Oklahoma State Offense
As college football fans know, it’s not terribly uncommon for teams to trot out two quarterbacks for consistent game action, but three? That appears to be the early philosophy of Oklahoma State.
With what from the outside looking in appeared to be a greatly surprising decision to transfer out of the program by multi-year starter Spencer Sanders, one of the statistically most accomplished quarterbacks in the nation who opted to relocate to Ole Miss for his final year, Oklahoma State, under longtime head coach Mike Gundy, has – at least for the time being – chosen to rotate among three quarterbacks.
As a true freshman, Garret Rangel appeared in four games with three starts last season but preserved his redshirt status. In week one, he was the starting quarterback in the game for OSU and had 118 passing yards on 10-of-15 passing with one touchdown and one interception, along with 18 rushing yards on three carries.
Gunnar Gundy – yes, the coach’s son – had five appearances across the 2021-22 seasons with one start and was 7-of-9 passing with 106 yards, along with 20 rushing yards on two carries.
Journeyman Alan Bowman, at his third Power Five stop and second stint in the Big 12, also figures to see ample game action. He began his career at Texas Tech for the 2018-20 seasons and saw considerable time as a starter, throwing for over 5,200 yards with the Red Raiders. He then chose to transfer to Michigan but only attempted 11 total passes across the 2021-22 seasons for the Wolverines. To close out his college career, he is now at Oklahoma State and threw for 80 yards on 13-of-24 passing last week.
For this week’s game, Bowman is technically the first QB listed on the depth chart, but the ever-popular ‘OR’ is placed between him and Gundy and also between Gundy and Rangel.
At running back, OSU figures to use two or three rushers in: Ollie Gordon, Elijah Collins, and Jaden Nixon.
Gordon ranked third on the team last year in rushing with 308 net yards but is OSU’s leading returning rusher from 2022. He had seven carries for 44 yards with a touchdown, along with two catches for 23 yards last week.
Collins comes to OSU via Michigan State, where he rushed for 1,506 yards with 11 touchdowns in his time with the Spartans from 2018-22, but 988 of those yards came in the 2019 season – a season in which he had 72 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown against the Sun Devils when ASU upset MSU in East Lansing. He had eight carries for 42 yards with a touchdown in his Cowboy debut last week.
Nixon is an all-purpose threat for the Cowboys, as he caught five passes for 37 yards and rushed six times for 30 yards in the season opener last week. He had 181 rushing yards and 189 receiving yards with three touchdown catches in 2022.
Brennan Presley, De’Zhaun Stribling, and Jaden Bray are positioned to be the top wide receivers for the Cowboys against ASU.
Presley, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 pick and OSU’s leading receiver last year who caught 67 passes for 813 yards with two scores in 2022, had a team-high six catches and totaled 54 receiving yards with a touchdown reception last week.
Stribling, a name that should ring some bells among Sun Devil fans as he transferred to OSU from Washington State this offseason, racked up a team-high 73 receiving yards on four catches in the season opener last weekend. He totaled 95 catches for 1,073 yards with ten touchdown receptions in his two seasons with the Cougars from 2021-22.
Bray, who only appeared in three games but had five catches for 54 yards last season, had five catches for 66 yards last week.
Beyond this projected starting trio, no other OSU wide receiver had more than 19 receiving yards in the season opener last week.
When OSU employs a fullback and a tight end, Braden Cassity and Josiah Johnson, respectively, top the depth charts for their position groups. Last season, Cassity, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 selection in 2021, had five catches for 57 yards, while Johnson transferred to Oklahoma State from Massachusetts this past offseason after catching 24 passes for 163 yards with the Minutemen in 2022. Johnson had two catches for eight yards last week for OSU.
The Cowboy offensive line figures to start (from left to right) tackle Cole Birmingham, guard Jason Brooks, Jr., center Joe Michalski, either Preston Wilson or Taylor Miterko at guard, and tackle Jake Springfield, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 selection last year.
Oklahoma State Offense Summary
As is the case on defense, a multitude of personnel departures on offense make this a very different Cowboy team compared to the one from just one season ago.
Though not the only significant offensive transfer to leave OSU this offseason, Sanders’ departure at quarterback is the most significant. Gone are his more than 11,000 career total offense yards and extensive game experience that, at least as was seen in week one, may take three different quarterbacks to replace at OSU.
