How Oklahoma State football QB Zane Flores grew during redshirt year: 'He's ready'​

Scott Wright
The Oklahoman

STILLWATER — This football season won’t begin with any kind of quarterback controversy or a three-QB carousel in September.

The job is Alan Bowman’s for as long as the offensive line can keep him upright.

Yet this preseason remains crucial for backups Garret Rangel and Zane Flores, whether their next big moment comes because of an injury to Bowman, or in the battle to be his replacement next spring.

Cowboy fans have seen Rangel in action, both as a replacement for the injured Spencer Sanders in 2022 and as part of the three-quarterback rotation last September.

But the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Flores, a redshirt freshman, offers the intrigue that comes with being the exciting, young prospect who hasn’t yet seen the field.

And OSU coach Mike Gundy boosted the intrigue with his comments about Flores at the team’s media day on Saturday.

“I think he’s ready now, he’s just not experienced,” Gundy said. “But he’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s smart, he’s tough. His attitude’s good. He’s humble. He’s hungry.

“That’s the difference now, compared to this time last year.”



Flores’ name was floated a couple times last season when the Pokes were cycling their quarterbacks, but Gundy’s response was always that the youngster wasn’t ready to be thrown into such a situation.

Now, it seems that’s no longer a concern.

“Quarterbacks that are in this system and understand the concepts of what we try to get accomplished always play better than they do when they just show up,” Gundy said. “Because one, they don’t have experience, and two, they don’t really understand what we’re trying to do on offense.”

For Flores, his knowledge base has grown exponentially since this time a year ago.

“I feel good, a lot better than last year,” Flores said in his first media appearance since arriving at OSU in January 2023. “Personally, the main difference I notice is, last spring, last fall camp, I was kind of second-guessing the play. I was still trying to learn.

“I feel a lot more confident in the playbook this year.”

He credited the slower pace of learning as a benefit, allowing him to get accustomed to the speed of the game while running the scout team offense and gradually work his way toward his current comfort level.

Bowman played a key role in Flores’ early efforts to learn the offense when he arrived last year. They both came in at the same time and worked together in picking up the playbook.


“I spent a lot of time around him,” Flores said of Bowman. “He showed me the ways a little bit, taught me a lot about college football.”



August will remain a critical time for Flores to build on his new confidence, because the quarterbacks will share practice snaps rather equally until the season opener gets much closer.

Once the team transitions to game preparations, Bowman will get most of the work, with the backups seeing their involvement limited.

Physically, Flores has added about 20 pounds of muscle to his lanky frame, which has helped in a variety of ways, including with his confidence. He’s not as scared of the 250-pound blitzers as he was 18 months ago.

And one of his most important developments has been the constant footwork drills quarterback coach Tim Rattay puts his players through.

If something were to happen to Bowman, is Flores ready to compete with Rangel for the job? It sounds like he’s a lot closer than he was a year ago.

“At first, my footwork was not ready for the speed of the game,” Flores said. “There’s bullets flying everywhere on the D-line. The DBs are flying everywhere. My footwork has improved a lot to catch up to the speed.

“It’s tough to say, but anything can happen, so I’m just trying to be ready. If my time comes, I’m gonna do my best to be ready.”

2024 Oklahoma State quarterback depth chart​

Name, Class, Ht., Wt., Hometown (Previous school)

The starter

• Alan Bowman, RSr.*, 6-3, 220, Grapevine, Texas (Michigan)

The reserves

• Garret Rangel, RSo., 6-2, 205, Frisco, Texas (Lone Star)
• Zane Flores, RFr., 6-4, 205, Gretna, Nebraska
• Maealiuaki Smith, Fr., 6-4, 185, Antelope, California (Junipero Serra)
• Garret Wilson, Fr., 6-2, 215, Edmond (OCS)

No one has mentioned this so I will - I like the new black seats so far. I am in 109 near the top and they are a vast improvement (I am sitting very close to where I was before). I know the bottom sections got no additional legroom since those sections were not rebuilt, but at least in the middle section the situation is quite an improvement IMHO.

BEAT ARKANSAS!!

Ruby Meylan found her 'dream school' in transfer portal move to Oklahoma State softball​

Gracie Rawlings
The Oklahoman



It was already past midnight and silhouettes could still be seen sitting in Kenny Gajewski’s office.

Washington pitcher Ruby Meylan sat across from the Oklahoma State head coach and replayed in her mind the whirlwind events of the previous 24 hours.

