How will Texas A&M's absent defenders impact run game for Ollie Gordon II, Oklahoma State?

scott wright, the oklahoman

Wed, Dec 27, 2023, 12:46 PM·4 min read

HOUSTON — The Oklahoma State football team heads into the Texas Bowl seeking the 10th double-digit victory season in program history.

To this point, seven of the school’s nine 10-win seasons have come under coach Mike Gundy, all in the last 14 years.

When the Texas Bowl matchup — pitting No. 20 OSU against Texas A&M at 8 p.m. Wednesday at NRG Stadium — the Aggies were 5.5-point favorites. But with several departures and a coaching staff undergoing major turnover, the point spread has moved significantly the Cowboys’ way.

Of course, OSU has been strong as an underdog this season, so going in as a two-point underdog won’t scare the Pokes at all.

Here’s a closer look at the game in the bowl edition of Four Downs:

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Oct 14, 2023; Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma State's Collin Oliver (30) celebrates after sacking Kansas’s Jason Bean (9) in the second quarter during an NCAA football game between Oklahoma State (OSU) and Kansas at Boone Pickens Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan J. Fish-USA TODAY Sports

Cowboy in the Crosshairs

OSU linebacker Collin Oliver: Texas A&M has the No. 24 scoring offense in the country at 34.2 points per game, but there’s one area where Oklahoma State could attack a weakness.

The Aggies have allowed 28 sacks this season, an average of 2.3 per game.

That’s where Oliver comes in. The outside linebacker has 22.5 sacks for his career, ranking fifth on OSU’s all-time chart in just his third season. He has 6.0 sacks this season with eight quarterback hurries and five pass breakups.

Look for defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo to find ways to unleash Oliver off the edge.

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Number to Know

OSU running back Ollie Gordon II (0) walks of the field after the Big 12 championship game against Texas on Dec. 2 in Arlington, Texas.

106.7: That’s the average rushing yards allowed by Texas A&M this season, best in the SEC. OSU last played against the Big 12’s best rush defense when it lost to Texas in the Big 12 title game, and that group was giving up 85.0 rush yards per game.

Of course, the defense OSU will see Wednesday is a shell of what the Aggies ran out for most fall Saturdays. Their top two defensive players, nose tackle McKinnley Jackson and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, have declared for the NFL Draft. Another strong interior defensive lineman, Walter Nolen has entered the transfer portal, and a few other defensive starters have departed as well.

So, an OSU offense that has averaged 156.9 yards per game on the ground might find more holes than anticipated a month ago. With 1,614 rushing yards for the season, OSU’s Ollie Gordon II has a chance to climb the school’s single-season rushing chart even further than he already has.

Only five Cowboys have ever rushed for more than 1,700 yards in a season: Barry Sanders, Chuba Hubbard, Terry Miller, Ernest Anderson and Thurman Thomas.

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BYU's Max Tooley (31) pulls the shirt of Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon II (0) in the second half of the college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys and the Brigham Young Cougars at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023.

This Day in Cowboy History

This will be just the fourth game OSU has ever played on Dec. 27, but the third in the last five years.

Here’s a look at how OSU has fared on this day, which includes two previous appearances in the Texas Bowl:

2002: Rashaun Woods had 164 receiving yards, Tatum Bell rushed for 160 and Josh Fields passed for 310 as the Cowboys defeated Southern Miss 33-23 in what was then known as the Houston Bowl.

2019: The nation’s leading rusher, Chuba Hubbard, went for 158 yards, becoming the second Cowboy running back to surpass 2,000 yards in a season. He finished with 2,094, but the Cowboys, playing all but a few snaps without injured starting quarterback Spencer Sanders, lost to Texas A&M, 24-21, in the Texas Bowl.

2022: OSU fought most of the way out of a 17-point hole to get within a possession in the fourth quarter, but ultimately lost 24-17 to Wisconsin in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix. Ollie Gordon II had a receiving touchdown from Garret Rangel, who threw for 229 yards in his third start of his true freshman season.

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Uni-Guess

White-white-white: This is the most common of OSU’s uniform combinations that it hasn’t worn this season, and it’s also a player favorite, so it seems like they’d pull it out at least once.

Of course, it’s the same combo OSU wore when it lost to Texas A&M in the 2019 Texas Bowl, so if they’re looking to change up the vibe, they could go a different direction. Maybe orange-white-orange. They’ve only worn orange helmets twice all year, so that could be an option.

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