Oklahoma State football vs. UCF: Five takeaways from Cowboys' blowout loss to Knights
ORLANDO, Fla. — Some will call it a Bedlam hangover. Others will call it a trap-game walloping.
Yet there’s no debating it was an ugly and uncharacteristic 45-3 loss for a 15th-ranked Oklahoma State team that came into the game as one of the hottest in the country before it got curb-stomped by Central Florida on Saturday night at FBC Mortgage Stadium.
“They outcoached us and they made some plays,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “There was a lot of what I call 50-50 plays throwing the ball, both sides, they made the plays, we didn’t.
“They did a really good job of coaching. They’re good with what they do on offense, and we should’ve been better than what we were on defense. We weren’t. Then we couldn’t capitalize offensively in certain situations. Kinda snowballed into what ended up happening.”
OSU running back Ollie Gordon II’s Heisman Trophy push hit a wall. Quarterback Alan Bowman was intercepted three times.
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And the defense seemingly couldn’t make a stop, getting burned by big plays over and over again.
UCF running back R.J. Harvey went for 206 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries. Quarterback John Rhys Plumlee threw three TD passes to Kobe Hudson, leading the Knights to 592 yards of offense in a wildly unexpected rout — one of the Cowboys’ worst losses as a ranked team under Gundy.
Yet the coach — and later, his players — insisted there was little sense of an emotional hangover from last week’s big Bedlam win.
“I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of people talk about a hangover game and all that stuff, but there was no hangover game,” junior linebacker Collin Oliver said. “We practiced the same way we practiced all year this last week.
“No hangover. Great coaching on their part. Great team win for them. We just needed to be better today.”
Here are four more takeaways from the Cowboy defeat:
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Ollie Gordon II gets shut down
Facing the Big 12’s worst run defense — and one of the worst in the country — seemed like feasting time for OSU running back Ollie Gordon II.
But it turned into famine for Gordon and his Heisman Trophy campaign.
Coming into the game as the nation’s leading rusher, the sophomore finished with
Running behind an offensive line dealing with injuries and illness, Gordon never got on track, despite facing a defense allowing 212 rushing yards per game.
His longest run of the day had gone for 5 yards, finishing with 25 yards on 12 carries, and he fumbled on the Cowboys’ opening drive, marking the first time in six games OSU (7-3, 5-2 Big 12) had not scored on its first possession.
“We didn’t block very good,” Gundy said. “I don’t think he had a lot of places to run. I would have to watch the tape to be fair, but I don’t know that we covered guys up and gave him creases in this game like he’s had in the last four or five games.”
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Tip drill
Each of Bowman’s three interceptions were on passes that got tipped into the air.
All three picks came in momentum-swinging moments.
The first came on OSU’s second possession and led to a quick UCF score for a 17-0 lead when the Cowboys had appeared to be driving.
The last one came when OSU seemed to be putting some momentum on its side after recovering a UCF fumble. But a tipped pass was intercepted at the 8-yard line and on UCF’s next snap, Harvey went 92 yards for a back-breaking TD.
“A couple of them were, I thought, good throws and it just didn’t happen,” Gundy said. “It just ended up being a perfect storm there.
“Coming out of the half, we score, and we get the turnover, get a chance to score again, and it doesn’t work out for us.”
Big 12 title still on table
Thanks to its five-game win streak, which was snapped on Saturday, the Cowboys still have themselves in a good spot in the race for the Big 12 championship game.
Texas is now the only team in the league with one conference loss, but OSU fell into a five-way tie for second place among two-loss teams.
The tie includes Oklahoma, Kansas State, West Virginia and Iowa State. OSU has the head-to-head tiebreaker edge over the first three, while Iowa State has perhaps the toughest remaining schedule.
The Cyclones were set to play at BYU late Saturday night, then play host to Texas before finishing with a trip to Kansas State.
So the Cowboys still need a little help to assure themselves a clean run at a spot in the title game, yet the most important piece for OSU will be rebounding from Saturday’s humiliating loss in the Knights' seventh annual "Space Game."
OSU plays at Houston next week before hosting BYU on Thanksgiving Saturday.
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Brooks, Bray still out for OSU offense
A pair of starters, left guard Jason Brooks Jr. and outside receiver Jaden Bray, did not travel with the team for Saturday’s game, and a couple of backups were limited at those same positions.
Brooks remains sidelined after reaggravating a lower leg injury last week against OU. Bray has been out since suffering an undisclosed injury at West Virginia last month.
Receiver Blaine Green, who dressed but did not play last week, saw his first action in the last three games, appearing briefly in the second half.
Brooks’ primary backup, Cole Birmingham, was also dealing with an injury. He briefly played, but was replaced after a couple of series by Taylor Miterko, who had started the game.
Additionally, center Joe Michalski left the game in the third quarter and was replaced by redshirt freshman Austin Kawecki, who had previously only played in mop-up time. Michalski had reportedly been dealing with an illness much of the week.
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football lose lopsided game vs. UCF Knights in Big 12
