Oklahoma State capped America’s greatest comeback with a 45-13 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday night.
With such a special event and a performance to match it, there were plenty of high marks to hand out, but there are still some improvements to be made before Bedlam. Here are the scores from OSU’s homecoming victory.
Ollie Gordon: A+
I’ve avoided including Ollie Gordon in my notes because it seems too obvious, but hey Barry Sanders.
Sometimes there are students who pass all the assignments and tests, plus get all the extra credits, and they get this absurd 104% in a class. Ollie Gordon is that overachiever, but instead of making a class seem too easy, he does it with Division I football as a sophomore.
Gordon totaled 271 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 10.8 yards per carry, Saturday night. I struggle to get numbers like that when playing NCAA Football ’14.
Currently, Barry Sanders is the only other former running back Gordon is compared to, as they are the only two in OSU history to rush for at least 250 yards in consecutive games.
Offensive line: A+
Again, these guys have been hit the hardest over the last couple of years, but now I believe they are the biggest reason for this dramatic turnaround for the Cowboys.
OSU’s offensive line again did not allow a sack for the second straight game and had only three quarter hurries.
The O-line had its toughest task yet blocking for Gordon against a stellar Cincinnati front, but it still dominated. The Bearcats entered the game allowing just 100.7 rushing yards per game – 18th best in the country – and hadn’t allowed a 100-yard rush all season. Gordon nearly tripled that marker with 271 rushing yards alone, and OSU had 315 as a team, averaging 8.5 yards per attempt.
Defense against big plays: B-
OSU’s defense giving up large chunks of yards on a single play has been a problem all season, but it’s a problem that appears to be improving, or at least it was Saturday night.
The Cowboys gave up four plays of 20+ yards – two passes and two scores. The first was a 53-yard pass on Cincinnati’s first possession, but fortunately for OSU, the drive ended with a missed field goal and no points.
In the next game, the Sooners will convert plays like this into points almost every time and will also be able to execute better on deeper shots with Dillon Gabriel behind center with plenty of weapons.
Both of Cincinnati’s touchdowns came from plays of 20-plus yards — a 63-yard run in the first quarter and a 21-yard pass in the fourth.
A B- doesn’t seem bad, but with the same effort in Bedlam, a B- won’t be good enough and could drop drastically without any change.
America’s Greatest Homecoming: A+
My family took a trip to Stillwater Friday night for Walkaround and the reunion experience never gets old.
I have now seen hundreds of home decks and am always impressed by each one. There were ones with working Paddle People, a mirror image of a photo taken by our photographer Devin Wilber, and even odes to the O’Colly – where I spent most of my college years.
The Cowboys’ performance in the homecoming games could also earn an A+, and it was obviously no different in 2023, as OSU won its third straight homecoming game.
It’s an event that even the ESPN2 broadcast praises and flashes throughout the game. What makes America Greatest Comeback isn’t all about prejudice and participation at OSU.
Tricolor uniforms: B
This might be the first uniform combo of 2023 that I wouldn’t give an A+ for, which is why I didn’t include college grades. But this tricolor homecoming outfit just didn’t do it for me and was my favorite so far this season.
Three-color combos are something that someone either loves or hates, and they have to be executed almost perfectly. I was a fan of the three-color road combo in West Virginia, but white-orange-black Saturday didn’t seem right to me. This was actually the first time OSU went for this combo.
I loved the helmet and the Pete logo, and honestly, I love each piece of the uniform, just not all together. It’s still impossible for any OSU uniform combo to get less than a B because they’re all at least above average. It’s still better than wearing crimson-crimson-white or crimson-white-white every game.