They had been there since late in the afternoon. As the hours ticked away, groups of people turned into an occasional streak passing by the door frame, and conversations that were once about softball automatically amounted to questions about the future.

She had entered the transfer portal, received a call from Gajewski, booked an airline ticket and was soon in Stillwater — more than 1,900 miles from Seattle.

Now, Ruby Meylan had a decision to make.

Come to Oklahoma State or keep looking.

“I believe every story is already written,” Meylan said. “Including my own.”

For the All-American softball player, the cyclone of events did not feel like an uprooting. Instead, it left an opportunity for change to occur naturally in its wake.

When Meylan put her name in the transfer portal, Gajewski called shortly after. Within an hour of picking up the phone, flight arrangements had been made and details were set for Meylan to attend the first game of OSU’s super regional against Arizona.

“I figured he would be calling,” Meylan said while talking about Gajewski. “But this was crazy. He was the first call that I got. I was super excited to talk to him, so I answered on the first ring.”

Just four days before, Meylan was on her coach sulking over the heartbreaking end to Washington’s season against Missouri in regionals. Even amid the pain of the postseason exit, she had no intentions of leaving Seattle. But as she flipped through channels on her TV, she stopped when she saw OSU and Michigan.

“Man those freshmen and sophomores are good,” Meylan thought of the Cowgirls.

Meylan had experienced her fair share of success as an underclassman, leading Washington to the Women’s College World Series and being named an All-American during her freshman season. Meylan’s sophomore year was also decorated with individual success, but overall team struggles shadowed it.

She watched as OSU beat Michigan 4-1, yearned for the thrill of the postseason and turned off the television.

“At this time, I was not even thinking about transferring,” Meylan said. “But the very next day we have an exit meeting as a team and everything goes down. I mean, we had four seniors graduating and eventually, eight players who would enter the portal. So, here I am, and I think about it for a while, and eventually, I am like, ‘Yeah I got to go in.”

“That was when my first thought was Oklahoma State.”

Now, as Meylan sat with her parents in Gajewski’s office, that idea had turned into a reality, and she realized there was a reason for stumbling upon a game on TV and purpose amid the challenges of changing plans.

“I believe this is a blessing in disguise,” Meylan said. “I am getting to have a new opportunity. Washington was my dream school, but I am slowly finding out that Oklahoma State is the dream school for the next season of my life.”

‘She called it’​

In a small town outside of Omaha, Nebraska, Ruby Meylan stood, towering over the other girls on her rec team.

There, the coach asked if anyone wanted to stay after practice and learn to pitch, and 10-year-old Meylan raised her hand. As she took that step forward, the young player could not have imagined the life she would live within the confines of the base path, and how it would mold the person she is outside of it.


However, Meylan did not start out as a softball savant. Instead, it was patience and sacrifice that led her there. For the pitcher, learning the game was not always easy, and her father, Wayne, never thought it would be the sport she stayed with anyway.

“I had always envisioned her being a volleyball player,” Wayne said. “At that age softball was kind of hard to watch, especially if you were the pitcher’s parent, and watching them at that early age where they can’t throw a strike, and they walk everybody, and it’s just difficult.

“But she called it.”

After a conversation with Ruby’s mentor, former Nebraska All-American outfielder Kiki Stokes-O’Conner, she eventually found a pitching coach in Omaha, stopped playing basketball and volleyball and started traveling with Nebraska Gold when she turned 14.

There her game was elevated and for the first time. Competition and development were the lifelines of the team as they traveled and played tournaments across the United States. However, just as Meylan started to get exposure to colleges during her junior year, Jordy Bahl arrived.


“What the hell,” Meylan said at the time.

Meylan was determined to not surrender her spot to Bahl, a phenom pitcher. However, for the young player, growth came after resistance.

“Being the No. 2 behind her was the best thing to happen to me because it forced me to kind of mimic what she was doing and make myself better,” Meylan said. “Also just being able to see someone older and more talented than me, and watching what she did, and then throwing the next game the same way.”

Meylan’s confidence soared and her game improved, and she was prepared when her name was called the following season.

Through a restricted recruitment period due to COVID-19, Meylan knew that Washington was where she wanted to be.

“I would say that I wasn’t super highly recruited,” Meylan said. “At that time, Washington was a softball powerhouse, and so when I got that offer, I was like this is it. I knew that it was a perfect opportunity for me, with an open spot in the circle. It was a really successful team that would put me in a good spot for my career.”

