Tramel: In the Fiesta Bowl, can Oklahoma State football recover from two losses by inches?
Berry TramelOklahoman
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Iowa State defenders Kym-Mani King and Isheem Young wrapped up wispy OSU flanker Brennan Presley, but not without a fight. From Presley or the Cowboys.
OSU center Danny Godlevske grabbed Presley, with the Cyclones in tow, and pulled him closer to the promised land of the Iowa State 40-yard line.
This was back on Oct. 23, when OSU was unbeaten and ranked eighth nationally. The sideline official at Jack Trice Stadium that day sprinted in, grabbed the ball and placed it just shy of the 40. Replay review
didn’t change the spot.
With 1:09 left in the game, Iowa State was assured of a 24-21 victory. By mere inches.
Then came Dec. 4, when Baylor safety Jairon McVea hauled down OSU tailback Dez Jackson on a fourth-down mad dash in the final seconds. Jackson stretched his arms, trying to will the pigskin to the pylon. The ball landed an inch or two short.
Baylor won the Big 12 Championship Game 21-16.
Two OSU losses. The latter determined by a tiny piece of real estate. The former potentially determined by a tiny piece of real estate.
The Cowboys play Notre Dame on Saturday in the Fiesta Bowl, which is a good place to be. But there was a better place for OSU to land.
The College Football Playoff. The Cowboys were oh, so close. And they were denied by the width of an iPhone.
“It's one of those things where you kind of think about it all the time,” said OSU receiver Tay Martin. “It's tough. But at the same time, you've got to look ahead.”
Ahead is Notre Dame. And the Fiesta Bowl could be determined by how much the Cowboys carry the burden of those two defeats.
“I wouldn't say it's something you just kind of get over,” said guard Josh Sills. “It's something you just look past. We have a new week, a new opportunity, a great challenge in front of us with Notre Dame. I think with playing such quality opponents, you can't dwell in the misery or dwell in the past.”
Still, those two defeats were particularly frustrating. All kinds of teams lose by a point or two. Few lose by an inch or two, much less twice.
You can make the argument that the Cowboys are as close to unbeaten as any team in America, other than Cincinnati, which did indeed win them all.
Georgia was rolled by Alabama. Michigan lost a tough game at Michigan State, but not by an excruciatingly close play. Alabama lost to Texas A&M on a last-play field goal, but the Aggies dominated most of that game. Notre Dame itself was pushed around by Cincinnati.
“We didn't want to obviously lose the way that we did, but you've got to control what you can control and only hope for the best at this point,” Martin said. “We definitely wish we was 13-0, but it happens. Everything happens for a reason.”
Well, it happened because opponents made great plays. Sure, Presley might have reached that 40-yard line. But that was great Iowa State defense on fourth-and-2, with an elusive ballcarrier. That was a play for the ages by Baylor’s McVea.
And let’s be fair. The Cowboys won a game by inches – Jason Taylor’s fingernail block of a Boise State field goal late in the fourth quarter preserved what became a 21-20 victory.
Defensive end Brock Martin admitted the Cowboys dwelled on the loss to Baylor. For a week. Coaches gave the players time off for final exams and to visit family.
Now, he says, the dwelling has ended. But the memory remains.
"That's your time to look back, if you want to look back,” Brock Martin said. “It sucks, man. As a defense, we did everything we could. I know the offense wanted to get in there and score that touchdown and win the game just as much as we wanted them to. But we do look back on it.
“We still talk about it every once in a while. It's just locker room talk, this and that, at practice, whatever. But at this point, it's just dust in the wind. We can't go back now.”
Ten years ago, the Cowboys were in the Fiesta Bowl. They weren’t coming off a defeat – OSU routed OU 44-10 in the regular-season finale to secure the Big 12 title – but in the penultimate game, the Cowboys lost 37-31 in overtime at Iowa State.
Another game of inches. With 1:21 left in regulation that night in Ames, OSU’s Quinn Sharp kicked a 37-yard field-goal attempt over the right upright. The ball needed to be inside the right upright to provide the Cowboys the three points needed for victory.
OSU thus was denied a spot in the national championship game. The Fiesta Bowl became a consolation prize, and the Cowboys made the most of it, beating Stanford 41-38 in overtime.
The 2021 Cowboys get the chance to do the same, now that dust in the wind has brought OSU back to the desert.
