Brennan Presley's Bedlam Past an Encouraging Sign For Oklahoma State
Plenty of Cowboys have had memorable offensive showings in Bedlam, and one is ready to play again on Saturday.
Oklahoma State will have its final matchup with Oklahoma for the foreseeable future on Saturday. OSU’s Brennan Presley has had a knack for stepping up his game for the rivalry, and he may need another big game Saturday to pull the upset.
Presley will be playing in his fourth game against the Sooners and look to have his third straight impactful performance. He finished with just one catch for 7 yards as a freshman, but his second outing against the Sooners was one of the most explosive in Cowboys’ history.
While Presley’s numbers in 2021 do not jump off the page, his performance in the first half set OSU up for a Bedlam win. Presley got things going on OSU’s second drive with a couple of catches.
On his first grab, Spencer Sanders threw a ball to Presley for 22 yards along the left sideline to push the Cowboys across midfield. On the ensuing play, Presley made a catch on a slant over the middle for another first down.
Those catches set up Tay Martin’s 30-yard grab at the goal line for the first score of the night. On the next drive, Presley foreshadowed his biggest play.
OSU scored a touchdown on the next possession to regain the lead with another score from Martin, but Presley set the drive up. On the kickoff, Presley made a couple of moves to get past the 40-yard line before running into a handful of OU tacklers.
But the Sooners could not catch him next time. Presley returned the along the left side before evading defenders and cutting back to the left for a touchdown.
Presley did not add much else after, but his early impact was critical to OSU’s 37-33 win. As for the closing impact, it was the defense that delivered.
OSU’s defense allowed no points in the second half, as all nine of OU’s points came from a safety and Presley’s muffed punt. Then, in the fourth quarter, freshman Collin Oliver made a couple of game-changing sacks.
With under eight minutes left, Oliver sacked Caleb Williams and forced the Sooners to punt after taking them entirely out of field goal range. After the Cowboys failed to seal the game offensively, Oliver finished the game.
On fourth down with a minute to go, Oliver grabbed Williams’ leg to bring him down and end the Sooners’ chances of winning.
While OSU had a far worse performance in 2022, Presley was a bright spot. Presley’s second career game in Norman ended with nine catches for 118 yards.
As OSU’s leading receiver, Presley helped his team try and mount a comeback in the fourth quarter. Presley’s elusive 55-yard catch-and-run put OSU on the OU 12-yard line early in the fourth quarter, but OSU stalled out and settled for a field goal to make it a 15-point game.
Presley’s 10-yard catch a couple of drives later helped the Cowboys get in the red zone again with less than six minutes to go. But Sanders threw his fourth interception and ended OSU’s hopes of getting back in the game two plays later.
With Alan Bowman under center on Saturday, the Cowboys need to get Presley plenty of touches. Alongside Ollie Gordon, Presley could be a critical part of the Cowboys’ offensive attack.
OSU may not get another 100+ yard receiving game or a kick return touchdown from him, but if Presley can be a Bedlam star again, OSU’s chance of winning increases exponentially.
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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.