was just me and him, I just got to take it. If he lays me on my tail, I will take it. I just happened to, I got lucky, and I won that one, so it turned out good."
“People need to realize that is who he is,” Presley said. “That is why we all love him. He is a great teammate that will do anything for anybody on this team. That is who he is and why we will do anything for him.”
That includes all of the younger guys, players that haven’t been a teammate for more than five months or almost a year. Many of them got to play a lot and the impressive sight on the OSU sidelines was nobody sitting the veterans and starters were locked in and cheering and then celebrating with the backups as they got in and made plays.
"It's really good for the young guys like I said, you know, they get to get in there in the second half and kind of just play and kind of get used to a game environment, you know. Say that's an OU game, and you throw them in there, you know, that's a lot tougher situation so it's just kind of getting them grasping, kind of feeling, you know that vibe of college football,” Sanders explained. “It's just good for those guys, like I said, JP (Richardson) got his first catch and touchdown, so I was excited for him."
Yes, John Paul Richardson had a two-yard touchdown pass from Shane Illingworth. Another freshman, Bryson Green caught a 12-yard pass from Illingworth for a touchdown.
“It was great to see our young guys come in and play well,” Dunn said. “We talked about it at halftime because we had already pulled our starters before halftime. The twos knew they were going out to start the second half. The thing we wanted to make an impression on them was this was their moment. Don’t go out there and the cliché’ of it is 0-0 for sure. Don’t go out there and go through the motions. Go out there and impress Coach (Charlie) Dickey, impress Coach (John) Wozniak, and try to impress myself and earn more playing time down the road. I think our guys did it and I’m excited about how those third-and-second string guys went out and played hard despite what the lead was.”
With one more month to go in the regular season and hopeful on much more, there is a good chance one of those younger players will need to make a play. Not a perfect game, but a valuable one in more ways than one.