It was only a matter of time before Oklahoma State linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez started racking up awards. After his performance on Saturday against Kansas State, Rodriguez was recognized for his efforts by being chosen as the Co-Defensive Big 12 Player of the Week alongside Baylor’s Garmon Randolph. This was Rodriguez’s second weekly award of the season.
Rodriguez contributed to Oklahoma State’s 31-20 win over the Kansas State Wildcats by recording 7 total tackles—6 of them solo—2 quarterback hurries, 1 tackle for a loss, and one fumble recovery in the end zone to give the Cowboys a touchdown. That touchdown was the score that put the Cowboys on top of the Wildcats 21-10, and that was the turning point of the game.
After trailing 3-0 and then 10-7, Oklahoma State had regained the lead to go up 14-10, and Kansas State made the poor choice of trying to return a kickoff from their own end zone before being downed at their own 7-yard line. On the very first play of the drive, a bad snap went into the end zone, and Malcolm Rodriguez was right in the thick of the backfield, which allowed him to dive on the ball and score the touchdown.
The Cowboy defense should be considered one of the best in the conference, if not the country, but they had yet to put up any points on the board. This was the first defensive touchdown for Oklahoma State all season, but I wouldn’t bank on it being the last.
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