CRFF Recap: Oklahoma State Beats South Alabama 55-13

The Cowboys are now world champions after beating USA.

“USA. USA. USA”

Seriously though. Despite what, at times seemed like a closer than it should be — or less than convincing — win, the Cowboys come away with a dominate 55-13 victory over South Alabama.

It was a bigger blowout than we saw in last seasons 44-7 win and there were plenty of positives, but there were also plenty of negatives to take away from the game.

The Cowboys racked up 617 yards of offense compared to South Alabama’s 214.

Tylan Wallace had a career high 10 receptions for 166 yards and a touchdown. Tyron Johnson finally showed up with 137 yards on five receptions. He also had a one-yard touchdown on a carry.

The running game did not have a repeat performance from week one, racking up just 164 yards on 44 carries, for an average of 3.7 yards per carry. Before you overreact, OSU wasn’t all that impressive on the ground against the Jags last year either averaging just 4.4 yards per carry. It was not a forecast for the season then and I doubt this year’s performance will be either.

Cornelius looked better. No, he’s still not Mason Rudolph, but he looked more like the Cornelius that Gundy talked about leading up to the season.

He went 25 of 40 for 428 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.

TC looked much more comfortable and a lot more patient. I think he’s more mobile than he looked, with USA getting a couple of shoestring tackles that turned into sacks.

Corn Dog still made mistakes. The first drive was a 3-and-out, the drive that only went backwards, and of course the two interceptions, especially the one in the endzone where he basically emailed the defender where he was sending the ball.

The defense looked good, holding the Jaguars to just 13 points including zero in the second half. Like Cornelius, they weren’t perfect. They had a lot of moments where they seemed incapable of making tackles. But, they have had one major positive through two games.

Like Cornelius, this new defensive scheme is only two games into its “first year.” They keep looking better but still have flaws. There were numerous dropped balls and overthrown passes by USA on plays where the Jaguars’ receivers beat the Cowboys’ secondary. Oklahoma State can’t rely on those against stiffer competition from Boise State and the Big 12.

This team is far from perfect and nowhere near “complete.” But we saw some big improvements from week one, which is what we were hoping to see, and gives me hope for week three against Boise State. If OSU can continue to make improvements, they have a chance. If not, look out for the Broncos.

We will have more on the game throughout the week. But, I want to leave you with a few big moments from the OSU win.

Biggest Moments:

Kenneth Edison-McGruder was ejeected on a targeting call that was completely fair. I don’t think I could say it any better than Kyle Boone from PFB.

“By the letter of the law, it’s hard to argue that the call wasn’t warranted. “

A pick-six! It was one of what should have been two interceptions (stupid phantom penalty) against USA and a fun moment. It was also OSU’s first score in the second half.

A lot of great moments in the game, but nothing beat this one in between quarters one and two.

These will never. ever. get old.