The path to a Big 12 Championship and a possible spot in the College Football Playoff just got smoother as the No. 5 Oklahoma State Cowboys defeated No. 12 Oklahoma 37-33 Saturday night in Stillwater.
OSU will face No. Baylor at 11 a.m. Saturday in Arlington, Texas, in the Big 12 Championship. The Cowboys beat the Bears 24-14 in October in Stillwater.
In that game, OSU running back Jaylen Warren ran for 125 yards and two touchdowns. OSU quarterback Spencer Sanders passed for 182 yards and ran for 76 but his three interceptions almost cost the Cowboys the game.
The OSU defense throttled Baylor’s rushing attack, holding the Bears to 107 yards while they were averaging 272 yards per game at the time.
On Saturday night, OSU beat then-No. 10 OU, marking the fourth win over a Top 25 opponent this season. It put OSU in first place in the regular season in the Big 12 – the first time this has happened since 2011. The 20 combined wins for the Cowboys and Sooners tied for the most ever entering a Bedlam game (2015).
“That’s about as good as it gets for college football,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said after the game. “Sometimes I get on a really small rant when I say we need to be careful about messing with the structure of college football. Things that happened today in these games and what you see here, college football is pretty good the way it is.
“That was a heck of a game. Two really good teams playing and I’m glad we were able to come out on top at the end. They played a heck of the game. They are a really good team. They’re well coached and had a really good plan.”
Brennan Presley’s 100-yard kickoff return in the first half tied an OSU record and makes him just the third Cowboy ever with a 100 yard kickoff return touchdown, as he joined Barry Sanders who did it three times and Justin Gilbert who did it twice.
Linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez finished with 11 tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss Linebacker Devin Harper had 10 tackles and four quarterback hurries.
“They just play hard,” Gundy said of Rodriguez and Harper. “I told the guys I don’t even know what to say about it anymore. I just sit here, I’m just the head coach and enjoy the game. I really enjoyed that game. It got a little tight there in the last four minutes, but other than that it was a fun game to watch. Two good football teams going at it, but those guys have just been fantastic all year.
“Malcolm (Rodriguez) has done it for four years, but for Harper, it’s pretty special he’s come back, especially because he’s been behind Amen (Ogbongbemiga) for many years and this is his year. He came back and worked hard, not said a word, never complained and really grown into his own. He can run. He’s going to get a chance. Someone’s going to bring him into a camp and give him a chance. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles emphasized the importance of beating the Sooners.
“What a game,” Knowles said. “Definitely a program win. I’m happy for all the guys, all the players and all the coaches that have been here for a long time. They really established a culture here and my whole goal when coming here was to bring the defense to that level. It wasn’t pretty tonight in some aspects in the beginning. We had some guys lose their eyes and gave up some big plays that we don’t typically give up, but they’re a heck of an offense. We got into halftime and were able to make some adjustments and I’m really proud of our guys.”
Gundy said it’s hard to contain OU’s offense.
“On most occasions they are good in the first two quarters,” Gundy said. “Their first 18 to 25 plays are good. They know what they’re doing. They’re good at scheming. They come up with good ideas and they have good players.
“Their running back and quarterback are good players, 27 is a good player and 18 is a good player and all those wideouts are good players. They’re good at that. They got to us in the first quarter and a half. We played the best game we’ve played against a really good opponent offensively in the first half all year.
“Luckily, we played really good offensively so we could go blow to blow and stay in the game and go in half time zero to zero basically.”
OSU had clinched a spot in the Big 12 Championship. OU had to beat the Cowboys to get to the championship because Baylor had beaten Texas Tech earlier on Saturday.
“The whole week we went in there knowing they had to match our intensity,” Harper said. We were the big dogs at the time because they were trying to get to the Big 12 (Championship) and if we beat them, then they don’t get there. That’s all we wanted to do was kill two birds with one stone.”
Spencer Sanders’ 37-yard touchdown run in the third quarter matched the longest rush of his career.
“He’s getting much more control; we’ve talked about that,” OSU offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn of Sanders. “He feels comfortable back there with the calls and feels comfortable with the line. There are certain situations where he knows when to run. In his first year, his instinct was to run. If there was any type of pressure at all, his eyes dropped, and he ran. Now he’s sitting back there looking for the receiver, he’s trusting his big kids and waiting for the throw. That’s what I think makes him the most effective right now is that he’s playing with his arm and his head than with his feet last.”
What will it be like to play for the Big 12 Championship and a shot at the playoff?
“I haven’t done it before,” Gundy said. “What I told them tonight was that it’s one week. Go out with your family, eat dinner with your girlfriends or whatever. Be careful on the streets, we need everyone back. We have to go back to work tomorrow at four. Baylor’s going back to work tomorrow.
“We don’t need to give them a one-day edge on us. I tell them the truth: ‘This is awesome, and I wished you had a week to enjoy this, but we don’t get a week to enjoy this. I need you here at four o’clock tomorrow, we have to focus and go to work because this thing is not over.'”