No. 20 Oklahoma State Beats Texas A&M 31-23, Finishing With 10-Win Season

No. 20 Oklahoma State held off a surging Texas A&M team in the second half for a 31-23 win over the Aggies in the TaxAct Texas Bowl.

With the win, the Cowboys finish the season with a 10-4 overall record and 7-2 in Big 12 play. This marks the eighth 10-win season for the Cowboys and Mike Gundy in the past 14 seasons.

“It’s a special year for these kids; somebody had told me this is the eighth time in my head coaching career we’ve gone over 10 wins,” Mike Gundy said on the Cowboy Radio Network after the 31-23 win over Texas A&M. “Double digits eight times in 19 years is pretty special. These guys are unselfish, they’re willing to give their body up, they care about each other, and they don’t never spit the bit out and they listen. I shared with the press, and I’ll share with the team when we get together in the middle of January, we have so many guys coming back, like 18 starters. If they will stay humble and work and not feel like they’ve arrived and stay close as a team and unselfish, they’ll have a chance to be a really good team next year.”

 The trio of Alan Bowman, Brennan Presley and Rashod Owens had a great game. Bowman finished the game going 34-of-49 for 402 yards and two touchdowns with two picks, while Owens set a new career high of 164 yards on 10 receptions and two touchdowns. In fact, in the opening drive of the game, Owens hauled in three receptions on three targets for 50 yards.

As for Presley, he had one of the best games of his career as he finished with 16 receptions for 152 yards.

His 16 receptions tied a single-game record for most receptions in a game since 1948. As for Bowman’s 402 yards, he broke the school record for passing yards in a bowl game.

As for Doak Walker Award winner, Ollie Gordon, he rushed for 118 yards and one touchdown on 27 carries, officially clearing the 2,000-all-purpose yard mark on the season. He also became just the fifth running back in OSU history to clear the 1,700-yard mark.

The two teams traded field goals to start the game before the Pokes jumped out to a 24-6 lead in the first half. Along with a solid lead, the Cowboys outgained the Aggies 325-170, 249 of those yards coming through the air. Presley hauled in an impressive 123 yards of those on 11 receptions.

One of the scores came on an impressive play by backup quarterback, Gunnar Gundy. After starting on their own 25-yard line, the Pokes worked their way down the field, including 62 yards through the air, to set up a 1st and 10 from the A&M 10-yard line.

Enter Gunnar.

On the first play of the fresh set of downs, Gundy took the snap around the right side and into the end zone untouched for his second touchdown of the season, the first on the ground.

Despite a touchdown by Owens in the third quarter, it was a rather rough quarter on both sides of the ball. The Aggies outgained the Pokes 156-121, while outscoring them as well, 14-7 to make it an 11-point game, 31-20.

The one bright spot on the defensive side of the ball came just a few minutes into the fourth quarter when Xavier Benson forced a fumble, which was recovered by Nick Martin on the one-yard line. However, it didn’t go anywhere as Bowman threw his second interception of the game just a handful of plays later. Fortunately, the Cowboy defense came up with another stop to force a punt.

After trading punts with the Aggies, the Cowboys forced a 51-yard field goal, which went through after hitting the cross bar, after a sack on third and long from Anthony Goodlow.

The Cowboys would take over with a chance to extend their lead with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

Both Presley and Cale Cabbiness picked up first downs, both 10-yard pick-ups. Those sandwiched a five-yard run by Gordon II, then a nine-yard reception from Presley, his 16th reception of the game to bring up a 2nd and one with just over two minutes left. Gordon II picked up a hard-earned first down on the next play, leading to an A&M timeout with 1:28 remaining in the game.

However, a little controversy following the timeout as the officials put the game clock back to 2:03 claiming A&M had been trying to call a timeout.

A few plays later and running the clock down to just 23 seconds and just eight points, 31-23, Alex Hale came out and pushed a 47-yard field goal wide-right.

With no timeouts on either side of the field, A&M took over on their own 30-yard line. After a 27-yard completion and a spike, A&M had a chance with five seconds left. But Kendal Daniels had other plans as he intercepted a desperation throw at the five-yard line to end the game.