Backup Quarterbacks Take Meaningful Snaps in 63-7 Win Over Arkansas-Pine Bluff
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State rolled to an easy 63-7 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. With the win, the Cowboys move to 3-0 on the season entering an open week.
While there wasn’t going to be anything we learned about the Cowboys after this game, there were plenty of objectives the coaching staff needed accomplished throughout the game.
First and foremost being getting at least one backup quarterback some experience in an actual game, followed by several snaps and reps for the rest of the twos, threes and beyond at every position.
That started in the second quarter when Mike Gundy and the offense staff replaced Spencer Sanders with Gunnar Gundy.
Sanders finished the game going 13-of-16 for 242 yards and four touchdowns.
While Sanders is the clear choice, and the best quarterback in the Big 12, it behooves the Cowboys, and any team to have a capable backup quarterback with meaningful snaps and experience.
Gundy entered the game with just over 13 minutes left in the second quarter. His opening drive consisted of four-straight handoffs to Dominic Richardson, with Dom fumbling the final play. Gunnar completed his first pass on the next drive, a three-yard pass to freshman Ollie Gordon. A few plays later, a pass went through the hands of Braylin Presley and intercepted, leading to UAPB’s first touchdown of the game.
The interception, however, didn’t phase Gunnar as he went out and led the Pokes on an 11-play, 70-yard drive which was capped with a 16-yard fade to freshman Talyn Shettron for a touchdown, the first for both.
“I’m still dad. Obviously, I watch them all, but I thought [Gunnar] handled the system, he converted some third downs, he ran the ball effectively.” said head coach Mike Gundy. “There were a couple times where they disguised in role coverage and instead of forcing the ball into coverage, he pulled it down and took off which is normal when you’re young and early in your career. I’m pleased with the way he played. I wished we could have gotten Rangel a couple more series to give him a chance to get out and do some things. We needed him to play to kind of find out where we are with him and hopefully as we go forward, we’ll be fortunate to get Rangel in to get some time. I thought he did a good job in handling it though just without watching tape.”
Gunnar finished the game going 12-of-20 for 128 yards and two touchdowns with one interception, while rushing six times for 41 yards.
"Very, very, very,” Gunnar said of how important his snaps were Saturday evening. “Because experience is everything, I think. You can practice and stuff for a long time, but actually being in the game, calling the plays and operating the offense, there's no substitute for that."
While he didn’t get a whole lot of snaps, true freshman Garret Rangel got his feet wet towards the end of the game. Coach Gundy expressed in his postgame press conference he would’ve liked Rangel to get some more meaningful snaps.
Rangel finished going 0-2 passing and two carries for nine yards.
Again, while we weren’t going to learn much from this game, the backups took a lot of meaningful snaps going into an open week ahead of the Big 12 opener in Waco, Tx, against Baylor, giving them plenty of tape to work on throughout the next two weeks.