By Michael Doutey
Oklahoma State started off their season with a 58-17 win over Missouri State. It was a game where it was expected that the Cowboys would easily take care of the Bears. It was never a contest and the Pokes were too big, fast and athletic for their FCS opponent.
The Pokes got an expected win but there are still major questions about this team. It is hard to take away good from a game like this. OSU was supposed to dominate this game and they did. But there were some warning signs we need to address as we move into week two of the season as well as some encouraging signs.
1. Taylor Cornelius’ Shaky Start
It was the first time we’ve got a glimpse of Cornelius and it wasn’t an impressive first impression. You only get one chance for a good first impression and Cornelius missed his. By halftime, fans were groaning on Twitter and hoping for Dru Brown. At a glance of the stats, TC’s night looked decent. He threw for 295 yards on 24-34 passing and threw five touchdowns and one interception. But he had missed throws all night. He was late reacting to some reads and he looked timid and uncomfortable. He was inaccurate and was extremely inconsistent.
“I just thought he missed too many throws,” Mike Gundy said of Cornelius after the game. “In my head I thought he missed six throws that normally he hits. His mentality I thought was good, he just missed some throws.”
While 295 yards looks good it might be a little deceiving. Chuba Hubbard took a dump off pass 54 yards to the house, Justice Hill took a check down for 22 yards and JD King caught a short pass that went for 25 yards. Just those three catches went for 101 of TC’s 295 yards, leaving just 194 yards for the rest of his 21 passes. Those were the only passes caught that really resulted in any yards after catch. The rest were dinks and dunks and his shots down the field were inaccurate.
But Gundy preached patience in the preseason with Cornelius and he did again in the post game.
“Everyone’s going to to have to be patient with him,” Gundy said. “I knew that he would have some jitters and fire the ball out there at times and miss some throws. I was fairly certain that would happen.”
That is all fine and good, but it is going to be really hard to win games with TC if he doesn’t dramatically improve over the next month. TC did nothing to convince anyone that he will keep this job all season. But let’s see how he responds next game before we call for Dru Brown or Spencer Sanders.
How bout that former Bushland Falcons Taylor Cornelius huh? He is looking very good in his first start for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Big things ahead. #GoPokes @BushlandISD pic.twitter.com/t5BdmvS0Fo
— Clint Brakebill (@CBrakebill) August 31, 2018
2. Running Backs are the Real Deal
So… OSU has some dudes at running back. We know how good Justice Hill is, even if the rest of the country decides to overlook him. We’ve seen the talent of JD King. We’ve heard that Chuba Hubbard and LD Brown are pretty good as well. Tonight we got to see it first hand.
Justice Hill played only one quarter where he had just 10 carries for 122 yards and a touchdown, including a 92 yards run which is fourth longest in school history. If Hill played a full half, he could have easily eclipsed 200 yards. Then we saw JD King in the second quarter and didn’t play in the second half. King had eight carries for 52 yards and looked like his tough running self.
In the second half, fans finally got to see Hubbard get loose for a 54 yards touchdown catch. He is thrilling to see in the open field. He took off and made really solid and slight cuts cruising in for his first touchdown. LD Brown then got loose, hitting the edge and took off 77 yards to the house. OSU rushed for a total of 436 yards with an impressive 7.9 yards per carry average. The hype is real about the Cowboys backfield. The question is do they have enough carries for them all?
WATCH: @jhill21_ takes off for 93 yards, the fourth-longest rushing play in #OKState history!
#Big12FB on @FS1 pic.twitter.com/YclGbVe273
— Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 31, 2018
WATCH: @Hubbard_RMN made a man miss, and then he was GONE! #okstate
#Big12FB on @FS1 pic.twitter.com/vCxdJKarIT
— Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 31, 2018
WATCH: #OKState has rushed for 375 yards tonight, and LD Brown had 77 of them on this TD run!
#Big12FB on @FS1 pic.twitter.com/hlP3y6ytK7
— Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 31, 2018
3. Defensive Impressions
We finally got to see the new defense under Jim Knowles. The Pokes really got off to a hot start and Missouri State didn’t put any points on the board until the end of the first half. That began a drive of three consecutive drives where Missouri State scored points. Then the defense became reengaged and shut back down the Bears offense, much to the delight to Knowles.
“I do like how they came back and I was challenging them the whole time,” Knowles said. “It’s about habits. It’s not about score. It’s not about the opponents. It’s about us and it’s about our habits and they need to last over the course of a season.”
One thing I was interested to see was the third down defense, which had been such an issue in the past, even against lesser opponents. Last night, the Pokes did pretty good in that department. The Bears were held to 5 of 16 on third down conversions.
It is hard to tell just how well the defense played due to the inferior talent of the opponent. But I’d say the Knowles era got off to a solid start Thursday night.
4. The Bundage & Brailford Duo
The aggressiveness of the defense was easy to see, especially early in the game. The Cowboys recorded 11 tackles for loss and had four sacks. But the guy who was most noticeable was Calvin Bundage. They are using him uniquely, using him as a rush end opposite of Jordan Brailford on third down. Both are incredibly fast and great at getting after the quarterback. Bundage has a tremendous jump off the line of scrimmage. He was so fast off the snap that a few times I thought he was offsides. Knowles is really excited about that duo.
“I think we got a great combination. I think we have a legitimate, big time pass rush group that can carry us the whole season,” Knowles said. “If you can get pressure on the quarterback you have a chance as a defense.”
Jordan Brailford like the duo as well and thinks it can open things up for the whole defensive line.
“I think its going to set up a lot of opportunity for our interior guys,” Brailford said. “It’s also going to be a tough year for any opposing quarterbacks we go against because the speed on the outside edge and the power we have coming in the middle.”
Bundage lead the team in tackles with seven and had one sack. Brailford had two TFL’s and a sack. Justin Phillips lead the team with three tackles for loss. Trey Carter and Jarrell Owens both recorded sacks as well.
We don’t know how good or how much better this defense could be due to the opponent. But it was really interesting watching how Knowles wants to deploy his attack. It really feels like he is putting the his players in the best positions to make big plays.
#OKState Calvin Bundage (@CalvinBundage) with speed off the edge, rushes ½ a man & runs the hoop for the sack! #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/h7c3xlPmoo
— DLineVids (@DLineVids) August 31, 2018
5. Offensive Line Concerns
It is hard to be concerned or unhappy with the offensive line when OSU just ran for 436 yards. But I was a little concerned about the blocking in the red zone, especially inside the five yard line. There were a few times where the offensive line didn’t get a push or were even pushed back. On the second drive of the game OSU got inside the five but had to settle for a field goal. You’d really want them to be able to score at will on an FCS school like Missouri State in that scenario.
Now, there was some shuffling on the line happening as the coaching staff were rotating some players in at guard and center. But I was still wanting to see OSU blow this team off the ball. Missouri State had seven TFL’s and sacked TC once. Gundy called the offensive line’s night “average,” and it is hard to disagree.
We’ll see if they garner some better continuity in the coming weeks, but it wasn’t the most encouraging performance last night from the offensive line.
