STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — La’Damian Webb ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns, and South Alabama stunned Oklahoma State 33-7 on Saturday night for its second-ever win over a Power Five opponent.
Caullin Lacy added five catches for 104 yards and two touchdowns for South Alabama (2-1), a Sun Belt Conference program that entered the night with a 1-14 record against Power Five opponents. The Jaguars’ previous Power Five win was against Mississippi State in 2016.
South Alabama coach Kane Wommack said it was an important win for his program.
“Certainly one of the more dominating performances (we have had) I would say, but I don’t know where it ranks overall,” Wommack said. “My hope is that there’s better ones coming down the road.”
Oklahoma State (2-1) hadn’t lost a non-conference game since falling at home against Central Michigan in 2016. It was just the Cowboys’ third non-conference home loss since Mike Gundy’s tenure started in 2005.
“I mentioned during the week this is a good football team,” Gundy said. “Our team was made aware of that. I told them multiple times during the week this is a really, really good football team. They’re physical, they play good and their coaches do a good job. So there’s no surprise at what happened.”
Oklahoma State’s three quarterbacks all struggled. Starter Alan Bowman, Gunnar Gundy and Garret Rangel combined to complete just 16 of 35 passes for 114 yards.
“No matter which quarterback came in, they’re just you’re going to have a hard time making completions when you’re getting rushed like that,” Wommack said.
South Alabama went up 16-0 after Webb’s 17-yard scoring run. Marquise Robinson’s interception of a Bowman pass on the first play of the second quarter set up Webb’s scoring run. A 57-yard pass from Carter Bradley to Lacy gave South Alabama a 23-0 lead with 1:03 left in the first half, a score that held up until the break. The fans loudly booed the Cowboys as they ran off the field.
Oklahoma State finally got on the board when Jaden Nixon took it in from the 2 with 12:14 remaining to cut the Jaguars’ lead to 23-7.
Oklahoma State appeared to have a chance to get back into it after stopping the Jaguars, but Brennan Presley muffed a punt, and South Alabama turned it into a field goal and a 26-7 lead.
Webb closed the scoring with a 65-yard touchdown run midway through the final quarter.
Now, Oklahoma State has plenty to think about heading into Big 12 play.
“We’ll grade it, we’ll look at it,” Gundy said. “We’ll be critical on ourselves, we’ll be critical on the players. Everybody has to own it. We’ve got to get through it.”
THE TAKEAWAY
South Alabama: The result was no fluke. The Jaguars won the line of scrimmage on both sides and controlled the game from the start to outgain the Cowboys 395 yards to 208.
Oklahoma State: The Cowboys couldn’t protect their quarterbacks and therefore couldn’t get the ball to their talent at receiver. Oklahoma State passers took four sacks and were hurried five times.
QUOTABLE
Wommack: “I think the nice thing is we knew we were very capable of coming in here and executing at a high level and kind of physically putting the team away.”
HALL OF FAMERS
Oklahoma State inducted former Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon into the school’s Athletics Hall of Honor on Friday. He was a two-time Biletnikoff Award winner, given to the nation’s top receiver. Other honorees were golfer Rickie Fowler, soccer player Yolanda Odenyo, wrestlers Shelby Wilson and David “Buddy” Arndt and women’s golf coach Ann Pitts.
UP NEXT
South Alabama hosts Central Michigan on Saturday.
Oklahoma State visits Iowa State on Saturday.
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
