The Oklahoma State Cowboys football team took the field on Saturday night to kickoff the 2023 season, and while it wasn’t exactly pretty, they managed to pull out a 27-13 victory over FCS foe Central Arkansas. The Cowboys entered the game with a lot of unanswered questions, and after what can only be described as a wacky game, there is still plenty left to be figured out as the season unfolds.
Struggling with an FCS school is never a good look, but it’d be disingenuous to claim that Oklahoma State was the only team that looked less than stellar in their opening game. Still, a lot of work is to be done if the Cowboys want to even have a chance to finish in the top half of the conference, let alone have a chance at another appearance in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Give the O-Line Time
For a few years now, the Cowboy offensive line has struggled to do much up front. Whether it was poor pass protection or not much of a push to help out running backs, the once great offensive machine has turned into a bit of a joke. It looked like much of the same early in the game against Central Arkansas, but as time went on, the run game was actually what turned things around.
No running back garnered double-digit carries, but by the end of the night, the Cowboys had rushed for 149 yards on 31 carries for a 4.8 yard average. While the play-calling leaned heavily towards the pass, especially early, there should be optimism that the offensive line can improve enough to give the running backs a fighting chance. When given just a little bit of space, there’s no telling what that group can do.
Who is QB1?
In perhaps the weirdest strategy that Mike Gundy could come up with, three different quarterbacks split almost equal time across the board for the entire game. Garret Rangel, Alan Bowman, and Gunnar Gundy all saw significant playing time, and nobody really stood out as the clear guy to head up this offense.
Despite throwing an interception on a botched 4th down play in his first drive, Garret Rangel looked poised and made some solid plays, both with his arm and his feet, completing 10-of-15 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown while rushing 18 yards on 6 carries.
Alan Bowman proved that he can throw a dot when called upon, but his numbers don’t look quite as pretty because of dropped passes. He completed just 13-of-24 passes for 80 yards while rushing twice for -2 yards.
Then there’s Gunnar Gundy. The walk-on quarterback took his turn in the game while the Cowboys held just a 6-point lead, and while he didn’t look great in his first drive, he helped lead a 9-play, 93-yard touchdown drive to extend the lead early in the fourth quarter. Gundy finished with 7-of-9 passing for 106 yards while running for another 20 yards on 2 carries.
It’s hard to tell who is going to be the best fit for the job, especially because of the lack of competition in this outing, but at some point, Mike Gundy is going to have pick a guy and stick with him, because I don’t see a 3-quarterback system working out very well.
Give the Special Teams Their Flowers
Central Arkansas had several opportunities to put points on the board, and they probably would have if it was not for some big plays made by the special teams. Twice the Bears kicked a field goal, and twice Cowboy defensive back Korie Black found his way through the line to block the kick. Black entered the season as the most experienced player in the secondary, and he showed it tonight as he made big play after big play, including forcing a fumble right before halftime.
Kicker Alex Hale had a solid day, as well, knocking in both field goal attempts of 36 and 45 yards, and hitting all 3 extra points.
Finally, the kick coverage for both kickoffs and punts did a great job at pinning the Bears deep in their own territory.
When you’ve got an offense that struggles to score and a defensive with plenty of questions still in the air, a solid special teams can be a make or break in a game. If the Cowboys can manage every area of special teams like they did against Central Arkansas, then they could come up with a few extra possessions or a few extra points here and there.
Next Up
The competition for the Cowboys gets a little more difficult next week as they travel to Tempe, Arizona to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils, who will be joining the Big 12 next season. Arizona State picked up a 24-21 win on Thursday over Southern Utah, and after going 3-9 last season, they will take anything they can get. Oklahoma State should be favored in this one, but it might not be by much after how they struggled against Central Arkansas.
Kickoff for the game next week will be Saturday, September 9th at 9:30 PM, and the game will be televised on FS1.
You seemed to downplay Gundy,s performance. I thought it was excellent. 10 yard average rushing the ball and 7 of 9 passing. Not much room to have a better stat game than that.
I guess my hesitancy to give too much credit is that he didn’t have to do too much except NOT make a mistake. The line was playing much better by the time he got in, so the run game was finally starting to open up. He played well, but I just don’t think he’s the starter moving forward.