The Oklahoma State Cowboys are searching for a large victory over South Dakota State. With a bit of fuel from Kirk Herbstreit picking the Jackrabbits, a program that has won two straight FCS National Championships, over the Cowboys.

Trying to start the 2024 season much more efficiently than the 2023 season, the Cowboys had a strong first half, holding a 17-6. They opened the second half with a second Ollie Gordon touchdown, though the Jackrabbits quickly responded.

The Jackrabbits’ first touchdown was on a three-play drive, which came a little easy and made it seem like they might be able to put some pressure on Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys’ veteran offense responded quickly, though, scoring in just six plays. This time, it was an Alan Bowman deep ball to Rashod Owens, who capped off the 58-yard touchdown.

The game has gone just about as Oklahoma State could have hoped. Gordon begins his Heisman-hopeful campaign with a pair of touchdowns. The Cowboys have involved multiple wide receivers and the defense has shown improvement from a season ago.

Now, it’s up to Oklahoma State to keep their foot on the gas on both sides of the ball, finishing off an incredible win and getting off to a good start to their 2024 campaign.

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RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail.

Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state.

A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder.

Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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Some traveled across states and others around the globe, but no matter the distance, being in Hulbert, Oklahoma, for Labor Day weekend was a must for graduates of Rift Valley Academy.

It’s been a while since the class of 1974 reminisced. Rift Valley Academy High School graduates live all around the world.

“And who would have known Oklahoma’s the center of the world,” said alumni Thad Peterson of Tanzania. 

So, the class is celebrating its 50th high school reunion in Hulbert, Oklahoma.

“We’ve got people here from east Africa, from Europe, from Canada, from all over the United States, and so it’s just good to get back together and compare notes,” said alumni Mark Alison of Arkansas. 

As they caught up on half a century of life, they looked back on their years spent together at their Kenyan boarding school.

“At first, it’s a little awkward because where do you start? 50 years covers a lot. But I think once we get chatting, it’s easy, it just sort of flows,” said graduate Donna Whitson of Texas. 

Some classmates set up makeshift “dukas,” a Swahili word for store, to help the space feel a little more like Africa.

“Some beadwork or jewelry that they’ve made, or just some artifacts from Africa. A lot of us are downsizing, and so we brought some of those maybe for other people to take home,” Whitson said. 

An opportunity for them to make their current homes feel like the ones from their teenage years.

“If you went to a big family reunion and you hadn’t seen these people in a long time, and it just really feels like that connection. We just really feel like a family; we still have that connection of home, which is Africa,” said Whitson. 

With nearly all of their graduating class in attendance, they look forward to this weekend’s celebrations back together again. “I think about the common heritage that we share that is very different and unique, and we’re just privileged to be able to celebrate it together,” said Whitson.