West Virginia hands Cowboys third straight defeat
West Virginia took advantage of an ailing Oklahoma State defense to register a 38-14 victory over the Cowboys last Saturday afternoon at Boone Pickens Stadium.
West Virginia took advantage of an ailing Oklahoma State defense to register a 38-14 victory over the Cowboys last Saturday afternoon at Boone Pickens Stadium.
The Mountaineers (3-2 overall, 2-0 in Big 12 play) looked like a team with two weeks of rest going up against an opponent playing its sixth straight game, including back-to-back losses to nationally ranked Utah and Kansas State.
Last Saturday’s loss drops OSU, ranked 17th in the preseason, to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in Big 12 play. It’s the first time the Cowboys under veteran coach Mike Gundy have lost three straight games since the 2014 season. That year, WVU defeated OSU 34-10 in Stillwater, one of four times the Mountaineers have won there.
WVU used a punishing ground attack that churned out 389 yards against an OSU defense without its top two players, Nick Martin and Collin Oliver.
Jahiem White ran for a season-high 158 yards on 19 carries, quarterback Garrett Greene added 86 on 10 tries and C.J. Donaldson Jr. contributed 77 yards on his 20 rushing attempts.
Greene connected on nine of his15 pass attempts for 159 yards, while back-up Nicco Marchiol completed his only pass for a 10-yard touchdown to Traylon Ray.
The Mountaineers generated a season-high 589 yards of offense, the most by a Neal Brown-coached WVU team since producing 634 yards in last year’s win against Cincinnati.
Not to be outdone, the Mountaineer defense held the Cowboys to just 227 yards of total offense with a mere 36 coming on the ground.
Leading rusher Ollie Gordon II, who torched the Mountaineers for 282 yards in last year’s 48-34 OSU win, managed just 50 yards on 13 carries before leaving in the third quarter with an injury.
The Mountaineer pass defense picked off OSU quarterback Alan Bowman twice and limited him to just 116 yards through the air before he gave way to Garret Rangel in the third quarter.
OSU was down 24-0 before the Pokes scored on Bowman’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Rashod Owens with 1:54 left before halftime. Logan Ward’s extra point cut the West Virginia lead to 24-7.
However, Donaldson Jr. scored on a 15-yard TD run with 28 seconds remaining in the first half. Michael Hayes II hit the PAT for a 31-7 halftime lead for the Mountaineers.
OSU’s final score came with 8:30 left in the game on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Rangel to De’Zhaun Stripling. Ward hit the extra point.
After a bye week, the Cowboys will return to action at 9:15 p.m. Oct. 18 with a road game against Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
