Cowboys defeat Central Arkansas in opener

STILLWATER — A question for Oklahoma State going into Saturday night’s opener against Central Arkansas was who would cement the quarterback position for 2023.

Coach Mike Gundy didn’t seem to be settled after the game, but it seemed to be clear that it was his son Gunnar Gundy that had the best performance in the Cowboys’ 27-13 win over the Bears before a crowd of 53,855 at Boone Pickens Stadium.

Garrett Rangel started first, then Allen Bowman before the younger Gundy came in and engineered two scoring drives that turned a close game into a comfortable advantage.

“To be fair to them, we told them that we’d play them X amount of series, and we rolled with it,” Gundy said. “I thought they played pretty good, 30-of-48, so not bad. I thought they all played pretty good, each one of them missed a throw or so, but they also all made some throws. So, I thought they all played pretty good.”

OSU led 13-0 at halftime with the only touchdown coming when Brennan Presley hauled in a pass from Rangel 11 yards to the end zone with 2:58 left in the opening quarter.

That came in response after the Bears drove to attempt a field goal that was blocked.

Rangel finished with 118 yards on 10-of-15 attempts and an interception. The pick came on fourth down from the Central Arkansas 30-yard line, which set up the UCA’s drive that led to its field goal attempt that was blocked.

Alan Bowman then came in at quarterback with less than 10 minutes left in the half. He went 13-of-24 for 80 yards.

OSU then added field goals of 36 and 45 yards, respectively, by Alex Hale in the second quarter.

UCA would crack the scoreboard when Will McElvain hit Kylin James in the end zone from a yard out on third and goal. It completed a 95-yard drive and drew the visiting Bears to within 13-7 with 4:37 to go in the third.

Gunnar Gundy came in immediately thereafter. The younger Gundy completed two passes on his first drive but it wasn’t enough to keep the drive going as the Cowboys went 3-and-out.

However, on the next drive, he commanded a 93-yard drive, capping it with a 17-yard run by Elijah Collins with 10:44 remaining. The score was set up by completions of 21 and 28 yards, respectively, to De’Zhaun Stribling and Presley. That was when the floodgates began to open.

The younger Gundy would have another incredible series on the next drive, capping it with a 2-yard TD run by Ollie Gordon II, who made an amazing leap over a defender a few plays earlier. The coach’s son began the possession with his longest pass, the 39-yarder,to Jayden Bray, and OSU had a first down at the UCA 39. After handing the ball off to Gordon for rushes of two and 15, Gundy would make scrambles on keepers of four and 16 before Gordon got in from two.

The Pokes had turned a close game into a comfortable 27-7 advantage with less than six minutes left in the game.

On those two drives, Gunnar Gundy showed strides like the way his father played when he quarterbacked OSU from 1986-89. He finished the evening throwing seven completions of nine attempts for 106 yards. His longest was for 39 yards.

“I thought he played good,” Gundy said. “He was accurate with his throws. He looked a little nervous to me on his first throw, he was high on one. He was a little high on another one, Brennan (Presley) made a good catch. It looked like to me he had a little jitters, but after that I thought he was pretty good.”

It would be quite a treat for the OSU faithful if he were to become the starter and duplicate his dad’s success.

Central Arkansas would get one more TD, with the extra point blocked, to draw within the final two-TD margin.

Still, Mike Gundy hadn’t decided after the game who he would start at quarterback for this Saturday night’s road game against Arizona State.

“No, well you guys watched, you wouldn’t be able to do it either,” he said. “It’d be hard. I’ll watch the tape and see the grades, you know? Where they were at mentally, listening on the headset, I thought they were all in it pretty good, mentally. I didn’t feel like the quarterbacks were in the wrong spot, but we’ll have to watch it and see where we’re at.”