Oklahoma State heads into Saturday’s homecoming matchup with Colorado needing some tweaks after the loss to Houston, and a handful of players clearly changed the conversation with their play against the Cougars.
The Cowboys are 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 play, while Colorado sits at 2-4 and 0-3. The Buffaloes are coming off a 27-24 loss to Utah, and they still haven’t won since opening the season 2-0. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, is set for its second straight night game.
Among the offensive bright spots, Miles Coleman kept doing what he usually does: showing up with timely production even when he isn’t piling up snaps. He was only targeted enough to catch three passes, but those grabs went for 77 yards, including a 47-yard gain that mattered. He’s scored just once this season, but there’s a feeling that the second half could bring more touchdowns in bunches.
Running back Ollie Gordon also started to flash again in a different way. After his 75-yard run and 109-yard game against Oregon, he had rushed four times for minus-4 yards over the next three games combined.
Head coach Eric Morris has talked about Gordon’s athleticism, but Oklahoma State hadn’t really leaned into it until Houston. Against the Cougars, he ran six times for 34 yards.
The numbers aren’t eye-popping, but the bigger point is that the Cowboys are beginning to build in more designed runs for him, which changes what defenses have to prepare for.
Defensively, Justin Wright is starting to look like the player Oklahoma State expected when it brought him in from North Texas. He had only two tackles combined against Oregon and Murray State, but over the last three games he’s racked up 11 tackles, including four solo stops.
Nine of those have come in the last two games, and he added a couple of big tackles against Houston as well. What once looked like a preseason projection is beginning to show up on Saturdays.
Another player whose value keeps showing up in all the little places is a Cowboy who doesn’t need the ball much to matter. Morris praised him for his work late in the Murray State game, but his offensive touches have been limited since then.
Even so, he’s the kind of “four-team special teams” player who earns his way onto the bus because he can help everywhere. Against Houston, he made that case again with two solo tackles in coverage on punts and kickoffs.
The return game also got a boost from the former Tulsa standout, who started his career at Oklahoma State in 2022 and is back after a temporary restraining order allowed him a fifth year of eligibility. He joined the team after the bye week and needed two weeks before settling in as a kickoff returner.
Against Houston, he brought back two kicks for 27 yards. At the very least, that gives Oklahoma State another option and eases some of the load on Miles Coleman.
The odd part is that Chris Barnes is still supposed to be another kick returner.
Barnes, though, is in a tricky spot. This is the second straight week he’s landed in this kind of discussion, and Saturday against Colorado could say a lot about where he fits going forward.
He finished the Houston game without a catch and was the intended target on Drew Mestemaker’s interception. It looked like Barnes slipped and fell before the ball was picked off, but Morris had words for him afterward, and it’s not clear whether there was more behind that exchange than just the play itself.
With Miles Coleman and Terrence Lewis seeing more snaps, Barnes’ role is looking less certain.
The offensive line also left Oklahoma State with questions. According to Pro Football Focus, no Cowboys lineman graded worse in pass protection than Shaun Torgeson, who posted a 34.4 on its 100-point scale.
He also allowed the sack on Mestemaker that turned into a fumble, though Mestemaker recovered it, picked up three yards, and the drive ended in a touchdown anyway. Torgeson played the entire game, with Braydon Nelson spelling him for just five snaps, but if Oklahoma State’s internal grading lines up with that PFF result, Nelson could be in line for more work against Colorado.
And then there’s the former Liberty player, who had a rough one. He was flagged for an unnecessary penalty, finished with just one tackle and graded below 50% by PFF.
By that measure, it was his worst outing of the season and the second time in three games his overall grade landed at 50 or below. It might just be a one-game blip, or it might be something more.
Either way, his snaps against Colorado will be worth watching.
In Other News...
Colorado Is Still Turning Road Games Into Must-See Events
Colorados visit to Stillwater is still carrying the kind of buzz that tends to follow Deion Sanders team, even in a stretch where the results have gone against the Buffaloes. Oklahoma State is set for its 105th homecoming game, and the matchup has already been announced as a sellout, giving the weekend the feel of a bigger occasion than a typical late-season stop on the schedule.
The demand has shown up in the resale market, where this game is drawing the highest prices of Oklahoma States remaining home dates. Even with Colorados losing streak in the background, the Buffaloes continue to bring a national profile that makes road games feel like events, and this one has landed in that category before anyone has taken a snap. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Heads To Colorado With One Warning Fans Cant Ignore
Eric Morris did not sound like a coach overlooking Colorado just because the Buffaloes are sitting on two wins. He called them the best two-win team in the country, pointing to how competitive they have been and the experience they bring into the matchup, a reminder that Oklahoma State is walking into a game with more danger than the record suggests.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, are still juggling personnel on the back end and in the return game. Senior safety Mose Phillips III is out again with a shoulder issue, and the special teams picture also shifted when Braylin Presley got his first chance handling kickoff returns after the top option was nicked up. Those little adjustments can matter on the road, especially against a Colorado team that has made a habit of staying in games. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Just Got Hope In A Frontcourt Battle That Isn't Over
Parsa Fallahs path back to the floor has gotten a little clearer, even if it is far from settled. The Oklahoma State big man has been back around the program since August as he works his way back from a torn ACL, and a new injunction in the Glancey vs. NCAA case gives him another reason to keep pushing while he rehabs and waits on medical clearance.
The legal fight is still going, with the NCAA planning to appeal, so nothing about Fallahs status is fully locked in yet. For now, though, Steve Lutz is treating Fallah and another player on temporary injunctions like full members of the roster, which gives the Cowboys a bit of hope in the frontcourt while they wait to see whether the eligibility picture changes again. [Read more 🡒]