Ollie Gordon's Disappointing Season Highlights Oklahoma State's Struggles
Oklahoma State is meeting one of its goals, but not in the way it wanted.
Entering the 2024 season, OSU was a favorite to win the Big 12 and earn a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff. Through six games, OSU has fallen to 3-3 overall and is still searching for its first conference win.
While OSU has had many issues this season, one has stood out much more than any others. The Cowboys have failed to get anything going in the rushing game.
Generally, that has not been an unfixable problem throughout Mike Gundy’s tenure, with many high-flying offenses. However, Ollie Gordon is the reigning Doak Walker Award winner and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Considering Gordon’s ineffective rushing this season, the Cowboys’ offense has suffered mightily.
With Gordon expected to have a significant load this season, Gundy said he hoped to keep Gordon around or under 20 carries per game to keep him fresh. In OSU’s season opener against South Dakota State, Gordon rushed 28 times for 126 yards and three touchdowns.
He looked ready to pick up where he left off in 2023 after that performance. Yet, that was not only his lone game with 20+ carries thus far but also his only game with 100 rushing yards.
After leading the nation in rushing a season ago, Gordon has been nonexistent for long stretches for OSU. In the team’s most recent loss against West Virginia, Gordon had 13 carries for 50 yards.
Those types of performances have become common for Gordon in his junior year. With Sesi Vailahi and Trent Howland combining for 124 yards on 42 carries, no one else has been able to give OSU a boost in that area either.
With a bye week to work and turn things around, OSU will need to have a better rushing attack when it takes the field at BYU. If Gordon and company can’t reignite the Cowboys’ rushing game, OSU might be on track for a losing season.
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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.