Tramel: Comeback Cowboys complete climb up Pinnacle Peak to beat Notre Dame in Fiesta Bowl
Berry TramelOklahoman
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Mike Gundy wasn’t confident Saturday as his OSU offense trotted onto the field late in the first half of the Fiesta Bowl.
A few minutes later, at halftime, Gundy would challenge his players that anyone who didn’t want to fight should just stay in the locker room. But just a little bit earlier, Gundy himself, by his own testimony, was low on conviction.
Fifth-ranked Notre Dame led by 21 points and appeared the far superior team. Only 1:16 remained in a first half that was quite discouraging for the ninth-ranked Cowboys, who were 75 yards from paydirt. Lots could go wrong. A sack. An interception.
The Fighting Irish smelled blood. OSU’s deficit seemed more likely to grow than to shrink.
“We needed to do something to create momentum,” Gundy said. “But I didn’t have much confidence in us going down and scoring.”
Then Spencer Sanders delivered the biggest drive of his four-year career in Stillwater. A 13-yard strike to Brennan Presley, a 41-yard deep ball to Presley, a 12-yard scramble and a nine-yard touchdown dart to Tay Martin.
Suddenly, OSU’s deficit was a mere 14. Manageable. And He of Little Faith was inspired.
“Us driving down and scoring in a minute, in four or five plays, gave us hope,” Gundy said.
Then Sanders opened the second half with another scoring drive, it became anybody’s ballgame and soon enough the Cowboys had a 37-35 victory that will live as long as Bullet rides.
Definitely the biggest comeback in school history. Maybe the biggest win in school history.
“Everybody knows who Notre Dame is,” Gundy said. “Our guys stepped up and met the challenge. Because I’m an Oklahoma State graduate, and I’m an Oklahoma State person, I have taken a lot of pride and very excited what we’ve built at Oklahoma State in football.”
Down the road from the Cowboys’ Scottsdale hotel is Pinnacle Peak, an Arizona landmark. Pinnacle Peak is a pretty good metaphor for this landmark of a Cowboy game.
“We’ve got a logo we can be proud of coast to coast,” Gundy said. “Got an opportunity to do something special, if we take advantage of it.”
I’d say the Cowboys already did something special, with this comeback for the ages, which ruined the shotgun start of the Marcus Freeman era.
The Fighting Irish promoted Freeman to head coach a month ago, after Brian Kelly bolted for the Bayou, and the Irish Republic was all abuzz about its new head coach. For good reason. Freeman seems like a keeper. But the excitement was squelched, at least for a day, in the desert.
“Well, we obviously didn’t finish,” Freeman said. “We didn’t execute when it mattered most.”
OSU beat the Irish at their traditional game. OSU out-toughed Notre Dame. The Cowboys won the line of scrimmage. They produced a running game and the Irish did not; OSU’s pass rush got to Irish quarterback Jack Coan more than the Notre Dame pressure got to Sanders.
And mentally, OSU was tougher. When things were rotten, the Cowboys sharpened their elbows and didn’t blink.
That halftime challenge by Gundy? Completely unnecessary. We saw the same Cowboy script against Boise State and Texas and even Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game, though the latter ended a couple of inches shy of victory. Pushed around in the first half, then came out swinging with battle axes and two-edged swords.
“Just the resiliency, man,” said senior guard Josh Sills. “Couldn’t be more proud. Coach Gundy hit it right on the head when he said we were warriors.”
Sanders was sensational, with 496 total yards, and only a late fumble marring his performance. “Fantastic” was the word Gundy, used.
Sanders opened the second half by directing an 87-yard, 12-play drive on which he completed eight of nine passes for 80 yards.
“Huge momentum shift for us,” Sills said.
And the defense, which was torched in the first half, produced another incredible second half and gave hope that great defense can live without departed coordinator Jim Knowles, off to Ohio State.Seven straight stops of an Irish offense that had been on fire in the first half. Four punts, two turnovers, a fourth-down stop. Notre Dame’s only second-half success came on a drive in the final two minutes when OSU had taken a nine-point lead.
“Biggest win in the history of the school,” Gundy said.
“We came out with a fire under us,” Sills said of the comeback. Gundy “lit a fire under us. Everyone on this team loves to be challenged. We took it and ran with it.”
Ran with it all the way up Pinnacle Peak, as a team with a flair for rallies staged a comeback for the ages against college football royalty.
