Oklahoma State Loses to Tulsa In Stillwater for First Time Since 1951

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State falls to 1-2 on the season as they lost to Tulsa in Stillwater, 19-12.

It marked the first loss to Tulsa since 1998 and the first home loss to Tulsa since 1951. 

“I thought [Tulsa] did a great job early in the game with some of the concepts that we haven’t executed on defense,” said head coach Mike Gundy. “Really through the first quarter, outcoached us. Our guys made adjustments defensively. We missed about five tackles. I wish we would have tackled a little better at times. Then the defense rallied, made some adjustments. I thought their quarterback played really well. He’s a good little operator. He made some plays, was able to run and scramble and we had a hard time getting our hands on him.

“Offensively, the first drive we were rolling and then after that we couldn’t sustain. We had a couple key penalties that set us back. Right now we don’t overcome penalties really well. When we get into those situations, we’re not far enough along to overcome penalties. We had penalties at key times. I thought that Zane really competed and made some throws, but there were four or five throws that he missed. We had five or six drops and we need to do a better job of catching the ball.

“We have to keep working as a group. We share it. Coaches gotta do a better job of coaching. We have to stay in our system. The concepts were fine, we just have to continue to get better at them. I told them all just now, as we continue to go through the season with the new systems on both sides of the ball and the new players, we just have to stay with what we’re doing, continue to get better and do some of the more basics. Really, we hit a few throws, minimize our drops. We rushed the ball fine. We were doing a good job of running the football. The big penalties set us back and then you’re in third and fourth down. When you look at that, combined we were 5-of-19. They were 10-of-22. That was a big part of the game. Defensively, we need a better start. We let them control the first quarter, got behind the sticks and from that point on we were playing catchup.”

Quarterback Zane Flores finished the game going 25-of-40 passing for 214 yards and no scores. Rodney Fields Jr. led the Cowboys in rushing with 17 carries for 113 yards. Flores had the lone OSU touchdown of the game on a five-yard carry in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 10 carries for 56 yards and one touchdown.

It was a bad first half from the Pokes on both sides of the ball. The Cowboys combined for just 117 yards of total offense, 45 yards through the air and 72 yards on the ground. They combined for just eight first downs and went 1-of-6 on third down. As for the Golden Hurricane, they combined for 266 yards of total offense, 182 yards through the air and 84 on the ground. The Cowboys gave up 14 first downs and TU went 5-of-11 on third down attempts and 3-for-3 on fourth downs.

The game started off well for the Pokes. Flores led the Cowboys down the field rather quickly as they went nine plays for 57 yards in just over three minutes of action. The drive, however, stalled out in the red zone to result in a 35-yard field goal for Logan Ward. 

That was the final score of the first half for the Pokes as Wes Pahl averaged 44 yards on four punts, including a 54-yarder towards the end of the first half. 

The third quarter was twice as good as the first half for the Pokes as they entered the fourth quarter with 237 yards, 146 through the air and 91 on the ground. 

But the start of the fourth quarter was good as Zane got into the end zone from five yards out, giving the Cowboys their first touchdown in 109 minutes, making it a 19-9 game. It would stay that way as Flores through an interception on the two-point conversion.

One of the few highlights of the game came in the form of a 49-yard field goal from Logan Ward late in the fourth quarter, which made it a one-score game, 19-12, TU in the lead.