Oklahoma State Needs Strong Finish From Rashod Owens
Oklahoma State’s offense could use a boost from one of its veteran receivers.
OSU entered this season with two players on the Biletnikoff Award watch list. While De’Zhaun Stribling has made his way onto the list during the season, Brennan Presley and Rashod Owens were expected to be the team’s most reliable options downfield.
Stribling has been the Cowboys’ leading receiver with 29 catches for 556 yards and four touchdowns. Meanwhile, Presley has been a reliable target with a team-leading 41 catches for 385 yards and five touchdowns. However, Owens has not lived up to expectations this season.
Through seven games, Owens is OSU’s third-leading receiver with 21 catches for 311 yards and three touchdowns.
Those are solid numbers for Owens, and Stribling’s level of play means there is no shame in falling to the Cowboys’ third receiver. However, Owens’ play has dipped significantly over the past few weeks.
With Alan Bowman set to be the Cowboys’ quarterback for the rest of the season, one of his favorite targets from last season needs to find that form again. Last week against BYU, Owens had two catches for 20 yards. Before the bye week, Owens had only one catch for 8 yards against West Virginia.
In OSU’s first five games, Owens had at least three catches for 40 yards in every contest. His past two games combined don’t reach that mark.
Last season, Owens had a slow start but finished strong. In the final 10 games, Owens had at least 40 receiving yards. That stretch included three 100-yard games, all coming in OSU wins.
While Owens has not been the star receiver OSU expected coming into the season, re-establishing himself as a reliable option could be the key for OSU’s offense this weekend.
If Owens can have a big outburst against Baylor, the Cowboys could get back on track in their quest to make a bowl game.
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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.