Meylan became Washington’s ace her freshman year and finished her two seasons with the Huskies pitching 303 ⅔ innings with a 2.31 ERA. With the Huskies struggling on the field and a good portion of the team departing, Meylan made the jump to the transfer portal.

“It broke my heart,” Meylan said. “What happened this year was really, really tough. To see what we were and then to also see how we didn’t necessarily fulfill all of our goals and dreams for this season, it was like one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through. I mean, physically and mentally, all of it was really tough.

‘Oklahoma State is getting my all’​

Tears rolled down Ruby Meylan’s face as she earned the final out to send Washington to the Women’s College World Series during her freshman season.

In that moment, the emotion transcended beyond wins and losses and instead encapsulated a love for the game.

A love that translates anywhere.

“That moment was special,” Wayne said. “Even watching it today, it makes me tear up. For me, that moment represented pure joy, but it also was a reward for all the sacrifices and time put in.”

As Meylan canceled a visit to Oklahoma and turned down interest from Texas and other Division I programs, she knew she wanted to take that passion for the sport to a place where she could not only grow, but could envision herself winning a national championship.

After a couple of calls from Gajewski, Meylan decided to commit, leaving behind what she had built at Washington and embracing what is next.

“It was a major commitment, not only for Ruby but for our whole family, when she made the decision to go to UW,” Wayne said. “We said we are going to back you up and support you, and we did, for two seasons. To have to make this decision after two years was not easy for her. But she had to ask the question, ‘Where is the best place to finish my career? And Oklahoma State was at the top of the list.”

Now as Ruby thinks back to the day when tears fell down her cheeks, she understands that it represents the young girl on a rec field in Nebraska and the freshman pitching her way into the WCWS. But it is also a picture of the woman who would sit in Gajewski’s office and make the decision to come to OSU as she walked out of it.

Now, as she goes from Seattle to Stillwater, she is ready for what’s next.

“I am a very all-in type of person,” Meylan said. “Oklahoma State is getting my all.”

With all deference to Ray Davies it's time to "turn the Pally(stinans) into a parking lot...."

Mainstream media misinformation, mendacity at PBS

PBS recently reported that, via a phone call, former President Trump urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas until after the 2024 presidential election to benefit himself politically. Turns ...

www.americanthinker.com

"Judy, Judy, Judy, Judy, Judy, Judy"

Hell of a way to start the 2024-25 athletic season!

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Maybe.. and ou gets them next week 🤮

Hope you’re happy @CowboyUp

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Per scoresand odds.com. I have to miss this one for work. Been waiting for this game for awhile.

One pass to the FB. And none to the TE. Why?

Paul doesn’t care for Mike Gundy, OSU or Stillwater. Can’t stand the guy or his opinions; so full of himself.

Best score among the corners. Cam Smith? All time low. The cornerback coach has said Kale has the most talent- Time to step up.

Very complimentary of Bowman and WRs

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Thursday - Kansas vs Lindenwood - 7:00, ESPN+
Thursday - UCF vs New Hampshire - 6:00, ESPN+
Thursday - Colorado vs N Dakota St - 7:00, ESPN
Thursday - Utah vs Southern Utah - 8:00, ESPN+
Saturday - OKState vs S Dakota St - 1:00, ESPN+
Friday - TCU @ Stanford - 9:30, ESPN (Frogs -9.5)
Saturday - WVU vs Penn St (PSU -8.5)
Saturday - Cincy vs Towson - 1:30, ESPN+
Saturday - Iowa St vs North Dakota - 2:30, FS1
Saturday - Kansas St vs UT Martin - 6:00, ESPN+
Saturday - Baylor vs Tarleton St - 6:00, ESPN+
Saturday - Houston vs UNLV - 6:00, FS1
Saturday - Texas Tech vs Abilene Christian - 6:30, ESPN+
Saturday - BYU vs Southern Illinois - 7:00, ESPN+
Saturday - Arizona vs New Mexico - 9:30, ESPN
Saturday - Arizona St vs Wyoming - 9:30, FS1

If Alan Bowman can be this good, Oklahoma State football's ceiling is sky high | Mussatto​

Joe Mussatto
The Oklahoman

STILLWATER — Alan Bowman, in a celebration befitting of his name, pulled back the string of a bow and launched an imaginary arrow. It matched the arc of the 58-yard bomb Bowman had just uncorked to Rashod Owens for a Cowboys touchdown.

