Cowboys Win at Florida Atlantic

September 9th, 2005

By Justin Waganer
Senior Sports Writer

It wasn’t pretty, at times it was almost intolerable, but if we’ve learned anything this young college football season, a win is a win. Oklahoma State won 23-3 in Miami, a comfortable margin in a game that didn’t seem to solve much for Poke fans, coaches, and alumni.

The Cowboys came in hoping to find the definitive leader of an offense that is young and hoping to find a groove. Instead, Bobby Reid went 3-9 for 45 yards and Donovan Woods went 6-10 for 44 yards. Little changed as both showed great athletic ability without the ability to make consistently accurate passes.

The Cowboys came in hoping to find a game breaking running back. Instead, Mike Hamilton rushed for over 100 yards (113 on 23 carries), but showed little in respect to being able to carry his team like Vernand Morency. The best runner for Oklahoma State is Bobby Reid, who has emphatically stated his wish to remain at quarterback.

OSU showed patience in sticking with a power running game that leaves much to be desired, but will that work when Big 12 teams are knocking? Likely not. Mounting an offensive drive looked like it was about as probable as climbing Mt. Everest as the only two touchdown drives came off of fumbles that put the Pokes at the Owls 5 and 22.

Howard Schnellenberger showed once again why he is a great coach in practice, but not so much on game day. The man who once claimed at Oklahoma that nobody makes halftime adjustments made several boneheaded decisions with his offense in the second half that took them out of the game. Just a few examples, his team is down 20-3 in the fourth quarter and had finally mounted a drive that stalled inside the 20. Instead of kicking a field goal that he would need anyway to tie the game, Howard went for it and lost about 15 yards. Later in the same quarter he called a run on 3rd and 10 to effectively kill another drive. His Owls averaged three yards per carry on the evening.

In the end, Oklahoma State is 2-0, which is much more than their arch rivals can say. However, after one more cupcake in Arkansas State next week, Colorado comes to town on October 1st. The Cowboys must improve greatly to have a chance to keep a streak going.

Entry Filed under: Cowboys