Postgame Notes: Oklahoma State 35 BYU 38

Oklahoma State at 13/13 BYU

October 18, 2024 | Provo, Utah (LaVell Edwards Stadium) | Attendance: 62,841

Final Score: Oklahoma State 35, BYU 38

Updated Records: Oklahoma State 3-4 overall (0-4 Big 12); BYU 7-0 overall (4-0 Big 12)

Postgame Notes

• In a back-and-forth contest, Oklahoma State fell just short of the upset win at No. 13 BYU, 38-35.
• Ollie Gordon II produced another stellar game Friday night with 127 all-purpose yards (107 rushing and 20 receiving) and three total touchdowns. A closer look at his performance against the Cougars:
• Gordon II scored three touchdowns in the first half, his first time reaching that mark in a single half since his performance at West Virginia on October 23, 2023.
• Friday marked the second time in Gordon II’s career that he’s had both a rushing and receiving score in the first half of a game (October 14 vs. Kansas). No other Cowboy has had multiple such games over the last 25 years.
• Gordon II eclipsed 100 rushing yards for the 11th time in his past 18 games and 12th time in his career.
• In two career games against BYU, Gordon II has recorded 50 carries for 273 yards and eight touchdowns from scrimmage. He is the third player in Big 12 history to have at least eight scrimmage touchdowns over a 2-game span against any opponent, joining Cowboy Rashaun Woods (8 vs. SMU, 2002-03) and Texas' Ricky Williams (11 vs. Rice 1997-98; 8 vs. New Mexico State 1996-98).
• BYU entered Friday’s game having not allowed a play of over 50 yards this season, but Ollie Gordon II and Garret Rangel both rattled off runs of 50+ yards in the first half. As a result, Gordon II and Rangel became the first pair of Cowboys to each have at least 75 rushing yards in the first half of a game since Justice Hill and J.D. King did so in the 2017 season opener against Tulsa.
• The Cowboy rushing attack found its footing against the Cougars with 269 yards, its highest total of the season and nearly 150 yards more than BYU’s average rushing yardage allowed (120.3).
• Oklahoma State answered BYU’s game-opening score with a touchdown of its own as Ollie Gordon II found the end zone from 50 yards out with 9:42 remaining in the first quarter. It marked Gordon’s fourth career rushing touchdown of 50+ yards and was tied for his longest play from scrimmage since his 62-yard scamper against Houston on November 18, 2023. The touchdown was also his longest on the ground since October 28, 2023, against Cincinnati, which covered 75 yards.
• Prior to Friday’s game, BYU had not thrown an interception at home this season, but the Cowboys picked off three Cougar passes before halftime. Oklahoma State has now forced 346 turnovers since 2010, moving closer to Clemson’s second-place total of 348.
• OSU reached 175 rushing yards in the first half of a game for the first time since September 14, 2019, against Tulsa, marking the second-highest rushing total BYU has allowed in a first half since September 26, 2015.
• Brennan Presley caught five passes for 43 yards and a touchdown alongside an 11-yard rush against BYU. The performance improved his placement in multiple national streaks and program record lists:
• Presley has recorded at least three catches in 15 consecutive games and has 40 such games in his career, which is the most among active power conference players. The last Big 12 player to reach 40 total games with at least three catches was Iowa State’s Allen Lazard, who did so from 2014-17.
• Presley has also played 37 straight games in which he caught multiple passes.
• Following his score late in the fourth quarter, Presley took sole control of seventh place in the career receiving touchdowns list with 21.
• His 88 all-purpose yards on Friday moved him into fifth for career all-purpose yards at 4,706.
• The Cowboys opened the fourth quarter with a trick-play touchdown that saw Brennan Presley complete a 16-yard pass to Alan Bowman to tie the game at 28-28. It marked the first receiving touchdown by a quarterback in the Gundy era.
• Several new Cowboys cracked the starting lineup on Friday:
• Garret Rangel started his fifth career game and first since the 2023 season opener against Central Arkansas. Despite suffering an injury late in the first half, Rangel threw his second touchdown of the year and added five carries for 77 yards, the most by an OSU quarterback since Spencer Sanders’ 125 rushing yards against Notre Dame in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl.
• Parker Robertson made his first career start and had a big impact with a career-high 11 tackles. In the first quarter alone, he stopped BYU’s trick-play attempt in the red zone with his first career interception, broke up another pass and recorded six tackles.
• Sesi Vailahi’s start was also the first of his career.
• Jake Springfield returned from injury and started for the first time since the Arkansas game.
• Lyrik Rawls recorded his first start of the season and fourth of his career. He picked off Jake Retzlaff’s hail mary attempt on the final play of the first half for his first interception of the season and second of his career.
• The Oklahoma State offense converted nine of its 13 attempts on third down, good for its best conversion rate of the season (69.2%). OSU also converted both of its fourth-down attempts, improving its nation-leading total to six-for-six.
• Korie Black hauled in his team-leading third interception of the season with 3:44 left on the clock in the second quarter, improving his career total to four.
• True freshman Rodney Fields Jr. saw his first career action and played a key role down the stretch as Ollie Gordon II battled injury. He completed Friday’s game with eight carries for 38 yards.
• Garret Rangel’s 54-yard carry in the second quarter was the longest by an OSU quarterback since J.W. Walsh’s 64-yard rush against Texas Tech on October 31, 2015.
• Kobe Hylton posted the best game of his Cowboy career while racking up a career-best 11 total tackles.
• Justin Wright saw game action for the first time in 2024 after missing OSU’s last 16 games due to injury.
• Oklahoma State’s game captains were Ollie Gordon II, Brennan Presley, Justin Kirkland and Cale Cabbiness.

Notable Streaks and Trends

• Brennan Presley has multiple catches in 37 straight games, the second longest active streak in the FBS.
• Oklahoma State is 6-for-6 on two-point conversion attempts this season and the six successful two-point conversions are more than any other team in the FBS.
• Ollie Gordon II has rushed for at least 100 yards in 11 of the past 18 games.
• Over the past 56 games, OSU has held opponents to 281-for-872 (32.2%) on third down.