By Kabrina Bowman
Fall 2023
Boone Pickens Stadium packed with thousands of screaming fans decked out in Oklahoma State orange and black. Shoulder to shoulder, collective excitement or disappointment rolling through after each play. Music from the band, keys shaking before kickoff, high-priced concession food, and awful weather can all be found while watching Oklahoma State football play at home.
In 1901 Oklahoma A&M Aggies had their first football season at the university. Recorded to have played five games and won only two. All teams that played that season were from different schools in the state of Oklahoma. Three years later the first-ever Bedlam football game against the University of Oklahoma was held in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where the then Oklahoma A&M Tigers lost 75-0. Since that game, OU has remained ahead in the number of wins in the Bedlam series. Football is entirely a game of statistics from individual players to the entire team. Oklahoma State football as of today has an overall record of 598 wins to 533 losses and 41 ties and has appeared in 33 bowl games. They have had 112 players drafted to the NFL and 1 Heisman winner. Oklahoma State football is currently ranked 5th in the Big 12 conference.
Head coach Mike Gundy has been leading the Cowboy football team for the past nineteen seasons. Recently during the current season and the two previous seasons, he has turned the game into a family affair by bringing in his son Gunnar Gundy as a quarterback. Gunnar was alternated between now-starting quarterback Alan Bowman and another backup QB Garrett Rangel at the beginning of this season. All three have their own individual strengths, however, the coaching staff eventually settled on Alan Bowman as the starting QB putting an end to the three-quarterback rotation that had been used for the first three games of the season. Alan Bowman, a six-year senior, transferred from Texas Tech University to the University of Michigan and now to Oklahoma State. Alan has an overall career completed pass percentage of 65.1% varying from his 56.8% for his time at OSU so far this season. I could go in further depth on the comparability of him to the two other quarterbacks and all their varying statistics and who I believe should be starting however something needs to be said about the rest of the offense.
With current totals of 156 total points and 879 rushing yards, 534 of those yards and 30 points can be attributed to sophomore running back Ollie Gordon ll. On the receiving side, sophomore receiver Jaden Bray has 23 catches this season over 296 yards. For the offensive line, returners are leading a “healthy” offensive line for the first time in several years at the start of the season. Compared to the previous season when players missed the beginning of the season making the season start with backups. However the “health” didn’t last long as the supposedly injured players were the subject of blame for the poor pass protection for earlier games stated by head coach Mike Gundy in an interview. Gundy says “You have guys moving around, you’re vulnerable. We always are, I don’t know about other teams.” in an interview post the West Virginia game.
The kicker, Alex Hale, from Australia, has an 83.3% field goal percentage this season after recovering from a torn ACL that occurred in 2020 during warm-ups for the Bedlam game. He is back this season with stats already comparable to his pre-injury statistics.
In my search for information about our Oklahoma State defense, I read an article from a Kansas State-related news outlet that found every fault in the Oklahoma State defense’s tactics. They explained each starting defensive player and what they do. The thing that sticks out about the article is they don’t say anything bad about the individuals, as a matter of fact, he compliments several of the players, he only takes shots at the defense’s tactics and them as a unit ending it by saying he didn’t see how Oklahoma State would win the game—later proven wrong with the Cowboys’ win of 29-21.
For the leading defensive statistics, sophomore linebacker Nicholas Martin has had 26 solo tackles, 4 sacks, and 1 interception of the 6 so far this season. Freshman safety Cameron Epps has 2 of the other 5 interceptions. The defensive side is led by the defensive coordinator Derek Mason who has 29 years of previous experience. This is the most information I could pull about Oklahoma State Defense.
Though the season started rocky with no clear view of a starting QB and early season losses, OSU Football seems to be turning around its record and regaining the confidence of its fans. After the hard-to-watch game against South Alabama, a team in the Sun Belt Conference, people’s faith in the Cowboys was tarnished, to say the least. After the two most recent wins against the Kansas schools morale and pre-game excitement are back. Coming from someone from Texas where football is the biggest thing around, the energy from fans in the stands of the games coming off the most recent wins makes the games, no matter the weather, worth the watch. Rain or shine OSU football comes out and shows out.
Works Cited
“Oklahoma State Cowboys Statistics.” ESPN, 2023, www.espn.com/college-football/team/stats/_/id/197.
“Oklahoma State Cowboys School History.” Sports Reference, www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/oklahoma-state/index.html.
Ruhl, D. (2023, October 16). “How Oklahoma State’s offense has blossomed with ‘considerably better’ offensive line.” Tulsa World. https://tulsaworld.com/sports/college/osu/how-oklahoma-states-offense-has-blossomed-with-considerably-better-offensive-line/article_0fbf0194-6c62-11ee-a3ba-9fbc99d710a6.html
Schneider, Drew. “Oklahoma State Quick Preview: Defense.” Bring On The Cats, 6 Oct. 2023, www.bringonthecats.com/2023/10/6/23906412/oklahoma-state-quick-preview-defense. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.
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