Three Things I Learned from Oklahoma State’s Win over South Dakota State

What can we really learn from one game? Maybe not much. Maybe that’s why Mike Gundy is prone to say some version of, “We’ll know more about the team in November” year after year. Just how good is South Dakota State anyway? We’ll know more about that in a couple of months, as well.

But the Cowboys did get the win, and they checked some boxes. They did just about everything you could ask for in a season opener against a team like South Dakota State. Now it’s on to the next data point.

In the absence of any earth-shattering revelations from Saturday, I thought it would be worthwhile to take stock in what we thought about the Cowboys before this weekend and what has been confirmed, or at least supported, through the first week of the season.

1. OSU’s Offense is Still Legit

Alan Bowman looked about as good as he has for an entire game since he was playing in Lubbock, maybe ever. The Cowboys’ offensive line didn’t do anything to dissuade the confidence they’d built over the offseason. Ollie Gordon is still must-watch TV. The receiving corps is still full of #freaks. Check, check, check and check.

As Marshall pointed out in his 10 Thoughts, and with all the FCS caveats, the Cowboys hung 44 points on a team that hadn’t given up that much in six years. The Cowboys did so with relative ease.

If we allow ourselves to nitpick, you probably would have liked OSU to get out of the third quarter with a big enough lead to park Ollie Gordon on the bench for the fourth. If you gave Mike Gundy truth serum, he probably isn’t fired up about Gordon getting 30-plus touches against SDSU. But that probably says more about the Jackrabbits and OSU’s defense than it does the offense. There are some things to be cleaned up, but it’s a great place to start.

2. Logan Ward Was Ready

The Cowboys went into last offseason having to replace an All-Big 12 kicker in Alex Hale. Logan Ward handled kickoff duties last season but hadn’t attempted a field goal in college before OSU’s opening drive against South Dakota State. He nailed his first attempt from 42 yards. The coaching staff gave him a chance to show off his range early in the fourth quarter, and he sent one through the uprights from 52 yards with some room to spare. He also chipped one in from 25. He was also perfect on PATs.

It’s not the sexiest position on the field, and it’s just one game, but if you’re Gundy, it’s nice to have that box checked going into Week 2.

“I thought he played well. I thought that he – obviously – was good with his kicks,” said Gundy after the game. “He kicked two or three off, maybe, early in the game. Then Wes (Pahl) came in and did our kickoffs. Wes did a great job, it looked like. But Logan looked good and was comfortable on his field goals and PATs.”

3. The Cowboys Looked Confident

If you haven’t blotted the memory of the Cowboys’ start last season, you know this is no small thing. That’s not to say OSU won’t lay an egg against Arkansas this weekend, but coaches have to feel pretty good about the team’s performance, top to bottom.

The defense still has some things to clean up when it comes to giving up big plays. And a couple of the early stops that it is getting lauded for could have very easily gone the other way. SDSU whiffed on a couple of catchable pass attempts for first downs. But, overall, the Cowboys looked like a team that was ready to play on Saturday. They looked confident and that’s a good sign, given just what is on the line this season.

All in all, the Cowboys got the win. There was no dramatic reveal or exposure. There are no tantalizing or polarizing headlines to be written. They escaped Week 1, against an FCS team — albeit a historically good FCS team — and here is what we know. This team isn’t perfect, but it still might just be as good as we thought it could be.