Cowboys rally in second half to down West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Ollie Gordon II ran for a Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium opponent-record 282 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead Oklahoma State to a 48-34 victory over West Virginia on Saturday afternoon before a homecoming crowd of 51,870.

Gordon, who scored three touchdowns in OSU’s 28-point fourth quarter, finished just nine yards shy of the 291 Khalil Herbert gained in West Virginia’s 56-34 victory over Kansas in Lawrence in 2017. That’s the most ever by a West Virginia opponent.

Gordon was virtually unstoppable in the second half, gaining 196 yards after intermission, including 149 yards in the fourth quarter alone.

As it did in its two-point loss at Houston on Oct. 12, a worn-down West Virginia defense struggled mightily late in the game when it surrendered touchdowns on five of OSU’s final six offensive possessions. OSU averaged 10.1 yards per rush and 7.5 yards per play after intermission.

OSU also got 210 yards passing and two touchdowns from quarterback Alan Bowman to finish the game with 491 total yards.

This overshadowed another encouraging offensive effort from West Virginia, which gained 475 yards mainly on the strength of quarterback Garrett Greene’s running and passing. He completed 15-of-30 passes for 249 yards and two TDs and ran 16 times for 117 yards. Junior Justin Johnson Jr. contributed 72 yards on 14 carries, while Preston Fox led the WVU pass catchers with four catches for 81 yards.

OSU jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, thanks to a pair of West Virginia turnovers. The Mountaineers got the first break of the game when Hudson Clement came up with Brennan Presley’s muffed punt at the OSU 31, but WVU gave the ball right back to the Cowboys when Kendal Daniels took the ball away from Kole Taylor on a short pass to the far side of the field.

A Gordon 32-yard run set the Cowboys (5-2 overall, 3-1 in Big 12 play) up for Alex Hale’s 37-yard field goal.

Another turnover, this one Korie Black’s interception returned to WVU’s 39, preceded Gordon’s 2-yard touchdown run. It took OSU only six plays to reach pay dirt.

An OSU miscue — Korie Black’s pass interference penalty on third-and-16 — gave the Mountaineers new life at the 49. The Mountaineers used Greene runs of 10 and 8 yards, and then Fox’s tremendous sliding catch for 19 yards to the OSU 3 on third-and-8 to put them in position for Johnson to score his first touchdown of the season.

Six minutes later, Michael Hayes tied the game with a 34-yard field goal, completing an eight-play, 43-yard march that Hale answered three minutes later with a 29-yard field goal. OSU, winners of three straight, advanced to the WVU 10 before the defense threw Gordon for a 2-yard loss on third and 5.

West Virginia took over at its own 25 and got an 18-yard pass from Greene to EJ Horton to the 43. An offsides penalty on OSU gave the Mountaineers (4-3, 2-2) five more yards to the 48. Then on third-and-9 at the OSU 45, a scrambling Greene got outside the pocket and flipped a long pass down the near sideline to a wide-open Devin Carter for a touchdown, his first as a Mountaineer. Hayes’ conversion kick gave WVU a 1713 lead.

The Cowboys marched from their own 27 to the WVU 14 where the drive stalled with 18 seconds remaining in the half. Following West Virginia’s second timeout, Hale’s 31-yard field goal sailed wide right.

West Virginia’s first two possessions of the third quarter started inside its 5, and the second one wound up giving the Cowboys great field position at their own 48. A Gordon 27-yard run moved the ball to the WVU 25, a Bowman 12yard pass to Rashod Owens on thirdand 6 got the ball to the 13, and then Bowman hit Jaden Bray on a quick slant for a 5-yard touchdown.

WVU used another pass interference penalty to get out of a hole, and the Mountaineers took advantage. Greene completed a 6-yard pass to Carter on third and 5 to OSU’s 49 and then he scooted 13 yards on third-and-6 to the 35.

Here, Greene faked run and threw a pretty pass down the middle of the field to a streaking Horton for a 35-yard touchdown. Hayes’ conversion kick put WVU ahead 24-20 with 1:30 left in the third quarter.

The Mountaineers appeared to be in great shape when the defense forced the Cowboys to punt from their own 32, but as Fox was attempting to fair catch Hudson Kaak’s punt, teammate Andrew Wilson-Lamp ran into him, and the muff was recovered by Parker Robertson at the WVU 27.

It took Gordon just two runs to get into the end zone, his second carry covering 16 yards to the far-side pylon.

West Virginia responded with an eight-play, 64-yard march to the OSU 11, putting Hayes in position to kick a game tying 29-yard field goal with 9:39 remaining. The two big plays on the drive were Greene’s 26-yard pass to Fox and Johnson 30-yard run down the far sideline before he was tackled by Dylan Smith at the OSU 10.

It took OSU just 2:31 to untie it. Two 15-yard penalties on the same play, Beanie Bishop Jr.’s facemask and Ben Cutter’s late hit out of bounds on Gordon, gave the Cowboys 30 yards to the WVU 36. Two plays later, Bowman threw a pass out in the flat to Brennan Presley, who spun out of Marcis Floyd’s tackle and raced 29 yards to the end zone.

The Cowboys then came up with the defensive play of the game with 4:25 to go. WVU, faced with a fourthand- 2 at the 50, ran a zone play that Greene took wide to the near side of the field, but Daniels came through to throw him for a 4-yard loss.

On the next play, Gordon ran through a couple of arm tackles for a weaving, 46-yard touchdown. Hale’s conversion kick made it 41-27.

Gordon added his fourth TD run when he ran through more arm tackling for a 56-yard touchdown with 1:40 left. That preceded CJ Donaldson Jr.’s 3-yard TD run, capping WVU’s six-play, 75-yard scoring drive.

The game ended at OSU’s 12-yard line after the Cowboys stopped the Mountaineers on downs.

The win was OSU’s fifth straight in Morgantown.