Mike Gundy went with the youngster at quarterback to start the 2019 season and it doesn’t appear the Oklahoma State offense suffered any ill-effects on the road.
The Cowboys piled up points and yards with ease in the first half of their battle with the ‘other’ OSU, Oregon State, with the visitors up 31-16 at the break of a game that seemed trending toward a shootout early before descending into a runaway late.
Freshman quarterback Spencer Sanders threw for 149 yards and two touchdowns in his first collegiate action, keeping the offense rolling right along like it typically has under Gundy. He also chipped in with 44 yards on the ground as the team scored on all five of their first half possessions.
While his debut was notable for the Cowboys, it was the play of a few veterans who really helped put things out of reach in the second quarter for the visitors. Tailback Chuba Hubbard was a force between the tackles with 132 yards and a score while Biletnikoff Award finalist Tylan Wallace looks primed to make even more folks notice how good he is with two touchdowns on three catches and 80 yards. On one he took a bad throw off a screen pass and weaved his way to pay dirt while the other was even more impressive as he leaped over two defenders to haul in the ball along the sidelines.
Despite the scoreline after two quarters, Oregon State did get off to a good start in the game with 10 quick points and a 70 yard touchdown drive on their first possession. A string of three-and-outs kept putting them behind the sticks however and things seemed to snowball after that with a number of defensive lapses. QB Jake Luton threw for 136 yards and two touchdowns but there just wasn’t quite enough for the Pac-12 side to keep pace.
While the Beavers are still rebuilding in 2019, this kind of performance by Oklahoma State is nevertheless bound to turn a few heads in Big 12 territory given all the intrigue coming in about the new quarterback. Texas and Oklahoma are always thrown around as the favorites in the league but it seems the early returns on the Cowboys are showing that they will be a force to contend with too.