Ollie Wins National Awards Again, Internally O-Line is Player of the Week
(Sean Maguire of Oklahoma State University athletic media relations contributed to this story.)
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State’s record setting running back Ollie Gordon II became the first three-time consecutive winner of the Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week Award as pulled off the same triple that he did on Monday with the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week . That was the first time in 10-years that an individual player had done that in the Big 12 Conference.
Last week Gordon won the Walter Camp National Player of the Week Award, which this week went to Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King for his play in the Yellow Jackets upset of North Carolina. Gordon replaced that national award with another as he was named the Maxwell National Player of the Week.
All these awards piling up and the group that Gordon II has pointed to for greatly helping his success. the Oklahoma State offensive line was honored by Mike Gundy and the Cowboys coaching staff as the team’s Offensive Player of the Week.
“Those guys played great,” Gundy said. “They are having a very strong season and have realaly improved from a season ago. They are healthier than they were a year ago. I’m enjoying watching their play.”
The combination of right tackle Jake Springfield, right guard Preston Wilson, center Joe Michalski, left guard Cole Birmingham, and left tackle Dalton Cooper had a very strong game against Cincinnati and have played well throughout the win streak with Gordon II rushing for 857-yards and eight touchdowns in the past four games. Alan Bowman has passed for 1,067-yards in the same four game stretch and has been sacked just once. Last week they were down guard Jason Brooks Jr. but they could get him back this week.
The line is really cranked for the success on the ground that Gordon is having.
“He’s just … I don’t even know how to explain it. He makes one person miss and breaks it off for 20 and then makes another person miss and goes for 10-more-yards, Cooper said of Gordon II. He is just a great guy and a great teammate, all of the above.”
“I’m proud of my offensive line teammates, proud of the receivers blocking their butts off, and proud of Ollie,” center Joe Michalski said of the game on Saturday night. “We’re just trying to do out best and get him to the second level. He makes a lot of people miss. We make him look good sometimes and he makes us look good sometimes.”
Gordon II knows his guys are getting the job done to help him and he is very appreciative.
“It is really great, like I always say when our offensive line handles business it just makes it easy for us running backs,” Gordon II said after his 25 carries for 271-yards on Saturday vs. Cincinnati.
Gordon joins Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders as the only Oklahoma State players to rush for more than 250 yards in consecutive weeks, as he ran for 282 yards the previous week at West Virginia.
The sophomore from Fort Worth, Texas, also joins Boston College's Andre Williams (2013) as the only two FBS players over the last 20 seasons with 250 scrimmage yards in three straight games. Gordon's rushing total marked the most for an FBS player last week and the fourth-most for an FBS player in a game this season.
He has the No. 1 and No. 4 rushing games this year, as well as three of the top five yards from scrimmage games this year. His past two games mark the most rushing yards for an OSU player in a two-game span (553) since Barry Sanders posted 625 yards against Iowa State and Texas Tech in 1988. The performance also made him the only Power Five player with multiple 200+ yard games on the ground this season.
Gordon has reached more than 1,000 rushing yards for the season in just eight games, marking the quickest a Cowboy has surpassed the mark since Chuba Hubbard needed just six games in 2019. He has five straight games with more than 100 rushing yards. Gordon and Hubbard are the only Cowboys since 2010 with five straight games of 100+ rushing yards.
He has posted 11 total touchdowns in the past four games, including multiple scores in three straight games. Gordon is the FBS leader in rushing yards (1,087) and rushing yards per game (135.9). He also leads the nation in carries of 20 yards (15), 30 yards (12) and 40 yards (6). He is among the top 10 FBS players in rushing yards per carry (No. 2 - 7.71), all-purpose yards per game (No. 3 - 161.0), rushing touchdowns (No. 9 - 10) and total touchdowns (No. 10 - 11).
The Doak Walker Award has been awarded to the nation’s top running back since 1990, and since 2022, the award has recognized a national running back of the week. A select 20-person committee from the award’s full voting body of media and past winners chooses the weekly recipient.
At this stage, Gordon has to be the favorite to win the Doak Walker Award for the season, but there is plenty of football to go.
The Maxwell Award is presented to the best player in college football. The award is named after Robert “Tiny” Maxwell, a Swarthmore College football player, coach, and sportswriter. The Maxwell Football Club was founded in 1935 by his friend, Bert Bell, to present awards in his name to promote football safety. The Maxwell Award was founded in 1937.