Oklahoma State’s archer was on target. He and the Cowboys torched FCS juggernaut South Dakota State 44-20 Saturday afternoon in Stillwater.

For all the attention on OSU’s superstar running back Ollie Gordon II, an NFL-aged offensive line and an exciting group of receivers, we sometimes overlook who plays the most important position on the field for the Cowboys. That’s because all OSU needs is serviceable play from its quarterback, which Bowman provided last year in the Cowboys’ run to the Big 12 Championship Game.

But what if Bowman is more than serviceable? What if, in Year 2 as a Cowboy, there’s another level for Bowman to reach?

Sounds silly to suggest about a seventh-year senior. Bowman probably is who he is at this point.

But what if he isn’t?

“I felt as if my performance last year was so-so, to be honest,” Bowman said. “Now that I have another year of the full offseason and now really understand the game plan of what we’re trying to do as an offense and be as an offense, I think there can be a massive step.

“I think we could be really, really good.”



Bowman completed 25-of-34 passes for 267 yards in the season opener against South Dakota State. It was his highest completion percentage (74%) in 15 games as a Cowboy. Last season, Bowman ranked 11th among Big 12 quarterbacks in completion percentage (60.7%). His 15 touchdowns came with 14 interceptions, the most in the Big 12.

Bowman tied his OSU high with three touchdown passes Saturday. Best of all, zero interceptions.

Bowman had a streak of 13 straight completions. Five of his last six attempts were incompletions in garbage time, which brought down a still strong percentage.

“This is his team,” Gordon said. “We’re playing for him. So for him to be able to get out the pocket and throw the ball, just have a bunch of things to his game, I feel like it’s going to be hard for teams to plan against us.”

Remember, Bowman wasn’t the Cowboys’ full-time starter until Week 4 last season. He was in a three-quarterback rotation with Garrett Rangel and Gunnar Gundy.

After running an Air Raid system at Texas Tech, similar to his high school offense, Bowman played sparingly at Michigan before transferring to OSU. He’s a veteran, but he’s still relatively new to Mike Gundy and Kasey Dunn’s offensive scheme.

Gundy said Bowman will grade out “really high” from a decision-making standpoint in how he distributed the ball to OSU’s playmakers.

“I felt really comfortable with what (South Dakota State) was going to do as a defense, so that allowed me to play free,” Bowman said.

The Cowboys didn’t have a run longer than 12 yards, but Bowman opened up the offense with six completions of 15 or more yards.


The longest, 58 yards to Owens, was the dagger. The arrow, rather, which gave the Cowboys a three-touchdown lead midway through the third quarter.

Bowman (Bow-man, get it?) has been doing the arrow celebration since high school. He had to bust it out after the deep shot to Owens.

“To see it right in his hands, there’s nothing better in sports, I’ll tell ya, that feeling when he catches it,” Bowman said, “and walks into the end zone.”

Sorry if I missed it

Good stuff

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This is a man after your own heart. I thought you’d find this enjoyable.

Need 4 if anyone has extras.

No. 17 Oklahoma State kicks off season with win over reigning FCS national champion South Dakota State​

• Aug 31, 2024 Updated 5 hrs ago

Tyler Waldrep​

OSU Sports Writer

STILLWATER — South Dakota State arrived in Stillwater riding a 29-game winning streak and back-to-back FCS championships.
The Jackrabbits were anything but the typical FCS team showing up for a paycheck, yet Oklahoma State did their best to make them look like one in Saturday’s 44-20 win.
South Dakota State scored in the third quarter to cut Oklahoma State’s lead down to 11 points, but Oklahoma State closed the third quarter with back-to-back touchdown drives to effectively put the game out of reach.
Oklahoma State (1-0, 0-0 Big 12) hosts Arkansas (1-0, 0-0 SEC) on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Here’s a breakdown on Oklahoma State’s season-opening win over South Dakota State.

MVPs
Offense- RB Ollie Gordon

The Heisman hopeful put preseason worries over his health to rest and then some. Gordon rushed for 104 yards and two scores while averaging 3.9 yards per carry. He also finished with four catches for 42 yards and an additional score.

But the numbers don’t do Gordon justice in this one. On a 12-yard touchdown run in the second, Gordon looked like a man among children as multiple defenders bounced off him on his path to the end zone.
Then, in the opening minutes of the third quarter, Gordon went to the ground and hauled in a 14-yard catch on fourth-and-three. On the very next play, Gordon caught a swing pass behind the line of scrimmage and raced into the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown reception.

