Oklahoma State football: 3 takeaways from win over West Virginia
By Phil Poling
Oklahoma State football took advantage of every West Virginia mistake Saturday, resulting in a 27-13 victory. Here’s what we learned about each team.
Mike Gundy and the Cowboys have yet to live up to their preseason rank of No. 12, but after two games, they’re 2-0. And that’s really all you can ask coming off the unique lead-up to the 2020 college football season. But are they actually any good?
The first week of Big 12 play didn’t really give a definitive answer, but the Pokes capitalized on seemingly every mistake West Virginia made at Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday. From turning a botched snap on a West Virginia field goal into three points of their own, to falling on their own fumbles multiple times, the Cowboys did just enough to keep the Mountaineers chasing them all game.
Spencer Sanders didn’t play, and his replacement, Shane Illingworth, didn’t do anything spectacular. It was a 66-yard scamper by LD Brown and a scoop-and-score by Tyren Irby following a Mountaineer fumble that separated the Cowboys and ‘Eers. Without those two plays, the outcome of this game is drastically different.
What does this game mean for each team moving forward? For the Cowboys, especially after Oklahoma fell to Kansas State, it means that they’re sitting atop the Big 12 — with Texas, of course. And I thought Chuba Hubbard and Tylan Wallace returned to Stillwater for another season?
But for West Virginia, who do they want to be? Conservative play-calling offensively with a defense as legitimate as theirs is more than just frustrating — it’s unacceptable.
Neal Brown needs to re-think his offensive approach.