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Oklahoma State Football

Oklahoma State's Offense Struggled Despite Yardage in Loss to Iowa State

September 23, 2023
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Coach Mike Gundy named a starting quarterback against Iowa State, but Alan Bowman and the Cowboys still could not secure a win. 

In the first Big 12 matchup for both teams, Oklahoma State (2-2) suffered a 34-27 loss to Iowa State (2-2). It is the first game this season that OSU has started a quarterback and kept him in the entire game.  

“For the most part, I thought he played pretty well,” Gundy said. “I do think there were a few times I was watching the replay on the jumbotron that he flushed a little quick. But, to his defense, throughout the season we’ve struggled in protection some and that makes a quarterback’s biological clock start running a lot faster.” 

Bowman finished with 278 yards, which is 43 more than he has accumulated over the past three games combined, but that still wasn’t enough to power through the Cyclone defense. He threw two touchdowns and two interceptions. 

Although the game resulted in a loss for OSU, consistency at quarterback brought the team a sense of identity that had been missing since the start of the season. The Cowboys were also finally able to implement the run game against a solid defense and Ollie Gordon finished with 121 yards rushing. 

“It looked like, to me, that our guys played their asses off all the way until the end again,” Gundy said. “I know people say, ‘Well you lost and it doesn’t matter,’ but it does matter.” 

Though given the opportunity, I don’t think Bowman cemented himself as the sure starter for the future. Interceptions at inopportune times, especially in the final drive, did not help Bowman’s case. With the bye week, Oklahoma State could explore other options for the quarterback position and Gundy implied that the door to the quarterback battle is not closing yet.

However, Bowman didn’t necessarily lose himself the job either. This was his strongest performance of the season, and his years of experience gave him the automatic edge over Garret Rangel and Gunnar Gundy. Bowman also scored a 12-yard rushing touchdown after a 71-yard run down the sideline from Gordon. 

“That was fun,” Bowman said. “I think ‘follow the guards’ is what I was told on that one. I kind of got excited when I knew the formation. I knew the run was gonna come and got to bounce it outside and realized there was nobody there and said, ‘screw it, let’s go get this thing.’” 

Aside from the big plays that showed promise, the offensive line still struggled and allowed 11 quarterback hurries, and the receivers could not create separation often enough. Punter Hudson Kaak punted eight times for 344 yards and the Cowboy’s time of possession was almost ten minutes less than Iowa State’s. 

Oklahoma State’s bye week comes at a time when it is needed most. Coaches will have time to work out some remaining kinks and give the team a chance to bounce back against a strong Kansas State team. The Cowboys are back at Boone Pickens Stadium on October 5 with a chance to redirect this season’s course. 

Discussion from...

Oklahoma State's Offense Struggled Despite Yardage in Loss to Iowa State

4,828 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Eclectic
Joe Khatib
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Young lady, this loss really can't be blamed on the offense even with the two turnovers on the day! Iowa State had not broke the 300 yard total offense mark at all this season except for this game where Nardos defense gave up over 420 yards of total offense to them!!! I have been critical of our offense but it was Nardo and the defense that cost us this game!!
OSUcowboybrett
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Joe K... You are right !!
Nardo and the D have 2 weeks to get things figured out, because the way we played today WILL NOT Allow us to win many games going forward.
Emma Lightfoot
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I agree with you, Joe. The defense definitely carried the weight of this loss. My focus for this story isn't necessarily on why the Cowboys lost, but the inconsistencies that contributed to it. Moving forward, I hope to see some changes made on defense, too. Glad that OSU has a bye next week to hone in on the inconsistencies and come out of it having improved in these areas! Thanks for your response.
Eclectic
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I wholeheartedly disagree. That's all i'm going to say. Not going to waste any more time on how terrible this offense is.
Eclectic
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Took Knowles 2 years to fine tune his D. The offensive staff has had ample opportunity to make something better, but it has only been worse.
Joe Khatib
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What DAMN GAME DID YOU WATCH!!! Iowa State had not accumulated 300 yards of total offense in ANY GAME to this point!!! OSU just allowed a BAD OFFENSE to hit this defense with 422 yards of offense with a TRUE FRESHMAN QB!!! I STATED THT OUR OFFENSE CANT BE GIVING UP TWO OR THREE TURNOVERS EVERY GAME AS WELL!!!
Pokes4158
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Pretty hard for the defense to stay fresh when they spend the whole game on the field. Offense is still the main issue. 3 and out. 3 and out. 3 and out. We go fast to so these 3 and outs are quick.
pokeacola
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Just consider this. Their young quarterback found His rhythm. He was dynamic throwing the ball. ISU looked strong on O and D. Was their O good because they were playing a weak defense or Because they were facing one similar to what they battle in practice...maybe a little of both. Nevertheless, Rocco was quick on his feet, saw the field very well, and delivered the ball right on target. Great game by their QB. We gotta get better or we won't win another game.
Joe Khatib
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pokeacola said:

Just consider this. Their young quarterback found His rhythm. He was dynamic throwing the ball. ISU looked strong on O and D. Was their O good because they were playing a weak defense or Because they were facing one similar to what they battle in practice...maybe a little of both. Nevertheless, Rocco was quick on his feet, saw the field very well, and delivered the ball right on target. Great game by their QB. We gotta get better or we won't win another game.
Try using press coverage on the receiver on third and forth down situations to get the damn stop or possibly force a turnover!!! Yes, the kid basically took what was given to him and did well but we GAVE HIM THE CHANCES TO HAVE THOSE OPPORTUNITIES TO BE SUCCESSFUL!!!
Eclectic
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I didn't watch any game, I listened to the sirius broadcast (iowa st). My point remains....how many times in the past 10 years has our defense given up 400+ yds and won? Probably more so than lost....
Bowman was <50% completion. Take away one big run, and our run production was terrible. 3rd down conversions...terrible. The ISU commentators kept commenting on how we couldn't contain the rush, how bowman kept rolling out when he has no wheels, and how (other than the first drive) we couldn't move the ball against them in the run.
On defense, they did say often that we were stacking safeties in the box, and that's how they were beating us on passing.
I'm not saying that the O cost us the game, they both did. But if you think this offense is even remotely close to anything we've had in the past 10 years, you've obviously been watching the wrong game.
The D has talent. First year DC, new defense, and I expect them to have some bust and get better. I expected the O to get back to the standard we've been at for 15 years. They've failed for 2 years now.
Again, not blaming it all on the O, but this offense is horrendous.
Joe Khatib
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Eclectic said:

I didn't watch any game, I listened to the sirius broadcast (iowa st). My point remains....how many times in the past 10 years has our defense given up 400+ yds and won? Probably more so than lost....
Bowman was <50% completion. Take away one big run, and our run production was terrible. 3rd down conversions...terrible. The ISU commentators kept commenting on how we couldn't contain the rush, how bowman kept rolling out when he has no wheels, and how (other than the first drive) we couldn't move the ball against them in the run.
On defense, they did say often that we were stacking safeties in the box, and that's how they were beating us on passing.
I'm not saying that the O cost us the game, they both did. But if you think this offense is even remotely close to anything we've had in the past 10 years, you've obviously been watching the wrong game.
The D has talent. First year DC, new defense, and I expect them to have some bust and get better. I expected the O to get back to the standard we've been at for 15 years. They've failed for 2 years now.
Again, not blaming it all on the O, but this offense is horrendous.
Yeah cool story bro!!! You must be the guy who posts over at Ridem Cowboys Forum who said almost verbatim that you take away Ollie's one big run and our run production was terrible, I hate to break it to you but that run counts just like Bowman's twenty yard sack in the beginning of the fourth quarter! The stacking of safeties had nothing to do with the defensive failures in the passing game! It was BUSTS AND THE LACK OF PLAYING PRESS COVERAGE AND GETTING IN RECEIVERS GRILLS ON SOME THIRD DOWNS TO GET THE STOP AND GET OFF THE FIELD!!! See ya Poke Skywalker!!!
texpoke
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The Pokes CEO's "Management" abilities are not looking very positive. If he wants to manage the team instead of coach the team, he better learn how to get more out of his employees. If he can't, he needs to fire them and get someone who can produce results. Starting with both the OC and the DC. If you include the last 5 games of last year and the games this season, Gundy and the Pokes are an embarrassment! Worst pokes team of the last 20
Years, Sooner or later, the ultimate responsibility will all come back to Gundy!
Eclectic
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I don't post anywhere other than here, and that's very seldom. Have never even heard of whatever site you mentioned. But again, the point remains, if you think this offense is capable of winning more than a handful of games, then we are watching/listening to two different games (I have watched the 3 games prior to this one). Also, again, I never said the O was responsible for this loss, but it sure as hell isn't all on the D (as you stated). The offense is in shambles, and has been for 3 years. Yes, even the 2021 season when we couldn't score from the 1 yd line. We were fortunate to have a mobile QB that could bail us out. And I wasn't even a sanders fan.
In regard to the name calling, I don't even know what the hell poke skywalker refers to. Sounds like you have little man syndrome.
Eclectic
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Clarification. I like our backfield! I like our receivers! But outside of that, with what we fielded Saturday (including staff), we are weak. I like Dunn. He was great in his prior role. But this offense is consistently getting worse.
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