Oklahoma State Sells Out Big 12 Opener Against TCU

Many have predicted the Cowboys to contend with Oklahoma for the Big 12 Championship, but a loss to TCU may impede that plan.

“They’ve been at a high level”, said TCU coach Gary Patterson. “I don’t think anytime you’re completely out”.

TCU loved the result.

Mason Rudolph leads the Cowboys offense with more than 1,130 passing yards already this season. His interception and subsequent 19-yard return for a touchdown tallied the Horned Frogs’ final points.

Hill has completed 75 percent of his passes this year for 737 yards with 8 TDs and 2 INTs.

“I feel like we have a lot of (of confidence)”, Anderson said. But this is one of those games where the underdog certainly has as good a shot as anybody, even with Oklahoma State being favored by 11.5 points. “We couldn’t allow them to get the ball off”.

Oklahoma State also is 3-0 against the spread this year, covering their games by an average of 18 points.

Patterson and the Horned Frogs manhandled OSU in time of possession by being on the field for nearly 40 minutes and manyu= times the Cowboys were on the field, they either gave the ball right back to TCU by way of punt or turnover. Oklahoma State has been darned good on third down, too.

TCU’s three wins aren’t against anyone special either, but they are unbeaten and a top 20 team.

The TCU-Oklahoma State game will be televised on ESPN, with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. CT.

“We all have to compete, and we’re all people and we all have the same problems”, Patterson said.

Each weekend, we’ll tell you where and when to watch the top college QBs expected to be available for the 2018 NFL Draft. “You’ve got to go play”. “Whatever they give us, we’re going to take it. We play better that way”. “Always have and always will”.

But an offensive approach that attempts to keep Oklahoma State’s high-powered offense off the field may be the best strategy Saturday. The Horned Frogs beat Jackson State 63-0 and Arkansas 28-7, then their defense tightened up after a rough start to beat SMU 56-36.

The play by offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich was largely derided as an unnecessary risk, but Gundy defended the call. “They can run by you vertically”. “They had more yards than we did”. “In the big picture, in most cases, if you don’t defend the run very well, you’re kind of on your heels”. He led TCU in rushing with 1,042 yards and was the team’s top receiver with 47 catches, a first for a TCU running back since Basil Mitchell in 1996.

“It was definitely kind of weird, you know, because we had five, six possessions in the first quarter last week”, Cowboys running back Justice Hill said. It wasn’t clear what the quarterback did, but on the next play he found Jeff Badet along the left sideline for a 48-yard touchdown. TCU ranks 15th nationally in total defense and 14th in scoring defense.

It was a first half to forget for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, as they trailed for the first time all season at halftime, 20-10.

Gundy said right guard Larry Williams will miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

A 14-yard touchdown pass from Rudolph to Dillon Stoner made it 27-17 in favor of TCU before the Horned Frogs added 10 points on a one-yard touchdown run by Sewo Olonilua, the ensuing PAT and a 31-yard field goal.

In Columbus, Ohio, J.T. Barrett threw touchdown passes to five different receivers in the first half, and Ohio State cruised to awin over Nevada-Las Vegas.