Cowboys Get Bowl Eligible With Win Over TCU
STILLWATER -- It's been a bit of an up and down season for Oklahoma State. Non-conference was great, they nearly upset Texas in Austin, they stoned a tough, ranked Kansas State team, but that's when the wheels started to fall off a bit. They struggled mightily and loss to Texas Tech, and gave up a lead and lost to Baylor for Homecoming.
The loss to Tech and Baylor were marred by turnovers and mental mistakes and looking at the rest of the season, no one was sure where the wins would come from. But the defense rose to the occasion and helped the Pokes beat Iowa State on the road, and Oklahoma State came together as a team after suffering several injuries to key players to beat a tough TCU team in Stillwater to become bowl eligible.
This marks the 14th year in a row that Oklahoma State will be headed to a bowl game.
“The bowl eligibility is special for the university. It’s special for our organization, the players, the families and everybody to get that," said head coach Mike Gundy. "That is a big deal, but more importantly, that’s the first time I’ve lost my composure in a long time as a head coach and I apologized to everybody, but I wanted it so bad because I wanted them to learn that life lesson, that it’s OK to face adversity and find a way to be successful. The bowl just makes it that much better. I didn’t even remember that until somebody told me afterwards. I should’ve, but that’s not where my mind was at that time. We didn’t give up big plays for touchdowns. We didn’t give up a big quarterback scramble. Their quarterback is a good player and is going to be a good quarterback in this league. This league is going to be tired for him over the next few years. We were plus two or three in the turnovers and we didn’t get penalized. We were a disciplined team. That has really been the key for most teams in this league this year and particularly us."
There were several aspects of this game that needs to be hit on, but a few of the biggest was the performances by Chuba Hubbard, Spencer Sanders and Kolby Harvell-Peel.
We'll go in order; Hubbard finished the night with 20 carries for 223 yards and two touchdowns. That's the fourth time this season that Chuba has eclipsed 200 yards, but more importantly, that's the first time ever that a player has rushed for over 200 yards against Gary Patterson.
That's also the first time a team has ever rushed for over 300 yards against Patterson. The Pokes finished the night with 41 carries for 301 yards and two touchdowns. Oh, and they averaged 7.3 yards per carry.
“He’s really good. He always has been and particularly against the rush," said coach Gundy. "I just looked, Chuba had 223. I don’t know if anybody has ever rushed for 200 yards on Gary. I was going to say, in his career I doubt anybody has every rushed 200 yards on him. He has been pretty good against the run for 20 years or however long he has been a head coach and probably as a coordinator. He ran his plays. He has done the same thing he has always done for the most part. The difference being that when Chuba gets through there, nobody can catch him. That makes him different from other players.”
As for Sanders, tonight was easily his best game to date, and I'm not talking about just stats. He was calm under pressure, he made smart decisions in the pocket, especially when being pressured, and he limited his mistakes.
Sanders finished the night going just 9-of-15 for 158 yards and two touchdowns through the air, but his two touchdown passes were things of beauty. He was pressured early in the game, stepped up in the pocket, evaded defenders and found a wide-open Dillon Stoner for 57 yards and the score.
The second score, also to Stoner, was dropped in where only Stoner could get it.
This was the second-straight game in which Kolby Harvell-Peel has played lights out. Last week against Iowa State, he recorded eight solo stops and six pass break ups. Tonight against TCU, he recorded six total tackles, but also recorded two pass break ups, two interceptions and one fumble recovery.
“He buys in. He has been in the program now for two years," said coach Gundy. "He is a good example of a guy who works hard. He’s quiet. He’s humble. He likes to make plays. One of his interceptions was a great catch. I didn’t think he was going to get to it. He kind of Willie Mays’d it a little bit and went over the shoulder to make a really good catch. He has been a really good player for us and a really good player. He got hurt at Iowa State and didn’t practice this week but very little.”
There were so many other story lines that deserve to be talked about. The offensive line stepping up without Johnny Wilson, the defensive back end rising to the occasion to replace an injured Tre Sterling, and of course, Dillon Stoner rising up and replacing Tylan Wallace.
Sterling, Wallace and Wilson were all three injured on practice this past Wednesday during a half-speed drill practice, and according to Mike Gundy and select players after the game, it seemed to shake everyone up.
For Oklahoma State to come out and win the way they did, it shows just how much this team has grown over the past several weeks and just how bought in they are.
The Pokes get another much-needed, and well-deserved, week off before they get back out onto the field on Nov. 16 as they'll play host to the Kansas Jayhawks and former Oklahoma State coach Les Miles.
