It wasn’t the result Oklahoma State wanted on the scoreboard as they lost to Kansas out on the road, 38-21. The Jayhawks scored on all six of their offensive drives, starting off with a field goal and then five-straight touchdowns. So, it wasn’t the best game defensively, except the Cowboys held the Jayhawks to under 400 yards of offense. But the real story of the game came on the offensive side of the ball with quarterback Zane Flores.
This was Flores’ first game back from the injury he had at Arizona. Up to this point in the season, Flores had combined for 77-of-140 passing for 696 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions.
In the game against the Jayhawks, Flores went 22-of-28 passing with 235 yards and two passing touchdowns, the first of his career, all combined for the best performance of his young career.
“He had a good day,” interim HC Doug Meacham said. “He was precise with the ball. I think at one point he was, like 19 of 22 or something like that. A couple [touchdown] throws, no picks. A couple things you wish he would’ve done a little better, but when you’ve got the ball in your hand every play, you’re gonna have things you can pick apart. He played solid, did a good job. Receivers competed and did a good job. Maybe some of the protection could’ve held up a little bit better at times, but I think he did a good job.”
While he hasn’t played in nearly a month, other than a few practices the past few weeks, Flores was a great catalyst of success for the Pokes’ offense against the Jayhawks.
“I feel like I was ready to play today, I feel like the offense as a whole was ready to play today,” Zane Flores told Robert Allen on the Cowboy Radio Network. “I feel like we had a good game plan. Obviously, a couple of things didn’t go our way, but yeah.”
Quarterback play has been a challenge this season following the injury of Hauss Hejny in the first game and Flores a few weeks later. The offense has done the best it could with what it had, moving wide receiver Sam Jackson V over to fill in, but having an actual quarterback made a huge difference. He played with more poise than he had at any point this season and was making accurate throws down field.
“Yeah, and they were pretty aligned prior to, as well. A lot of the verbiage, a lot of the plays are kinda similar. There’s not that big of a difference. Just that quarterback, anytime you just keep playing, you get better and the game slows down. I just thought Zane handled it pretty well for having been out for a little while, and you’re on the road.”
Someone else who really handled things well and had a good game was receiver Terrill Davis.
Coming into today, the UCO transfer had just 12 catches for 149 yards. Against the Jayhawks, he had five catches for 78 yards. Meacham said it best in the postgame that the offense just hasn’t clicked this season to where Davis has been able to get anywhere near the catches or targets he would want. But he’s stuck out the season, battled and showed up when it mattered the most.
“You know, here’s a guy, he came from a school where he caught 116 passes,” said Meacham. “He’s kind of used to catching 8, 10, 15 balls a game and that’s not really where we are right now. He comes in here, he blocks, he battles, he comes to practice, he’s not getting the ball near like what he’s used to, primarily. And as a receiver, a lot of times you could react in a negative way. He’s the consummate teammate. Consummate great kid. He should be the first guy complaining, and he’s not. Comes out and works hard every day. He’s just a great kid and made a few plays. How many balls did you have today? Three, four? (Five) Great play there at the end on the fade. Battled. You can’t say enough good things about him. He just battles.”
The Cowboys have the next week off with the bye week. A week to get healthier and for Flores and his offense to work together and get more in synch before they host Kansas State in two weeks.
