First, congrats to the OSU fans, because the environment Saturday was bigtime and I have been to every big 12 stadium, and I can say with complete conviction that NONE of them put off a better atmosphere than Boone Pickens. The K-State Head Coach, Chris Klieman, said as much last week when he was asked why he didn’t put in his True Freshman QB who lit up Texas Tech this past Saturday.

QB1

Alan Bowman has been an acquired taste for both the coaches and many fans. The reason is, he is truly a game manager. OSU has always needed its QB to be a playmaker, so having a “Point Guard” at QB is an adjustment of sorts.

I must say though, I do like it.

I find it relaxing to have some predictability in terms of what the QB is going to do and I think it creates enough consistency to let Kasey Dunn get in a rhythm. He checks the ball down, he throws it away, and, ultimately, he’s been making enough plays to win.

He was 28/41 with 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, which is very good, but then, also, 6 receivers caught passes, so he did a very good job of distributing the ball as well. 

Thunder 

Ollie Gordon is simply a beast! He ran around defenders, he ran through them, ran by them, and, finally, he ran away from them. He had one of the best games of any OSU tailback in the history of the school, and that’s saying quite a bit considering the company.

In fact, his day was indeed historic!

Gordon is the first back to both run and catch for 100 yards since 1989 when Gerald Hudson did it in Mike Gundy’s Senior Year. Ironically, they both had huge catches and runs on basically the exact same screen play. 

All in all he had 168 yards on the ground and 116 receiving, so get ready for some recognition for him this week. I’m guessing Conference Offensive Player of the Week, and then, hopefully, some national recognition as well.

The Pass Catchers

Rashod Owens is quickly turning into one of the best receivers in the the Big 12, and I’m not exaggerating. Owens is a former Qb, so he has great instincts, and wants to have the ball every play, but what has become so impressive about him is his route running. He is precise, he’s very quick, he’s fast, and he’s powerful coming out of his breaks. 

He had 112 yards on 9 receptions with a long of 40 yards, so he has turned into a bigtime weapon.

Brennan Pressley got targeted quite a bit Saturday,

Finally!

And, guess what, he payed it off!

He had 8 catches and 79 yards, and the 1 TD rushing, plus several other targets. He was also used as a decoy, like he always is, and he is the guy that usually motions, which helps in a myriad of ways. 

First, when he motions, it allows Alan Bowman to read whether the defense is in man or zone coverage, which is a big help in getting in the right play. Motion also, just naturally, provides the potential for a defense to struggle lining down properly, so that’s a huge factor as well. 

After all the routes he runs, and all the pre snap motion he’s put in, he likely runs 2 miles a game.

Lightning

Jaden Nixon is a great compliment to Ollie Gordon, because he adds variety. He’s a different kind of back, and when he gets put in, he looks like he’s being shot through a cannon. 

Nixon is the typical “scat back” type runner that OSU fans have long come to love. Guys like Thurman and Barry, Gerald and David, Kendall and Dantrell, Justice and Jaylen are just some of the few names that roll off the top of my head. 

So, while Gordon is running outside zone out of the pistol and getting downhill, Nixon comes in and runs inside zone and hops around like a lightning bug on a Summer evening. His agility and quickness is very effective after Gordon has punished the defense like he did Saturday.

Nixon turned in 46 yards on 7 carries, which was a 6.6 average and he had a long of 25. 

Overall thoughts

The Pokes piled up 218 yards rushing on 38 carries, which is a great recipe for beating a team in Kansas that has such an explosive offense. Holding onto the ball via a run game, and keeping the ball away from them is the best “quasi” defense you can have. 

But, running wasn’t all that the Cowboys offense was able to do Saturday. The Pokes also had 336 yards through the air and had 2 receivers go over 100 yards receiving. And, almost had a 3rd with Pressley. 

All in all, this offense has gone from being dormant to being wildly explosive and super effective all in the last couple of weeks, and surely the naming of 1 qb has played a big part in that. Roles have become more well defined, but so has the scheme.

Last week the Cowboys used a lot of gap scheme (block down, pull and kick). That’s because K-State is so well coached, they read keys and run to them. Knowing that, the Pokes had to make those keys wrong. By blocking down, pulling and kicking, then cutting back, K-State would run to their read and Ollie would slip out the back door. 

This last week OSU used more zone. Outside zone with Ollie and inside zone with Jaden. Ollie is a big and physical back that needs to get downhill, so the pistol suited him perfectly. It gave him time to find his one cut, sometimes the cutback, and it punished Kansas. 

Kansas is a team that loves to sack the qb, in fact they had one of the best sack units in America coming in. On Saturday, they had a grand total of 1 sack for -4 yards. 

That was it!

Which means OSU was on schedule all day, making the job of Kasey Dunn that much easier. 

Speaking of Kasey Dunn!

He has taken a lot of fire in the last year or so, and, quite frankly, rightfully so. His play calling suggests at times that OSU has elite talent, when, especially this year and last, they don’t. So, he’s had to adjust to be more creative to give his team a chance. 

OSU can’t just sit back and run zone all day, or run hitches, speed cuts or out routes and expect to “out athlete” the competition. This offense has had to do like every other offense has to, which is mix in a bit of all of it, many times on the same plays, to add layers and prongs to their concepts. And, they have a quarterback that can handle that type of complexity, so that helps. 

Moving forward, you have to be happy with the direction the offense is headed, and with the rebound the program seems to be making. It did seem like it had gotten stale, but, in the last couple of weeks, it has hit a spark. So, let’s hope that continues and that OSU goes to Morgantown and racks up another W.

Go Pokes!. 

Become a subscriber to our O-State Daily YouTube page and follow us on Twitter @OState_Daily, on Instagram @ostatedaily, or on TikTok @ostatedaily

.

Also, please consider donating to our GoFundMe to help O-State Daily keep growing. To do so, click this link https://gofund.me/db54a295. This site will always be free to its viewers, but it does take time and money to run, so any sized donation would be greatly appreciated.