By Michael Doutey
After rewatching Oklahoma State’s 55-13 win over South Alabama, I’ve decided to hand out grades from the game. It’s just another fun way to breakdown the game after getting to watch the game back over from a different perspective and view. Let’s get started.
Quarterback – Taylor Cornelius
He was much improved from his week one showing. He was very poised and calm. He also hit a variety of throws. He throws a really pretty fade pass, like the one we saw to Tylan Wallace for the first score of the game. He throws really well on the run, which he displayed on his bootleg throw to Tyron Johnson. He showed off his ability to throw strikes as he scrambled on the run while the receiver was tightroping the sidelines. He was especially good in the first half. Through two quarters he threw for 281 yards and a touchdown while completing 18 of his 27 pass attempts. He also lead a really important scoring drive right before half. OSU had a firm hold on the game in the first half, but punter Matt Hockett fumbled the snap and gave South Alabama excellent field position. USA capitalized, cutting the OSU lead to 11 right before half. There was a shift in momentum and suddenly it was a game. With two minutes and 57 second left in the half, Corn lead a really nice scoring drive, capped off by a Justice Hill two-yard touchdown run with 21 seconds left before halftime. Corn was a solid 4-6 passing for 58 yards on the drive, finding Tylan Wallace for a gain of 19, Dillon Stoner for a gain of 20, Wallace again for eight and then Justice Hill on an 11 yard gain before Hill punched it in on the run. The second half was a little different. Corn was 6-11 for 139 yards and two interceptions in the third. The first interception from Corn was a little under thrown and the defender made a nice play. But the second one was really bad. He tried to get the ball to Tyron Johnson in the end zone and he forced it and didn’t see an underneath defender. It was ugly. It was not good, but it was his only bad throw of the night. He was really good, but the interceptions held him back from a great game.
GRADE: B
Running Backs
It wasn’t a good night running the football for OSU. The offensive line really struggled, so grading the backs is hard because they didn’t have much room to run. Justice Hill ran for 32 yards on nine carries, caught one pass for 11 yards and scored two touchdowns. Chuba Hubbard had another productive night, leading the Cowboys in rushing with 46 yards on six carries, including a 22 yard touchdown run off a nice draw play. JD King had nine carries for 32 yards and took his only catch to the house for a nice 25 yard touchdown. Overall, it wasn’t a bad performance for what they were given. It could have been better, though.
GRADE: B-
Receivers
It was a career night for both Tylan Wallace and Tyron Johnson. Wallace lead the team with 10 catches for 166 yards and a touchdown. He really worked all over the field, catching fades, slants, out routes, post routes and drew three pass interference penalties. He had a huge crack back block on Justice Hill’s first touchdown and a nice block on Hubbard’s TD run. He really did it all. Johnson showed his electric play, taking a bootleg pass from Corn 60 yards. He is an electric playmaker and the ball really needs to be in his hands. He is probably the best big play guy of the receivers. He caught five passed for 137 yards and had a rushing touchdown. Dillon Stoner was solid, but had a drop. That was probably the only negative on the night from this group. The inside receivers weren’t as featured in this game as the first. This was an excellent performance from this group and their grade would have been higher if they’d played better competition.
GRADE: A
Offensive Line
It was not a good performance up front. The line gave up four sacks and 11 tackles for loss while only generating 164 yards rushing on a 3.7 yards per carry average. It simply wasn’t good enough. Now, if you want to take out the horrible Matt Hockett fumble that didn’t really have anything to do with the offensive line or the rushing attack, then that’s fine. In that scenario, OSU rushed for 173 yards on 43 carries which is good for an average of four yards per carry. Sure, it is better but not great against a team like South Alabama. This group has a lot of room to grow after two weeks of lackluster performances.
GRADE: C-
Defensive Line
The defensive line did a really good job on Saturday. They were instrumental in keeping South Alabama’s run game shut down. The Jags ran for just 78 yards on 37 carries. The success that USA did find on the ground typically was on the outside on jet sweeps. But on the inside, there was some really solid play. Jordan Brailford and Brock Martin both recorded a sack. The interior guys really opened up lanes for the backers and safeties to make plays. It was a solid performance from the defensive line.
GRADE: A-
Linebackers
Calvin Bundage was everywhere. He lead the team in tackles again with seven. He stuffed the run on the inside and on the perimeter. He did have a personal foul after he hit the USA quarterback low on a pass rush. But he is emerging as OSU’s best defensive playmaker. He was all over the field. Devin Harper made the play of the night with a beautiful pick-six. He lined up pre-snap beside the defensive tackle as if he was going to blitz, but on the snap he dropped back into coverage, read the quarterback’s eyes, got in the passing lane and took his oskie to the house. Even in a reserve role, he was tied for second on the team in tackles with five. There were a few times on some jet sweeps in the first half that the backers or ends lost contain on sweeps, but that was taken care of in the second half.
GRADE: A-
Secondary
This group has yet to be tested. They were sloppy at times on Saturday, especially in the first half. This unit had several missed tackles on the perimeter. AJ Green was called for a pass interference and a defensive holding, even though I completely disagree with the holding call. It was too bad too, because he was robbed of his first interception of the season. There were at least three or four drops by the USA receivers that would have kept drives alive. Those throws were open but just dropped. On the first USA touchdown, it was a simple swing pass that OSU sniffed out but Thabo Mwaniki missed the tackle in the backfield. The second touchdown was due to true freshman safety, Jarrick Bernard, getting beat on a deep route. Kenneth Edison-McGruder was tossed in the first half for targeting and true freshman Kolby Peel came in and played well. Peel was second on the team in tackles with five and had a tackle for loss. Lastly, Malcolm Rodriguez was really solid, earning defensive player of the game honors from head coach Mike Gundy. He was all over the field, making a tremendous TFL on a USA fourth down try and had a monster hit in the second half dislodging the ball from a receiver on a third down try. I have some worries about this unit, especially with how young they are. But they played well on Saturday.
GRADE: B-
Special Teams
Mike Gundy was not happy at all with his special teams. Matt Hockett fumbled a snap away to USA, there was 30 yard kickoff return from USA, a leaping personal foul was called on OSU and Stoner didn’t field two punts that Gundy felt he should have, including allowing a punt roll all the way down inside the one yard line.. Matt Amendola did make two field goals, but that was the only bright spot.
GRADE: D-
