How Hard was it to Win the Cheez-It? Check the Stars!

STILLWATER – Just for grins we’ve gone back to check on the two teams, starters and one extra player we added to see just how hard that 37-34 win in the Cheez-It Bowl was for Oklahoma State. I can tell you as a witness that watching Miami, Fla. warm up was a little imposing. Miami is a good looking football team coming off the bus and with an 8-2 record and the only losses this season for a team that spent most of the fall in the top 10 came to Clemson (CFP team) and North Carolina (Orange Bowl team). 

Most of you know me as a guy that is skeptical of the stars. I love it that Marshall Levenson and I (using some outside sources that we trust) now decide the stars that go next to a recruit on this site. However, we used 247 Composite to align the stars for the Cowboys and Hurricanes in the Cheez-It Bowl. We looked at the starting offenses and defenses and then added a bonus player to each team.

For Oklahoma State our bonus player was Brennan Presley. The freshman caught three touchdowns, so that was a no brainer.

Orlando Sentinel

Brennan Presley is a three-star that was underrated.

For Miami, Fla. we went with quarterback N’Kosi Perry since he played most of the game for the injured D’Eriq King. Interesting that King was a three-star coming out of high school and the back-up Perry was a four-star. 

The overall stars for both teams came out to a 3.6 for Miami and a 2.56 for Oklahoma State. Whoops, just how did the Cowboys win? I think you’d better give Assistant Athletic Director for Speed, Strength, and Conditioning Rob Glass and his statt some credit. Then you’d better give the coaching staff some credit as well. 

The biggest mismatch beteween units was the Oklahoma State offense vs. the Miami defense. Oklahoma State started four players that were not rated (no stars) on the 247 Composite coming out of high school. That was also the side of the ball where the Cowboys had their two four star players in quarterback and Cheez-It Bowl MVP Spencer Sanders and Tylan Wallace, who as we all know was held out the second half. 

Oklahoma State had an offense with a 2.16 star average. 

Brennan Presley is the extra player.

Miami, meanwhile, had a defense with an star average of 3.54.

The Oklahoma State defense and the Miami offense was a closer match-up based on the stars as Miami had an average of 3.66-stars. That total includes Perry, who is a four-star and came on and played better at quarterback than starter D’Eriq King. 

Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

N’Kosi Perry outplayed the starter King, who went out injured and Perry is a 4-star player from high school.

Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

Miami’s Brevin Jordan is a stud of a player.

The Oklahoma State defense has no four stars and all three stars making the math really easy at 3.0 for the defense. 

 I would rank this as one of the top three wins in the Gundy era to go along with Fiesta Bowl win over Stanford in the 2011 season and the win over No. 3 Missouri on the road in 2008. The stars are a clincher on that.