Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard took up where he left off last season as he rushed for 221 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-36 win over Oregon State of the Pac-12 Conference in Corvallis, Oregon, Friday night.

The Cowboys rushed for 352 yards and had 555 total yards of offense.

“They’ve been good for years over there,” said Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith said. “It’s a combination of they’re pretty good and we need to improve.”

Redshirt freshman Spencer Sanders got his first start at quarterback and passed for 203 yards with three touchdowns. All-American wide Tylan Wallace caught five passes for 92 yards despite double coverage  most of the night.

“The tape was pretty much what we thought,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said Monday. “Offensively, we blocked well and ran the football well. Sanders handled the offense well. We made some plays and we were good on third downs.

“Defensively, we tackled really good for early in the season, which is encouraging. We couldn’t get off the field on third downs. We had 88 plays on defense, if we could have gotten off the field on 50% of those third downs, we could have been in the low 70s and probably held them to 25 points or less. Those are things that we need to work on this week as we move forward.”

Sanders battled Dru Brown for the starting job all fall. “He played well and handled the offense well,” Gundy said of Sanders. “I didn’t think that he got flustered at any time, which is important for a quarterback at any level or any school. I thought he had enough energy to bring a lot to our team, but not so much that he got out of control. I think that is important if you are playing that position. It was one game, but we will see how he progresses as the season goes on. We were pleased with what we were able to get out of him last Friday night.”

Despite the extra attention, Wallace made s caught every ball thrown his way.

“We were 4-for-4 on catches, made some plays and blocked downfield,” Gundy said. “That’s an important part of our offense based on the way we structure our schemes. We were able to get some good plays out of them. Then, obviously, the quarterback was able to run the football and really balanced everything out. It’s not really a secret that the defense makes a choice. Sean Gleeson and our staff, they have a plan for whatever they give us and we roll from that point.”

The OSU offensive line was outstanding.

“It is early in all phases,” said Gundy “Everyone has to be careful about being on the Kool-Aid early. It was the highest grade we have ever had as an offensive line since I have been a head coach. Guys are playing harder downfield and I guess Coach Dickey is demanding they play that way. They had some mistakes, but overall I thought they played pretty well. That is what we have to do in order to continue to rush the football.”

Gundy wants physical play from his lineman.

“We’ve been really fortunate to have really good skill players here over the past 10 years,” Gundy said. “If we can just cover guys up and not turn them loose. Then run your feet, keep your hands inside and do all the basic football coaching stuff. The recognition and covering guys up will let guys go make plays, that’s the direction we’re going. You have to run through tackles and on a three-yard carry, we need to get five to six yards. We have to be a physical football team. That’s hopefully the direction we can go and maybe in a month or so, we will be pretty close to getting there.”

Even though Oregon State is at the bottom of the Pac-12, it’s important for the Big 12 teams to win these games.

“We’ve discussed this every year and the only thing I would say is go to the bowl games,” Gundy said. “That is the only chance for us to match up head-to-head and everybody is going to have an opinion across the country, but in this conference we have fared pretty well in bowl games against teams from other leagues. If you’re going to compete against teams in this league, in most cases, you better score points. We are going to score points. It’s fun to watch and from top to bottom, we are going to be as competitive as anybody else in the country.”

The McNeese State Cowboys travel to Stillwater Saturday for a 6 p.m. kickoff Saturday. They beat Southern 34-28 on Saturday.

“They won last week by a touchdown,” Gundy said. “They’re based on defense up to this point. They want to get lined up, play hard and run to the ball is what it looks like. They are trying to be balanced on offense. We will get a game plan in for them in all three phases of the game. We need to get better at what we do. That will make me feel a lot better if we can continue to improve in the basic fundamentals and the discipline of us being a smart football team, that would do a lot for me this Saturday.”

After a tough 7-28 loss at No. 18 Michigan State, Tulsa will travel to San Jose State Saturday for an 8 p.m. kickoff on ESPN3.

The Spartans were impressive with a 35-18 opening day win over Northern Colorado.

Tulsa had three turnovers against Michigan State and that proved costly on Friday night in East Lansing.

TU coach Philip Montgomery started quarterback Zach Smith, who was 16 of 27 passing for 153 yards and one touchdown.

“It was a rough day,” said Smith, a transfer from Baylor. “We have a lot to learn from. We’re a good football team, and we got a lot to prove.

“We shot ourselves in the foot too many times. When you let a good defense get up on you like that, they are going to pin their ears back and come after you. That’s exactly what we let them do.”

Wide receiver Keylon Stokes had six catches for 49 yards and a touchdown catch.

Tulsa’s defense held Michigan State’s offense to only one touchdown drive (on the Spartan’s first possession). Over the last 32 minutes of the game, Michigan State only scored three points.

Montgomery expected a good defensive performance.

“I thought our defense played extremely well,” Montgomery said. “Even when offense put them in some bad situations, but I thought our defense really responded. In the second half we had to get out of our game plan.

“It’s what we expected of them when we came into the season. Made great strides last year, and those were not satisfied and kept continuing to raise the bar. I thought tonight they did an outstanding job, whether it was verses the run or the pass. They were on the field a considerable amount of time, especially in the second half there. I’m very proud of what they did. I thought our d-line played exceptionally well; I thought our linebackers were flying. I thought it was a good, complete game defensively.”

Montgomery praised Michigan State’s defense, particularly the defensive line.

“This may be the best defensive line we face as a whole since I’ve been here, and we’ve played some really good teams,” Montgomery said. “This group that we faced tonight, everyone across the board is a Big Ten player and then you got 48 over there the Big Ten defensive player of the year.  This one game will not define who we are as a unit, and I think we got an excellence chance to be a great football team, our defense is going to lead the way for us, and these young offensive guys are doing some good things, and now we just have to go out and prove it…. Next week will be 100 percent better because that’s the way our mindset is and the way we are built right now.”

Montgomery said Tulsa was not overmatched when you compare defensive players.

“They got talented players on defense, but I’m going to tell you right now. I wouldn’t trade anybody that we got on defense for anybody that they have on defense,” Montgomery said. “Trevis (Gipson), I thought tonight was a beast. I thought Shemarr (Robinson)played extremely well. I thought our linebackers were flying around.”