Cowboys kept drama to a minimum
Oklahoma State’s 44-7 rout of South Alabama was not a pristine performance, but playing on the road, even against an outmanned foe, can be dicey. The Cowboys played well enough to get rid of all drama early. Here are the grades:
A. Defensive line.
Dequinton Osborne zipped past South Alabama center Dominic Esposito on the Jags’ first play and sacked quarterback Cole Garvin. That was just the first of several impressive plays by the Cowboys’ interior. End Jarrell Owens made a spectacular play, not letting Sa’Mory Collier get outside on a shovel pass and eventually corralling him for an 11-yard loss. Osborne and Owens, in particular, were excellent. South Alabama doesn’t have a Big 12-caliber offensive line, so OSU should have dominated. But dominate it did.
C. Defensive backs. With OSU shutting down the run and getting a great pass rush against backup South Alabama quarterback Dallis Davis, the DBs should have been licking their chops. But they made very few plays. OSU had several interception opportunities, but the only pick came from linebacker Justin Phillips after tackle Darrion Daniels tipped a pass and it bounced off end Trey Carter. And the Cowboy defensive backs, particularly safety Ramon Richards, missed some tackles.
B. Supplementing deep.
The long ball didn’t work quite as well this week. Mason Rudolph completed just one of four deep throws, although OSU also got a pass interference penalty off going deep. The one completion was a deep fade that was underthrown, but James Washington made a great play, catching the ball virtually flatfooted. In lieu of the long balls, Rudolph relied heavily on slant patterns, completing five of nine 122 yards, with touchdown throws of 66 yards to Washington and 20 yards to Marcel Ateman.
D. Equipment.
One of the play clocks went out of commission on the game’s first series, so the 40-second clock was kept on the field. That didn’t affect OSU much; the Cowboys were playing quickly. Then the entire scoreboard went out in the third quarter. I suppose things
happen, but it’s still absurd when such fundamental pieces of game equipment don’t work.
A. Tempo.
At halftime, OSU had run almost twice as many plays as South Alabama (46-25) but had the ball for just 20 seconds more (15:10). That kind of pace wore out the Jaguars. Through three quarters, OSU had a 65-40 edge in plays, but South
Alabama had more time of possession. The Jags tried to keep the OSU offense off the field.
A. Deep kicking game.
Matt Ammedola missed a 42-yard field goal wide right in the second quarter. But he made up for it by acing 53- and 48-yard kicks later in the game, to go with a 31-yard field goal in the first quarter. It must give Mike Gundy some
comfort, knowing he’s got a fighting chance if he needs a 50-yard field goal somewhere in the season.
C. Playing smart.
The Cowboys got Rudolph out of the game late in the third quarter, with a 41-0 lead. So that was wise. But Rudolph twice kept the ball on running plays. If it’s crunch time in Bedlam, OK. But in a rout of South Alabama? Rudolph took a solid hit in making two yards in the second quarter, then lumbered to an 11-yard touchdown run in the third period. But running Rudolph is foolish. Also, linebacker Calvin Bundage led with his head while assisting on a tackle in the third quarter and was flagged for targeting, which means he has to sit out the first half of the Pitt game next week. Not good.