CACTUS BOWL RECAP: Oklahoma State 30, Washington 22

After 30 minutes in the desert, OSU fans collectively had to take a cold shower, because what we saw in the first half was not about to continue after the break.

Following two quarters of play calling that essentially came out of nowhere, James Castleman and Ofa Hautau lining up as blockers on short yardage plays, and CASTLEMAN SCORING A TD OUT OF THE WILDCAT, the coaches left the playbook in the locker room at halftime and decided to dare Washington to comeback from a 24-0 deficit.

They damn near did.

The Huskies successfully converted for two points following a TD, and with 3:29 left the lead was down to 8.

Then, after basically play calling with their collective thumbs up their asses for the entire 2nd half, on third down with the game on the line, Gundy and Yurcich called a play-action pass in the flat to....

48 rumbling yards later, the Cowboys seemed to have it in the bag. A few running plays, then a chip shot FG to wrap things up, except Ben Grogan wasn't planning on duck hooking it quite so badly.

So here we were, the game still in the balance, time running out, and the coach responsible for the hook and ladder that sank OU in 2007 on this same field.

No worries folks. Washington's offense is only slightly better than KU's version of that side of the ball, and after Kevin Peterson dropped an easy interception a couple plays earlier, Cyler Miles lofted another duck that Peterson was sure to secure this time.

Game over.

Superlatives go to Mason Rudolph, who continues to breath hope into 2015. The Reindeer torched the Huskies in the first half, and finished 17-26 for 299 yards, 2 TD/1 INT, along with his own 22 yd reception on a throwback play.

Desmond Roland, who hadn't produced a 100 yd rushing game all season, battled his way to 123 yards on 32 brutal carries, and an oft maligned offensive line that kept pounding on a very stout Washington front 7, all get some love.

Brandon Sheperd and James Washington, who both had highlight reel catches for TD's, are looking like the bosses on the outside next season.

Seth Jacobs, who was all over the field and was named defensive MVP.

But nobody, and I mean nobody, gets more love here than the man who scored more TD's from the wildcat formation than Tyreek Hill...

James Castleman.

Defense, offense, he got to try his hand at everything, and had us wondering where this (along with Mason Rudolph) has been all season. He was the 2nd leading receiver with 48 yards, and had the only rushing TD of the game.

I guess Gundy and Yurcich decided that if Tyreek Hill couldn't run past Washington, they would let James Castleman (and Ofa Hautau) run over Washington. BTW...remind me to NEVER attempt to tackle James Castleman...

So there we are. An incredible end to what was thought to be a lost season.

Bowl streak intact.

Winning season streak intact.

A new QB of the future.

A glimpse of an offense unleashed.

And hope for another football season to come.

Spring ball can't get here soon enough.

GO POKES!!!