RECAP: Cowboys Round Up Buffaloes at Alamo Bowl 38-8

What. A. Game.

Before we dive in too deep, myself and a lot of other OSU fans just have one question: WHERE WAS THIS IN BEDLAM?!

Now that we have that out of the way... Let’s move on.

Both offenses were a bit slow from the start, but it didn’t take long for the Pokes to wake up. One could say that the Colorado offense still isn’t awake.

On their first drive, the Cowboys marched 64 yards, but couldn’t find the end zone, so Mr. Grogan pushed it through for the early 3-0 lead.

The Cowboys’ defense was stifling for most of the game. In fact, I would venture to say this was their best game of the season. Holding the #10 team in the country scoreless until only 5:28 remains in the game?

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Here’s how the drive chart for Colorado went in the first half:

• Punt - 4 plays
• Missed Field Goal - 14 plays
• Punt - 3 plays
• Punt - 3 plays
• Interception - 4 plays
• End of half - 4 plays

That’s it. 32 total plays in 30 minutes, and 43.8% of those plays came in one drive. Utter domination by the Cowboys defense. In comparison, Oklahoma State had 40 plays, resulting in 17 points.

After the Grogan field goal, the Cowboys had a couple punts, then the offense found it’s rhythm and started putting up points in a hurry. It all started with a double pass from Rudolph to Chris Carson, then back to Rudolph.

Carson finished the drive with a 10 yard power run into the orange and black endzone.

The next drive for the Cowboys ended with the same result, as #Rudolph2Washington hooked up once again for the score.

The highlight of this drive happened a few plays before, as senior WR Jhahuan Seales threw probably the block of the game on a pass to Blake Jarwin to get within the Colorado 10 yard line.

Cade summed it up perfectly (spelling error aside).

The Pokes took a 17-0 lead over the Buffs into the locker room at halftime, but the CRFF crew was not overconfident, having watched Arkansas blow a 24 point lead earlier in the day to Virginia Tech. Thankfully, the second half was a lot more of the same for the Pokes and their faithful.

Let’s see what happened for Colorado in the second half.

• Punt - 3 plays
• Punt - 3 plays
• Downs - 7 plays
• Downs - 11 plays
• Touchdown - 9 plays
• Punt - 3 plays

Meanwhile, Gundy never let the foot off the gas. Ben Grogan missed a field goal from the Colorado 8 yard line *cue Blair Walsh flashbacks*, but other than that, the Cowboys only had one other possession that didn’t end in a touchdown (except for the end of game possession, which doesn’t count).

Rudolph found senior Cowboy Back Blake Jarwin for the first score of the second half, after leading another long drive down the field, with one big play. (If you look at the play-by-play of the game, this was the blueprint for most of OSU’s drives today).

The next drive started in Colorado territory, and ended with a sweet catch by Seales in the back of the end zone - Rudolph’s 3rd passing TD of the day.

It only took Colorado 54:32 to do it, but they finally found the end zone.

The Cowboys wasted no time in answering this touchdown though, as freshman phenom Justice Hill busted loose for a 37 yard touchdown three plays after Seales recovered the onside kick attempt.

Thankfully, Road Rudolph did NOT show up tonight, as the junior QB ended up with a good night. Let’s take a look at some stats.

Oklahoma State

• Mason Rudolph - 22/32, 314 yards, 3 TDs, QBR 88.8
• Justice Hill - 19 carries, 100 yards, 1 TD
• Chris Carson - 11 carries, 61 yards, 1 TD
• James Washington - 9 catches, 171 yards, 1 TD
• Jhajuan Seales - 3 catches, 43 yards, 1 TD, 1 cold blooded murder
• Vincent Taylor - 7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL
• Devante Averette - 6 tackles, 1 TFL
• Ashton Lampkin - 1 tackle, 1 INT

Colorado

• Sefo Liufau (QB) - 18/29, 195 yards, 21.8 QBR, 13 carries, -2 yards, 1 TD
• Steven Montez (QB) - 4/9, 61 yards, 1 INT, 12.3 QBR
• Phillip Lindsay (RB) - 14 carries, 63 yards, 6 catches, 103 yards
• Rick Gamboa (LB) - 11 tackles, 4 solo
• Jimmie Gilbert (LB) - 5 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 1.5 TFL

Now let’s look at the team stats.

ESPN

Overall, it was total domination by the Cowboys tonight. They only had one part of the game where it was a total failure and a let down to the fans everywhere.

What a great way to end the season, and now we can begin the countdown to the quest for the National Championship in 2017. We already have one person betting on us to win it all next year...

Until that point though, let’s just celebrate tonight’s dismantling of a former rival.

Thanks for following CRFF throughout this season, we’ve had a lot of fun covering this team this season. We hope you enjoyed it as well, and are glad you joined us for this ride. As always, Go Pokes!