MANHATTAN, Kan. (USD) – The Coyotes put the pressure on Kansas State, keeping the match scoreless for the first 60 minutes, but the Wildcats ultimately cracked the code and earned a 3-0 win over South Dakota Sunday afternoon in Manhattan, Kansas.
 
The Wildcats had more chances in the first half of the match, but stout defense from the Coyotes, including sophomore Cambell Fischer in goal, kept the Wildcats off the board. In the first 15 minutes of the second half, it was the Coyotes who were applying pressure on the Kansas State defense.
 
Kansas State finally cracked the code as a long pass created an opportunity and a nice pass created a shot that got the Wildcats on the board in the 64^th minute. From there, the Wildcats kept their foot down and added two more goals in the final 25 minutes.
 
After two shots, none on goal in the first half, the Coyotes totaled five shots, two on target in the second half. USD also had a couple of crosses in front of the net that they were unable to strike on. Both sides had three corners and Fischer had five saves in the match for USD.
 
The two shots on goal came from sophomore Sam Luft and freshman Gabbie Ryan, both getting one shot and putting on target. Junior Izzy Quintavalle was the lone Coyote to get multiple shots off, totaling two in the match. Fischer played the full 90 minutes in goal, marking the first time this season that the Coyotes turned to one keeper for the full match.
 
The Coyotes now shift their focus to Thursday’s match in Mount Pleasant, Michigan against the Central Michigan Chippewas. The match is scheduled for Noon Central Time.

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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.

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.”