Ollie Gordon II's 'Doak-worthy' TD gives Oklahoma State football shot at Big 12 title

STILLWATER — No more fitting a final touchdown could have been scored on Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium.

Ollie Gordon II hit a wall going to his left, danced back to his right and dove over two pursuing defenders at the goal line for the decisive touchdown in the 40-34 double-overtime victory against Brigham Young that sent Oklahoma State to the Big 12 Championship Game.

OSU will face seventh-ranked Texas at 11 a.m. next Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The 20th-ranked Cowboys’ spot at JerryWorld wasn’t assured until defensive back Trey Rucker ripped the ball from the hands of BYU tight end Isaac Rex, recovering the fumble and sealing the victory.

But Gordon’s touchdown leap — giving him his school-record-tying fifth rushing TD of the day — was the preeminent highlight of the game, and one that should lead his highlight tape for postseason honors.

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“If that’s not Doak-worthy, I don’t know what the hell is,” OSU offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn said, referring to the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation’s top running back. “You wanna talk about a moment, that was clutch for the Cowboys.”

Of course, Dunn wasn’t thinking about the Doak a few seconds before Gordon’s fateful leap. When Gordon initially took the handoff going left, he was halted at the 5-yard line by a strong push from the BYU defensive line.

“That would’ve been second down-and-goal at the 5-yard line,” Dunn said. “I wasn’t real excited about that call. It crossed my mind, I was like, ‘Holy s--.’ And then he went back and scored, and it was awesome.”

Gordon came into the night tied for the NCAA FBS lead in rushing yards, adding another 166 to his total for 1,580. And the five TDs brought his total to 20 for the season, the fifth-most by a Cowboy player in school history.

And now, he’ll do what few Cowboys before him have done in playing for a Big 12 championship.

“It means a lot, honestly,” Gordon said. “If you look at the team, we have a mad majority of people from Texas. It’s a real fun thing that we get to go back home. But next week, we’ll just keep working harder and not be excited that we just made it to the game.”

OSU quarterback Alan Bowman, who completed 31 of 47 passes for 321 yards Saturday, echoed the last thought. Having begun his career at Texas Tech, he knows what it’s like to begin a season with Big 12 title hopes and not see his opportunity for the trophy realized.

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While Gordon grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and went to high school in nearby Euless, Bowman is from Grapevine, which he estimates is about 25 minutes from AT&T Stadium. He has played in the stadium multiple times between high school games and the Texas Tech-Baylor series that was held there a couple times.

“Many teams wish they could be in this position,” Bowman said. “And we’re not just excited to be at the Big 12 Championship Game, we’re wanting to win the Big 12 Championship Game.”

While a handful of current Cowboys actually saw the field with the 2021 team that lost the Big 12 title game to Baylor, many more were not even with the program.

Yet a few others, like defensive starters Kendal Daniels and Nick Martin, were redshirting, and got to watch the grind that team faced in getting to Arlington.

“I took it in, watching those guys working their butts off,” said Daniels, who had seven tackles. “I realized how special it is to get there after that season. Right now, I’m just head down, this is another football game we gotta go in there and win.”

Martin, who added to his Big 12-leading tackle total with eight more stops to bring his season total to 120, said watching the 2021 team anchored by linebackers Malcolm Rodriguez and Devin Harper set the tone for what he believed Cowboy football should look like.

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“I was watching as a young guy,” he said. “I saw those guys do it and I’m trying my best to replicate that and then some, keep this program building as a team, as a unit, as a family, as an organization.

“I think about how much we’ve dealt with adversity and how we’ve responded is the biggest thing for us — responding every play, responding every game.”

Bowman spent the previous two seasons at Michigan on teams that won Big Ten Conference titles and reached the College Football Playoff. Asked what key qualities this OSU team has that are similar to those Michigan squads, Bowman pointed to that same ability to respond to adversity.

And these Pokes have seen their share. Whether it was the early losses to South Alabama and Iowa State, or the crushing loss at Central Florida a few weeks ago, or the two terrible first-half performances of the last two Saturdays, this team always seems to have a response.

“Just refusing to lose,” Bowman said. “At Michigan, every game we went into, it didn’t matter what happened, we all believed that. And I think these last two weeks, we’re getting to that.

“To just be able to take punches and come back in is relevant with the championship teams I’ve been on.”

Big 12 Championship Game

No. 20 Oklahoma State vs. No. 7 Texas

KICKOFF: 11 a.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (ABC)

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ollie Gordon, Trey Rucker put Oklahoma State football in Big 12 finale