Cowboys stymie Arizona State defensively in road victory

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Oklahoma State Cowboys overcame a 15-10 halftime deficit thanks to their defense pitching a shutout in the second half as the Pokes came away with a 27-15 road victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday night at Sun Devil Stadium in a match-up of future Big 12 Conference teams as ASU, along with Arizona, Colorado and Utah, will be joining the Big 12.

Trailing by five points at halftime, the Cowboys (2-0) took the lead for good on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Gunnar Gundy to De’Zhaun Stripling with 9:09 left in the third quarter. After a penalty thwarted the Pokes to go for the two-point conversion, Alex Hale hit the extra point to give OSU a 17-15 lead after three periods.

Hale hit a 22-yard field goal with 7:11 left to play to up OSU’s advantage to 20-15.

Then, the Pokes put away the game with a 16-yard TD pass from Garret Rangel to Brennan Presley with 2:56 remaining in the game in which the OSU receiver was all alone with no Sun Devil defender around. Hale’s PAT provided the final margin of victory.

However, it was OSU’s defense which shined in the desert on Saturday night as the Cowboys had an interception and forced the Sun Devils (1-1) to turn the ball over on downs on three occasions — with the last instance happening late in the final period at the ASU 33 that set up OSU drive that culminate with Rangel’s TD pass to Presley.

ASU broke the scoreless deadlock as Cam Skattebo scored on a 13yard TD run with 4:28 left in the first quarter. Dario Longhetto’s PAT put the Sun Devils ahead 7-0 after a period.

The Cowboys tied the game on Ollie Gordon II’s 2-yard touchdown run. Hale’s extra point made it 7-all with 11:58 left before halftime.

The Sun Devils regained the lead on Jaden Rashada’s 65–yard TD pass to Elijhah Badger. Skattebo’s twopoint conversion run put ASU ahead 15-7 with 10:07 remaining in the first half.

Hale’s 52-yard field goal with 7:41 remaining before halftime cut OSU’s deficit to 15-10 at halftime.