The opponents will get more difficult, but Gordon just makes the average play look boring, and the difficult plays look easy. I don’t think that changes too much in the weeks ahead.

"Made guys miss, guys bounce off of him," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. "He made big runs at key times today, and he looks better physically running than even he did last year, in my opinion."

LB Nick Martin
Martin wrapped up the MVP late after he broke up a pass, although he nearly intercepted it, and sacked South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski on fourth down in a three-play stretch.

Although those flashy plays put Martin over the top, the linebacker was in the conversation all afternoon long.

He finished the day second on the team with 10 total tackles, including seven solo, one sack and one pass breakup.
Earlier in the game, Gronowski rolled out of the pocket and raced for the outside looking like he was going to break a run or hit an open receiver.

Martin, more than kept pace with him, forcing the quarterback to settle for a one-yard gain on second-and-seven at the Oklahoma State 17-yard line. Two plays later South Dakota State settled for a field goal.
Special Teams- K Logan Ward

There are normally not a lot of options on special teams, so I only pick one if it is warranted. Ward earned his spot here well before he kicked a 52-yarder in the fourth quarter in only his second career attempt.

His first career field goal attempt wasn’t the easiest one either, but Ward made it look effortless as he drilled the 42-yarder. Ward also converted 5-of-5 extra points and a late 25-yard field goal for good measure.

He also recorded a tackle on South Dakota State running back Angel Johnson when he ran the kick back in the second quarter. Ward got him down at the Jackrabbits’ 29-yard line, but Johnson would have likely picked up a lot more if not for the efforts of Oklahoma State’s kicker.

Star potential​

Quarterbacks get a lot of attention. Especially when they return. Especially, especially when it’s their seventh season of college football.

Yet, Alan Bowman feels a bit like an afterthought when it comes to the Cowboys.
It makes sense, considering Ollie Gordon cemented his spot as an early Heisman favorite on Saturday. Then there's what seems like an unlimited number of offensive linemen and a trio of “NFL wide receivers.”
Despite all those impact players, the piece that might unlock Oklahoma State’s potential on offense is Bowman who finished Saturday’s game with his best completion percentage, 73.5%, since he arrived in Stillwater.

That’s almost 4% better than his previous best, and it probably should have been even better. Bowman was 24-of-29 (82.8%) for 265 yards and three touchdowns when the offense secured a 28-point lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter.


“Well, Alan, I think, was good from a mental standpoint. … and his grade in that area, I think, will be really high, and that's where he can help himself and help our team, if he'll get the ball distributed to the people that we have, because most of what we do is run pass options,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said.

Bowman’s kryptonite last season was ball security. He threw 14 total interceptions, including nine in the final five games. Working through his progressions was an emphasis for him this offseason and for most of the afternoon, Bowman did that without ever putting the ball in harm’s way. One of the only exceptions came when he rolled right in the fourth quarter and threw what should have been an interception that the defender just dropped. That play was clearly on Bowman’s mind after the game because it was one of the first plays he mentioned when asked to evaluate his performance. Bowman said he should have just given up on that play and thrown the ball away.

His growth as a decision-maker was perhaps best exemplified in the third quarter when Oklahoma State went for it on fourth-and-three.
Bowman looked Gordon’s way first, but he was covered up by a defender. So Bowman looked for at least three, if not four others, before coming back to Gordon, who had now worked his way more than 15 yards downfield and was coming back for the ball.

First down Oklahoma State.

“When you have an entire offseason to prepare for us, you're going to be ready,” Bowman said. “And one of those things, we ran one of our bread and butter plays and going through the progressions. You know, as I work, wanted to work on this off season,was going through the progressions. And, you know what, everybody was covered. But when it's fourth down, you got to throw the ball. You can't take a sack, or the ball's gonna give somebody a chance. And just so happened, came back and found Ollie.… and then when they give you the opportunity, you got to capitalize.”


Bowman certainly did that despite only finishing 25-of-34 for 267 yards and three touchdowns while taking no sacks and throwing zero picks.

Some great stuff tonight from people who are economic experts, not politicians, on the differences between Trump’s economic policies and Kamala Harris’ economic policies.

It was nice to watch a news network have a show that puts politics aside (the contributors often said “I don’t want to get political, but…”) and just speak openly about the economy.

