Oklahoma State football rewind: More Ollie Gordon tidbits, top players, redshirt tracker
Scott WrightThe Oklahoman
STILLWATER — Ollie Gordon II completed his postgame interviews and began to leave the team room deep inside Boone Pickens Stadium, but the Oklahoma State sophomore couldn’t help himself.
The star running back’s boisterous personality is always looking for an outlet, so as he walked past the crowd of reporters gathered around OSU linebacker Nick Martin, Gordon stepped in.
Gordon, holding what looked to be about two dozen orange roses that had been given to him by his mother and aunt after he rushed for 271 yards in the Cowboys’ 45-13 win over Cincinnati on Saturday, had a question for OSU’s leading tackler.
“How do you feel about the nickname ‘The Missile?’” Gordon asked the Cowboy linebacker who had a team-high 12 tackles.
Martin responded with his own nickname for Gordon.
“How do you feel about the nickname ‘OSU?’” Martin said. “Ollie State University.”
As Gordon left, a reporter jokingly asked Martin how many tackles he needed to have to get flowers.
“I don’t know, I guess you gotta be Ollie Gordon to get flowers,” Martin said.
Here’s a look inside Gordon’s latest remarkable performance and other things we learned from the Cowboy victory:
Top 5 players of the week
Running back Ollie Gordon II: You probably saw the stat that Gordon and Barry Sanders are the only two OSU backs with back-to-back games of 250 rushing yards, but let’s take it up a level. Those two are the only Cowboys with two games of 270 rushing yards in their careers.Linebacker Nick Martin: Another double-digit tackle performance from the Cowboy middle linebacker with 12 stops, two for loss and a sack. He’s averaging 13.8 tackles per game over the last four weeks.
Defensive end Anthony Goodlow: The Tulsa transfer has been a key piece of the Cowboys’ run defense, and he stood out once again with a six-tackle performance.
Receiver Leon Johnson III: The Division III transfer hadn’t even been targeted with a throw in his previous three games, but became a focal point of the passing game, pulling in five passes for 149 yards in his first start with OSU.
Quarterback Alan Bowman: Bowman’s completion percentage dipped, mostly because of the cold, rainy weather, but he still managed to produce 286 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns with just one interception on a throw that was tipped into the air. Since being named the solo quarterback, Bowman is averaging 269.6 passing yards over five games.
Top 5 players of the season
Running back Ollie Gordon II: Not much left to say at this point. He has thrust himself to the front of the line in the conversation for the Doak Walker Award, and he should be getting some Heisman Trophy buzz, too.Linebacker Nick Martin: Middle linebackers are supposed to pile up stats, but Martin’s knack for making plays from sideline to sideline is impressive. He leads the team in sacks with 5.0, partly because of his ability to chase down quarterbacks when they leave the pocket.
Linebacker Collin Oliver: Oliver continues to make plays, now up to 52 tackles for the season with 4.0 sacks. He had seven stops with two quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery on Saturday.
Receiver Brennan Presley: The senior slot receiver didn’t put up crazy numbers on Saturday, but added to his touchdown total with a TD catch and a rush for a score. That’s seven total TDs while being a continual thorn in the side of defenses because of the variety of ways OSU is using him.
Offensive lineman Dalton Cooper: His insertion at left tackle coincided with the offensive line’s midseason turnaround. While it’s not all thanks to him, his presence at left tackle has been critical to what the offense has done the last month.
Red zone ups and downs
Gordon’s remarkable ability to score touchdowns recently has helped OSU’s red-zone offense for two reasons. One, Gordon is finishing a lot of short-yardage scores, and two, he’s running in a good number of long TDs that help the Pokes avoid the red zone all together.But OSU finished with points on just four of six red-zone trips on Saturday, including three touchdowns. The two failures doubled the team’s previous number of fruitless red-zone drives. OSU entered the game having scored on 27 of 29 such possessions, getting points on 93.1% of trips, which was good for a top-20 ranking.
Saturday’s result dropped OSU’s rate to 88.6% with 31 scores in 35 trips, ranking 38th nationally.
Of Saturday’s other two possessions that made it into the red zone, one ended with Gordon’s first fumble of the year, and the other with a missed field goal.
Bowman’s historic jersey salute
Alan Bowman has been drawn to OSU’s unique uniforms, so much so that he has begun wearing a different jersey to postgame interviews.It began with throwback replicas, first the No. 55 Bob Fenimore jersey from last year, then the No. 43 Terry Miller jersey from the Ring of Honor ceremony a few weeks ago.
After the West Virginia game, Bowman arrived for interviews in the 2018 edition of the orange No. 21 Barry Sanders throwback jersey, and on Saturday, Bowman took it to a new level.
He showed up in a white No. 11 jersey that was obviously not a replica.
“Hart Lee Dykes game-worn from the ‘80s,” Bowman said. “A legendary receiver. Dusted this one off from the depths of Boone Pickens Stadium.
“Who knows what we got next week. Might be even better.”
Redshirt tracker
Receiver Leon Johnson III’s redshirt status has reached the brink.He has hit the four-game limit allowed by the NCAA, so if he appears for one snap in any game the rest of the year, he cannot redshirt.
With the receiver group facing multiple injuries — Talyn Shettron, Jaden Bray and Blaine Green were out Saturday — Johnson might be forced to play.
“Hopefully we’ll get some of the injured players — we had multiple injured players from West Virginia — back practicing the middle of this week,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said Monday. “I cannot imagine that we would redshirt Leon at this point, with where he’s at.”
Safety Dylan Smith has now played in four games, but with him playing a rotational role in the secondary, it seems clear he will not redshirt.
Beyond that, four true freshmen got in for the first time this season in OSU’s blowout win over Cincinnati on Saturday.
Here’s a look at the redshirt tracker after eight games:
Played in more than four games, not eligible to redshirt: Longsnapper Shea Freibaum (Fr.), punter Hudson Kaak (Fr.), nose tackle Justin Kirkland (So.).
Played in four games, still eligible to redshirt: Cornerback Kenneth Harris (Sr.), receiver Leon Johnson III (Sr.), safety Dylan Smith (Fr.), receiver De’Zhaun Stribling (Jr.).
Played in three games, still eligible to redshirt: Safety Kam Franklin (Fr.), safety Lardarius Webb Jr. (Jr.).
Played in two games, still eligible to redshirt: Linebacker Poasa Utu (Fr.).
Played in one game, still eligible to redshirt: Offensive lineman Jack Endean (Fr.), cornerback R.J. Lester (Fr.), linebacker Andrew McCall (Fr.), receiver Jalen Pope (Fr.)
Redshirt-eligible non-freshmen who have not appeared in a game: Offensive lineman Jarrett Henry (So.), nose tackle Iman Oates (Jr.).
