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Oklahoma State barely escaped with their upset bid over West Virginia. The win puts the Cowboys at 6-5 and gives them bowl eligibility for the 13th consecutive season. Their next opponent, TCU, defeated Baylor in Waco to keep their bowl hopes alive. The Horned Frogs will need a win against OSU this weekend to make a bowl game. Here are three things OSU will need to do to keep TCU from bowl eligibility and improve to 7-5 on the season.
1. Limit Jalen Reagor
The OSU secondary has had an up and down year. It was a pretty good afternoon for the Cowboys against one of the best offenses in the country last Saturday. That was not the case a few weeks ago when they had maybe their worst showing of the year against Baylor. In any case, the Cowboys HAVE to limit Jalen Reagor on Saturday. He’s the only dangerous weapon for TCU on offense. If Oklahoma State can contain him, they’ll keep TCU off the scoreboard and give OSU a good chance to win the game.
2. Take Care of the Football
Taylor Cornelius threw two awful interceptions against West Virginia last weekend. Add two more fumbles for four total turnovers on the day and it’s a miracle OSU still hung on to win against the formerly 9th ranked Mountaineers. They’ll need to take care of the ball on Saturday against a hungry TCU team looking for bowl eligibility.
3. Play Some Freshman
At this point in the season any player who has redshirted for OSU this season can play without burning their redshirt. This team has had wild ups and downs this season and the starters certainly deserve their time in this game, but they’ll also have the bowl game. This is Gundy’s last chance to stick some freshman in the game and get them a little bit of game experience before they have to take the field next season.