OK State upset scare nearly catastrophic for Big 12 Football

The Big 12 football conference narrowly escaped another tragic upset on Sep. 19, with Oklahoma State topping Tulsa by just nine points.

The non-con slate for the Big 12 football conference slate was fairly catastrophic. The last two weekends was definitely not friendly to a lot of teams with decently high expectations heading into the 2020 college football season. Although the powers that be in the Big 12, the Texas football program and Oklahoma Sooners, had pretty good showings in their season openers.

The lone Big 12 team in action on Sep. 19 was the No. 11 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys, taking on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane out of the American Athletic Conference. Oklahoma State and Tulsa were supposed to face each other last weekend, but the latter of the two teams didn’t get enough practice in ahead of the originally planned Sep. 12 season opener at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater.

Moreover, Oklahoma State and Tulsa facing each other was supposed to be just one of the two non-conference games in the Big 12 this weekend. The other was planned to be the Baylor Bears and Houston Cougars (also out of the AAC) at McLane Stadium in Waco. But Baylor had to push back yet another game in the wake of a novel coronavirus outbreak.

Baylor was set to face the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs last weekend in their supposed season opener, but that also had to be cancelled in the wake of a COVID-19 sizable outbreak for the team from Ruston. Houston was scheduled at the last minute to make Baylor’s season opener happen this weekend, but the COVID-19 outbreak got in the way again.

With Oklahoma State taking on Tulsa this weekend, Baylor and the TCU Horned Frogs remain as the two Big 12 teams that have yet to play in their initial games of the 2020 season. Baylor is set to open up their Big 12 slate next weekend, on Sep. 26, at home against the lowly Kansas Jayhawks. TCU is set to take on the Iowa State Cyclones, who were upset by Louisiana last weekend.

How Oklahoma State’s near loss will impact Big 12 football

In the lone Big 12 action this weekend, the Pokes had to stave off a real upset bid from the Golden Hurricane. Oklahoma State couldn’t get much traction on offense after redshirt sophomore quarterback Spencer Sanders came up limping with a lower-body injury late in the first quarter. He would not return later in this game. Sanders missing most of this game definitely hampered Oklahoma State in the end.

Oklahoma State wound up trying their hand with former JUCO transfer quarterback Ethan Bullock, but he didn’t do anything to spark the offense. Bullock finished the game with just 41 passing yards on 8-13 on passing attempts, no passing or rushing touchdowns, and one interception.

Head coach Mike Gundy and recently promoted offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn had to role with true freshman quarterback and former four-star recruit Shane Illingworth to spark the offense in the second half. Illingworth wound up completing four of his five passing attempts, for 74 passing yards and no touchdowns/no picks.

Most of the passing yards for Illingworth wound up going to star senior wide receiver Tylan Wallace. Wallace finished the game with four catches for 94 yards and no touchdowns. Meanwhile, star redshirt junior running back Chuba Hubbard rounded out with 93 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.

Gundy could not be pleased with his team heading into the locker room at halftime down 7-3. It looked like a real upset scare for Oklahoma State, and the score remained that way until Illingworth took the reigns for the offense in place of Bullock.

Oklahoma State nearly became the third big upset in the Big 12 during this volatile non-conference slate. They got some insurance late in the fourth quarter, and came away with the narrow 16-7 win in the end.

With that, the Pokes escape that list that includes the Kansas State Wildcats, Kansas, and Iowa State, that were all upset in their first games of the season. Kansas State fell short against the Arkansas State Red Wolves out of the Sun Belt last weekend, and Kansas was downed at home by the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

Texas came away with a win for themselves in their season opener, by the dominant final score of 59-3 at home over the UTEP Miners back on Sep. 12. The Longhorns open up the Big 12 slate on Sep. 26 on the road against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State opens up their Big 12 schedule on Sep. 26 at home against the West Virginia Mountaineers.