Burning Answers: Lessons Learned in Oklahoma State's Fall to 3-7
Oklahoma State has been without a win for two months, and that might not change.
On Saturday, OSU continued its losing streak with a 38-13 defeat at TCU. The Horned Frogs dominated, jumping out to a 24-0 halftime lead, and their victory was never in doubt.
Answers to burning questions in OSU’s seventh-straight loss:
Can the Cowboys win the rushing battle?
TCU came in as one of the worst rushing teams in the Big 12, giving OSU an opportunity to win the battle on the ground. As OSU has for most of the season, it failed to outrush its opponent.
Still, the Cowboys had one of their best rushing performances on both sides of the ball this season. With 135 yards, OSU’s offense had its third-best rushing performance. And with 175 yards allowed, OSU’s defense had its third-best rushing performance and allowed fewer than 200 rushing yards for the first time in Big 12 play.
Of course, going by yards per carry, OSU’s performance looked just like all the others.
Can OSU’s offense counter the big plays the defense allows?
The Cowboys didn’t score a point until the third quarter and never looked competitive. OSU’s offense struggled throughout the night and failed to counter any big plays from TCU.
Could Maealiuaki Smith get a real chance?
For some reason, the answer is still no. Alan Bowman has been mediocre at best throughout his seventh season of college football. In his lone drive, Smith completed six of his eight passes for 92 yards, albeit ending in an interception.
Smith looked better in one drive than Bowman has for most of the season. Still, Mike Gundy and the Cowboys decided against using the potential star in favor of a player who has two games left in his football career on a three-win team.
What else does Mike Gundy have to say?
Unsurprisingly, Gundy refused to address his comments earlier in the week, where he dismissed upset fans as broke failures. Also unsurprisingly, Gundy’s team lost by 25 points and never looked competitive in another disappointing Big 12 performance.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.