They especially focused on how people who are hurting economically - no matter their politics - are supporting Trump.

Biggest takeaway for me? The common sense that if you hurt businesses, you’ll eventually hurt the middle class.

* Take from the rich/corporate businesses, those businesses will either raise prices or cut jobs to make up for it
* Heavily tax businesses (Harris is promising to do this), businesses will either a) go overseas with their jobs, and/or b) make the consumer pay for the lost profits
* Reduce taxes on businesses (Trump wants to lower corporate taxes to 21%, lower than the tax rate in China), businesses will come back from overseas to America.
* Most white collar, middle class Americans will be the one’s who will be hit hardest by the Dims take hikes. But blue collar, middle class Americans will be hit hard by the inflation the tax hikes will create.

It makes perfect sense. Too bad the MSM uses economic jealousy to turn the average American - or should i say brainwash the average American - against Trump.

Oklahoma State football report card vs SDSU: How Cowboys graded out against Jackrabbits​

Joe Mussatto
The Oklahoman

STILLWATER — Saturday wasn’t supposed to be as easy as Oklahoma State made it look.

South Dakota State, the back-to-back FCS national champions, rolled into Stillwater on a 29-game winning streak.

So much for that.

Oklahoma State was bigger, faster and stronger. If a statement could be made by beating an FCS team, this was it — a 44-20 win against the mightiest second-division team in the land.

Let’s get to the grades.

Mother Nature: A​

Eighty-two degrees and cloudy for a 1 p.m., Aug. 31 kickoff.

Come on. How good is that?

The on-field temperature was of course higher, but it could have been worse. Way worse.

Ollie Gordon II, OSU run game: C​

Credit the Jackrabbits for containing the ever-dangerous Ollie Gordon II. A 12-yard run was Gordon’s longest of the game.

OSU’s run game was effective, but it was a slow burn as the veteran Cowboys’ offensive line wore down South Dakota’s defensive front.

Gordon averaged 4.3 yards per carry. He rushed 27 times for 104 yards and two touchdowns. Gordon has crossed the century mark in 10 of his previous 11 games.

Mike Gundy said the Cowboys need to be better on the ground.

Jackrabbits fans: A+​

South Dakota State filled two sections of Boone Pickens Stadium, and there was a smattering of blue throughout the crowd.

There were chants of “Let’s go Rabbits” and T-shirts with “Ears Up.”

This was a destination game for South Dakota State fans, and they showed out. Few Big 12 teams will travel as many fans as South Dakota State did Saturday.

It’s a nine and a half hour drive from Brookings, South Dakota, to Stillwater.

OSU kicker Logan Ward: A+​

Junior Logan Ward put OSU on the scoreboard with a 42-yard field goal in the first quarter. Ward went 7 of 7 on extra points a season ago, but that was his first field-goal attempt as a Cowboy.

Ward was just getting started.

The walk-on from Deer Creek High School drilled a 52-yarder early in the fourth quarter and finished his day with a 25-yard make to go 3 for 3.

Ward also made a tackle on a kickoff. Always good to see a kicker get in on the action.

OSU receiver De’Zhaun Stribling: A-​

In the first quarter, Stribling made a toe-tap catch on the sideline. In the second quarter, Stribling snagged a bullet pass that was thrown a step behind him. In the third quarter, he made a tough catch on a flea flicker.

Stribling did have a drop, but he caught six of his eight targets.

Stribling’s 2023 season was cut short due to a broken wrist. Now healthy, he looks like he’ll be one of Alan Bowman’s favorite targets.

Stribling led OSU in receiving yards with 81. His six catches trailed only Brennan Presley, who caught seven passes for only 35 yards.

OSU’s late-down defense: B+​

OSU only outgained South Dakota State by 6 yards: 394 to 388.

But the Cowboys defense limited the Jackrabbits in big spots.

South Dakota State went 3 of 13 on third-down conversions and 0 of 4 on fourth downs.

OSU put South Dakota State in a lot of third-and-longs. SDSU’s average distance to go on third downs was 7.9 yards compared to OSU’s 4.9 yards.

Penalty-free football: A​

OSU was penalized once, a 10-yard defensive holding call against cornerback Cam Smith.

South Dakota State was penalized five times for 32 yards.

very impressive , have to start a new one!

The most moral military for the most moral society on earth,

A little earlier game thread posting, but what the hell...it's a new season and a new Big 12.

Here. We. Go!

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