Bill Haisten: Cursed again by broken blocking, OSU survives crisis against Arkansas
- Sep 7, 2024 Updated 7 hrs ago
Bill Haisten
Tulsa World Sports Columnist & WriterSTILLWATER — Because an editor in downtown Tulsa is expecting this column sooner than later, there isn’t the immediate ability to do the type of deep research necessary to find the answer to a burning question.
Has there ever before been this type of statistical disadvantage in an Oklahoma State football victory?
As the Cowboy defense stuffed Arkansas on a fourth-and-1 snap during the second overtime period, 16th-ranked OSU prevailed 39-31. After the midway mark of the third period, the Cowboys outscored the SEC visitors 32-10.
In some ways, Arkansas-OSU was super compelling.
It was awesome to see the Razorbacks and so many of their people back in Stillwater for the first time since 1980. When the Razorbacks won 44 years ago in Little Rock, OSU’s John Doerner, Houston Nutt and Jim Traber all got snaps at quarterback.
On Saturday, there were dynamic achievements like a 73-yard touchdown return of an interception by OSU’s Kale Smith.
There also were Brennan Presley’s nine-catch and two-touchdown performance for the Cowboys, Arkansas running back Ja’Quinden Jackson’s three-touchdown first half, and former Bixby tight end Luke Hasz’s 43-yard TD reception for the Hogs.
Brennan Presley is lifted by teammate Cole Birmingham after scoring against Arkansas on Saturday. The 16th-ranked Cowboys needed two overtimes to beat the Razorbacks 39-31.
Daniel Shular, Tulsa World
Cowboy offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn’s brilliant play-call that resulted in a 63-yard Alan Bowman connection with wide-open fullback Jake Schultz.
There was the drama of the final minute of the final period, when Logan Ward booted a go-ahead field goal for OSU and Kyle Ramsey countered, as time expired, with the tying field goal for the Hogs.
If you were here to be entertained by high-level athletes, you had to be impressed by Arkansas’ Taylen Green – a smooth, 6-foot-6 quarterback who, with the guidance of new Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, should become NFL viable. Green reminds me of a young Randall Cunningham.
In some regards, though, this was a really messy football game with stupid penalties and damaging turnovers.
Tucked into the northeast corner of Boone Pickens Stadium were a few thousand Razorback fans, many of whom were frozen in disbelief when the game ended.
They couldn’t fathom how Arkansas could find a way to lose after dominating so thoroughly on yardage.
Total yards: Last season, Arkansas averaged only 327 total yards per game. On Saturday, the Razorbacks finished with 648. OSU’s total offense amounted to only 385 yards.
Rushing yards: While the Razorbacks totaled 232 run yards and averaged nearly 5 yards per attempt, Oklahoma State netted only 59 yards and averaged 2.3 per attempt. Against SEC defensive personnel, Ollie Gordon rushed for a quiet 49 yards on 17 carries.
Ollie Gordon celebrates after converting on a 2-point conversion against Arkansas. The Cowboy ground game struggled on Saturday, netting only 59 yards while averaging 2.3 per attempt.
Daniel Shular, Tulsa World
When Oklahoma State trailed 21-7 at halftime, the deficit felt like 42-7.
Remember how OSU struggled to block the South Dakota State defense last week? Coming out of that season-opening exercise, the Cowboy offensive line was considered a possibly flawed position group.
After what transpired here on Saturday, it’s OK to go ahead and consider this a crisis.
Because OSU has more collective experience up front than any other team in college football, the offensive line received way too much positive media coverage during the preseason. OSU’s run-blocking was poor against South Dakota State and dismal against Arkansas.
Unless there is serious improvement in OSU’s line play over the next few weeks – or schematic adjustments that compensate for a physical inabilities to win at the point of attack – these Cowboys won’t contend for the Big 12 title and certainly won’t be among the 12 teams on the College Football Playoff bracket.
A spirited Mike Gundy postgame news conference included this nugget: “We got our (tail) kicked in the running game. We’re not going to get away with this for much longer.”
“You come here (and) you’re going to see a good game. You’re going to get your money’s worth,” Gundy continued. “I think we won the game because we were in better condition. Our guys are in great condition. That’s why we won the game.”
It seemed at times that Arkansas played 11-man offense while OSU played eight-man defense. Before halftime, there were gaping voids within the second level of the Cowboy defense.
In Sam Pittman’s 50th game as the Razorback head coach, his team positioned itself to win – and then positioned itself to squander an opportunity to score an important victory.
Gundy’s Cowboy teams know how to win when circumstances are not ideal. Last year’s BYU game is a perfect example of that.
“In times when most people panic,” Gundy said, “we don’t panic.”
Cayden McFarland tweeted this stat, and I’ve got to borrow it because it’s so telling: in games decided by one score, Pittman’s teams falter while Gundy’s teams flourish. In 2020-24, Pittman is 6-15 in games decided by no more than eight points. Gundy is 18-8.
Next weekend, the well-conditioned Cowboys are in Tulsa for a meeting with the Golden Hurricane. Before that drive to the University of Tulsa campus, I’m thinking that the OSU offensive line’s problems will command most of Gundy’s attention.
