Defensive play seals wild OT win for Cowboys

STILLWATER — When BYU came into the expanded Big 12 Conference, one of the big selling points was the large following for the Cougars and Saturday that grew even higher with a few hundred thousand Oklahoma Sooners fans cheering for the Cougars with hopes of an upset over Oklahoma State that would send the Sooners to the Big 12 Championship.

While OSU was playing for a date with Texas next Saturday in Arlington, the Cougars were playing for the bowl life, needing a win to become bowl eligible. With that in mind they pulled out all the tricks in the book, onside kicks, fake punts and the like and they threw the ball more than one might expect.

But the Cougars also made plays, or more correctly the Cowboys made some bad ones as quarterback Alan Bowman threw a pass in the flat in the first half and it was returned for a touchdown that immediately put pressure on the OSU offense. Bowman had several bad plays, throwing into coverage several times and getting a mix-up on a running play.

Somehow, the Cowboys were able to correct some of the mistakes at halftime and made a game of it but it took them a couple of overtimes to finally put away the pesky Cougars, 40-34, in two overtimes at rainy, cold Boone Pickens Stadium.

“We sure make it hard on ourselves,” OSU Coach Mike Gundy said while sipping on a cup of hot coffee. “I told them I was proud of them; this is a big win for us. It’s been a broken record last week and then this week we find ourselves in this situation. But I told them that BYU did just what we expected. They laid all their chips out there on the table; they tried to win at all cost. We knew they were liable to try a variety of fakes and things like that and we just didn’t defend them.”

The key drive in the second overtime included an interference call against BYU and a great 2-yard TD run by Ollie Gordon. But the Cowboys left the door open when they couldn’t convert the mandatory two-point PAT in each OT after the first.

It didn’t matter as on BYU’s second play Trey Rucker fought with a Cougars’ receiver and managed to strip the ball free and make the recovery. He and the rest of the Cowboys started to celebrate across the field but soon the officials regained control of the field for a video review of the play.

After some tense moments the official confirmed the call and the Cowboys started the real celebration along with the few hardy fans who stuck around for the wild ending.

The comeback was the third-highest comeback in school history after falling behind by 16 at halftime, 21-6.

It was the OSU defense got things started after the break, stopping drive-after-drive in the second half and Bowman and the offense started slowly to solve some of their issues. One thing was evident, the Cougars were not going to allow Gordon to make headlines against them as they crammed six, seven, even eight men in the box at times.

But that opened up the slant routes and Bowman started slowly to pick the BYU defense apart.

Then came the comeback as Bowman and the OSU offense moved 80 yards on 11 plays late in the game with Gordon getting the last 15 for the go-ahead touchdown in a wild battle that kept the national TV audience glued to the screen as the outcome was in doubt until the final fateful play by Rucker.

“In the end Rucker goes out there and makes a big play for us to get the win,” Gundy said. “We practice that every day in practice, stripping the ball. It worked out tonight; we needed that play right then.”

Gordon, despite the Cougars’ defensive focus on him, wound up with 166 yards on 34 carries and a record five touchdowns, tying him with Barry Sanders who had three in one season.

“Ollie made some great runs,” Gundy said. “That last TD was a great run. He just wouldn’t be denied.”

Bowman also shook off his slow start by hitting 31-of-47 passes for 321 yards. While his two interceptions helped OSU dig itself into the big hole, when he needed to be sharp he was.

“I thought our receivers did a great job as well in horrible conditions,” Gundy said.

He left his players with a few choice comments.

“I told them to go out and celebrate this one with their families and then come back ready to practice tomorrow,” he said. “We have a tough week of practice to get ready for Texas.”