STILLWATER — Mike Gundy’s Cowboys are 1-0, and they beat a team that hasn’t lost in nearly two years to get there.

Oklahoma State beat South Dakota State 44-20 on Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium. Here are five things OSU’s coach said after the game. A video of his full news conference is below.

1. On the Bow Show

Alan Bowman was perhaps as good as he has been in an OSU uniform on Saturday.

OSU’s quarterback threw for 267 yards, three scores and no interceptions while completing 74% of his passes. He didn’t complete more than 70% of his passes in any game last season.

Gundy was pleased with Bowman’s ability to spread the ball to the Cowboys’ various weapons — guys such as Ollie Gordon, Brennan Presley, De’Zhaun Stribling and Rashod Owens.

“Alan, I think, was good from a mental standpoint from what I heard on the headphones,” Gundy said. “Made decisions in what we asked him to do, and his grade in that area, I think, will be really high. That’s where he can help himself and help our team — if he can get the ball distributed to the people that we have because most of what we do is run-pass options.”

2. Colorado-North Dakota State Score Raised Gundy’s Anxiety

This is actually the second time this week a Dakota school faced a Big 12 school — the other instance was much closer.

Colorado beat North Dakota State 31-26 in a game that went down to the final play. Gundy said he didn’t watch that game, as Gunnar Gundy and the Emporia State Hornets opened their season at the same time. (Gunnar led the Hornets to a 30-14 victory.) But Gundy said when he saw the score, it was a little anxiety-educing considering South Dakota State beat North Dakota State 33-16 last season

“My anxiety went up when I saw that score,” Gundy said. “I can’t remember — I was afraid to look it up — but I think this team beat (NDSU) by three or four touchdowns last year (17 points). I’m not sure. And I’m not taking anything away from North Dakota State. They do a great job. But when somebody sent me the final score, my anxiety went up a little, I will have to admit.”

3. ‘Average’ Running the Ball

OSU ran for 3.3 yards a carry Saturday, but Gundy said he wants about a yard more.

Gordon eclipsed 100 yards against a Jackrabbit team that gave up just 89.6 yards a game last season. Still, the Cowboys didn’t exactly gash South Dakota State on the ground. Gordon had four rushes of 10 or more yards but none longer than 12 yards.

“I thought we were average running the ball today,” Gundy said. “Now, they play good defense. They always have, and they understand principals of inside leverage. Ya know, ‘I’m gonna take the run away. I’m not gonna let this guy block me, and then I’m gonna rally late and defend the pass.’ They’re really good at it. That’s why hardly anybody scores on them in their games. I didn’t think we ran the football as well as we should’ve, in my opinion. …

“We ran the ball OK today, but that’s not good enough.”

4. QR Codes

Who would have thought that a little sticker would cause such a stir.

OSU announced earlier this month that the Cowboys would wear a QR code on the backs of their helmets that links to the team’s general NIL fund. Shortly before kickoff, a release was passed around the press box announcing that the NCAA was blocking OSU from slapping the stickers on its helmers based on a rule.

When news first came out about the QR codes, everyone seemingly had an opinion about it. Then when they were banned, it kicked up the storm all over again.

Gundy said word got to him Tuesday or Wednesday.

“They called me and said the NCAA had met and said it was a uniform violation and that it was punishable by the players being suspended if we put the QR codes on the helmets,” Gundy said. “Now, I read the rule, I think it’s judgmental based on if it ever went to a court of law. It’s pretty vague. All we’re trying to do is the most we can do to maximize our players’ opportunities with fans across the world that don’t have a chance to be involved if they’re not local. …

“They said it was a uniform violation. I don’t agree with that, but what I didn’t want to do is take a chance on them trying to drop the hammer on a player because that wouldn’t be fair to the player. Now, if it was me — if they were gonna drop the hammer on me — I don’t care. I would’ve wore it. But I don’t want a player to get penalized for something like that, so I just said it’s not worth it. I don’t know what authority they have anymore, but I don’t want to take a chance on them trying to penalize a player for something that we could avoid.”

5. Depth

The Cowboys didn’t clear the benches Saturday. Bowman played the entire game, and fans kept asking on social media why Gordon was in during the fourth quarter. Still, the Cowboys were able to use quite a few guys just naturally against a good team.

OSU’s participation chart shows that 62 players saw game action against the Jackrabbits, something Gundy said is a good thing on a few fronts.

“I think that’s important,” Gundy said. “We talked about it all through the offseason that we have a number of players on both sides of the ball that have some sort of experience that can get in and play. And in my opinion, the area you really improve in is when you get in the game and play. Practice is great, but it’s not the same. The more reps we can get players in, it does two things. One, it shows us who they are. And two, it gives us a chance to evaluate them and keep the other guys fresh. So I was pleased with the number of players we were able to get in.”