Cowboy Defense Needs to Remain Focused
STILLWATER – It’s been close to a month since Oklahoma State traveled up to Lawrence and beat Kansas 47-7 back on Oct. 3. The Cowboys had a scheduled open date the following week, but the game scheduled against Baylor on Oct. 17 was postponed due to an outbreak of positive COVID-19 cases within the Baylor program.
The media got to speak with linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez and defensive tackle Cameron Murray on Wednesday evening. According to Rodriguez, the extra open week kind of felt like when the season-opening game against Tulsa got pushed back a week.
“It’s been good,” Rodriguez said of the intensity of practice. “It’s like the Tulsa game, we’re ready to be back out there. So, we’re all pumped up for the game.”
Despite only playing two games so far this year, Tulsa turned out to be better than a lot of people predicted. They played the Cowboys to a 16-7 final in the season-opener and then traveled to Florida and knocked off then No. 11 UCF 34-26.
Iowa State struggled to start the year as they lost to ULL 31-14 in Ames. Since then, they’ve rattled off three wins in a row, including a 37-30 win over then ranked No. 18 OU.
One of the biggest questions going into Saturday’s match-up between the No. 6 ranked Cowboys and No. 17 ranked Cyclones is how with the Pokes respond to having an extra unplanned week off? Will they be able to use the extra week to their advantage, or will the extra week have been a detriment and allowed the Cowboys, especially the red-hot defense, to cool off.
"You just put your head down and keep grinding,” Murray said. “It's a long season. It's a tough time in the world with COVID and all the stuff that's going on, but just taking it one day at a time, that's the main thing. I feel like I tell guys that every day and my coaches tell me that every day. Just take it one day at a time. You can't really look at the future, you just got to take that day, compete in that day and move to the next one. That's the main thing to stay focused."
Focused is right. The Cowboy defense had a great defensive performance against the Cyclones last year in Ames that helped lead to a 34-27 upset.
"That was a mental lift for our defense,” Mike Gundy said on Monday. “A lot of things that we do in life, not only football, but everyday life, when you develop confidence and have a little success it leads to more enthusiasm, better practices, better everyday preparation and that was a good game for our defense. Since then we've played pretty well; overall, our guys have played pretty good football. We beat a good team up there last year with a quarterback that's a — you know the guy’s gonna play in the NFL. It's tough to beat teams when their quarterback has NFL capabilities. It was a good lift for us last year defensively when we played at Iowa State."
The same quarterback is at the helm for the Cyclones, Brock Purdy, only he’s more experienced. However, the Cowboy defense is more experienced as well, one of the more experienced defenses in the Big 12 with 10 of 11 returning starters. So far this season, the Cowboys have had one of the best defenses in the country as they’ve only allowed 27 points so far on the season. In order for the Cowboys to be successful on Saturday against a talented Iowa State team, they’ll need to take Cam Murray’s advice and stay focused.
