Oklahoma State Comeback Falls Short as Pokes Lose 24-17 to Wisconsin

Oklahoma State made a game of it in the second half after a rough start, but the comeback came up a bit short as the Pokes lose to Wisconsin in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, 24-17.

With the loss, the Cowboys finish the season with a 7-6 overall record, 4-5 in Big 12 play.

Garret Rangel, in just his fourth appearance of the season, third start, went 14-of-31 for 229 yards and two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Ollie Gordon led the way on the ground for the Pokes with 12 carries for 45 yards. He also had one reception for one yard and one touchdown. It was Brennan Presley who led the way in receiving for the Pokes with six catches for 74 yards. However, freshman Stephon Johnson Jr. led the way in receiving yards with 84 yards on one catch, which went for a touchdown.

Redshirt senior safety Jason Taylor II led the way on defense for the Pokes with 12 total tackles, eight of which were solo stops, and 1.5 tackles for loss.

“They called my name, I dropped two balls earlier, so I had to make a play and they gave me a chance,” Presley told the Cowboy Radio Network.

As a team, the Cowboys rushed for just 52 yards on 26 carries with no touchdowns. On the flip side of the stat sheet, they allowed the Badgers to rush for 258 yards and two touchdowns on 47 carries.

“It’s the same story all year, we’re just limited right now in some areas, and we can’t rush the football. When you can’t rush it, you can’t throw it,” Mike Gundy told the Cowboy Radio Network. “We’re gonna work hard in the offseason. That’ll force our defense to be a better run defense team. These numbers we gave up tonight rushing are a little bit skewed; [Wisconsin] hit a 60-yard reverse and they had another outside play off a misdirection that padded the rushing stats, but the fact of the matter is, they were on the field the whole night. So, if our offense was just able to produce a few plays to keep them off the field, we would’ve been in decent shape.”

The Pokes were very solid the first quarter of play as it was a fairly similar stat comparison for both sides. It was the Badgers who struck first, a 47-yard field goal by Nate Van Zelst after a solid stop by Trey Rucker. After a stalled drive, leading to a 40-yard punt by Logan Ward, Rucker came up with another impressive stop as he intercepted a pass from Chase Wolf in the end zone, which set up the longest receiving play in OSU’s bowl history.

“My mindset going into, like you said, I missed the whole season, I just wanted to get back into the groove,” Trey Rucker told the Cowboy Radio Network. “It was great; I just wanted to have fun with my teammates, one last ride with ‘em, the seniors, even though I missed the season. My mindset coming out was just dominate.”

True freshman quarterback Garret Rangel hit Stephon Johnson Jr. two yards behind the line of scrimmage on the screen pass, but it was Boogie who made the magic as he found the end zone from 84-yards out. It marked the longest receiving play in a bowl game for the Pokes and the second-longest receiving play in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl’s history.

Other than a handful of individual plays, that was all the momentum the Pokes could muster in the first half as the Badgers controlled multiple aspects of the stat sheet, including time of possession, 23:10 to 6:50, as well as total plays, 42 to just 22 for the Pokes.

The Pokes also went 0-6 on third downs in the first half.

Not much happened for the Pokes in the first 10 minutes of the second half, that is until safety Lyrik Rawls recorded a strip sack, which was recovered by defensive end Kody Walterscheid, giving the Pokes the ball on the Badgers’ 42-yard line.

That was, unfortunately, followed up by another three-and-out by the Pokes’ offense, leading to another punt by Ward.

A few plays later, Rangel hit a streaking Brennan Presley for a 41-yard completion, then made the head’s up play of the game for the Pokes up to that point.

“They called my name; I dropped two balls earlier, so I had to make a play and they gave me a chance,” Presley told the Cowboy Radio Network.

On 4th and short, from the Wisconsin one-yard line, Rangel flips the ball to Ollie Gordon, who’s standing on the goal line, while getting sacked, get the Pokes back within 10 points, 24-14, with just under 13 minutes left in the game.

A bit of flipped switch when it comes to third down conversions as the Pokes held the Badgers to 0-for-4 on conversions in the third quarter.

The Pokes picked up their first third down conversion of the game just under the 10-minute mark left in the fourth quarter, a three-yard run for a first down by Jaden Nixon. Rangel completed the second-straight third-down conversion a few plays later with a 41-yard completion to Rashod Owens.

A third-straight conversion came on the next set of downs, a six-yard completion to Presley.

The Cowboys settled for a 24-yard field goal from Tanner Brown, making it a seven-point game, 24-17, with just over five minutes left in the game. After another huge defensive stop by Rawls, this time swatting a pass on third down that most likely would’ve been a long touchdown pass for the Badgers, the Pokes had one final shot.

Rawls finished the game with five total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack, and one forced fumble.

Rangel threw a deep ball to a streaking John Paul Richardson, but was unfortunately picked off by Cedrick Dort Jr., who made an impressive play on the ball to seal the deal for the Badgers.