Time will tell how long Oklahoma State operates a two or even three-quarterback system, but all indications are that this Saturday will not be a one-man show at QB for the Cowboys.
On the ground, Oklahoma State loses its top two rushers in, last year’s leading rusher, Dominic Richardson, who left OSU for Baylor, as well as Sanders, who netted 391 yards in 2022 from his quarterback position.
In the passing game, OSU loses five of its top six pass-catchers from 2022, leaving the Cowboys with just two returning players from last year who caught more than 12 passes.
Transfers like Collins, Johnson, and Stribling that were acquired by Oklahoma State certainly help, but numerous skill position players who either saw limited roles last year or were not yet in the program will have to quickly jump into key roles in order for this Cowboy offense to be anywhere near as prominent as it has been for the vast majority of Gundy’s lengthy tenure in Stillwater.
Oklahoma State Defense
OSU’s 3-3-5 alignment figures to feature ends Nathan Latu and Kody Walterscheid up front, with Collin Clay at nose tackle.
Clay had 16 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with five quarterback hurries last year, Walterscheid had 11 tackles with one sack and two fumble recoveries in 2022, while Latu had 14 tackles, including 4.5 for loss while ranking second on the team last season with 4.0 sacks.
Latu had an excellent debut game for his 2023 season, tying for the team high with six total tackles while leading OSU with 1.5 sacks last weekend. Clay had three tackles in the opener, while Walterscheid played and didn’t record any tackles but is credited with a blocked kick.
The trio of Collin Oliver, Nickolas Martin, and Xavier Benson is likely to be the Cowboys’ group at linebacker to open the game.
Last season, Benson was OSU’s third-leading tackler but is the top returning tackler for 2023, as he had 76 total tackles, including 4.0 for loss with eight quarterback hurries and two pass breakups.
Oliver had 28 tackles, including 7.5 sacks with 5.10 sacks and a team-high 12 quarterback hurries, while Martin had 15 total tackles in 2022. Oliver was a Second-Team All-Big 12 pick last season for the second straight year, and before that, he was crowned the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2021 after posting 11.5 sacks for the Cowboys.
In the opener, Benson had four tackles, including one for loss with a pass breakup, Martin had three tackles, including two for loss with a sack, and Oliver and three tackles for the game.
In the secondary, cornerbacks Korie Black and Cam Smith are joined by safeties Lyrik Rawls and Trey Rucker, along with Kendal Daniels, to round out the projected starting defense for Oklahoma State.
Daniels, the 2022 Big 12 Conference Defensive Freshman of the Year and a second-team all-conference pick last year is OSU’s second-leading returning tackler from 2023 as he had 71 tackles, including 6.5 for loss with five pass breakups, four quarterback hurries, three interceptions, and a forced fumble.
Black had 25 tackles with four pass breakups last season, while Rawls had 24 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with a sack in 2022. Smith had 22 tackles a year ago, while Rucker played in just one game in 2022 but posted three tackles with an interception in that contest.
Last week, Daniels tied for the team high with six tackles, adding a fumble recovery, while Rawls also had six tackles. Rucker had four tackles, including one for loss, while Black had a very active day with three tackles, one pass breakup, and one blocked kick. Smith appeared in last week’s game for OSU but did not record any statistics.
Oklahoma State Defense Summary
Like the offense, the defense under first-year coordinator Bryan Nardo, who came to OSU from Division II Gannon University in Pennsylvania, experienced several key departures between the end of last season and the start of this season.
In all, OSU returns only about 37% of its total defensive starts from 2022, as six players are gone who started 11 or more games while an additional two who started seven or more contests have also departed to a total of eight players on defense who started more than half of last season’s games for the Cowboys that are no longer on the Oklahoma State roster.
Statistically, OSU loses eight of its top 10 tacklers and nine of the top 12 from 2022, and only two players who started more than five games in 2022 – LB Xavier Benson and CB Korie Black – return for this year.
In week one, OSU allowed 123 net rushing yards and 268 passing yards with two scores, but the Cowboys did accumulate five sacks and nine total TFLs against FCS opponent Central Arkansas.
Oklahoma State Special Teams
Kicker Alex Hale and punter Wes Paul are slated to handle their special teams roles against ASU.
Last week, Hale, who last year didn’t attempt a field goal but saw time on kickoffs for OSU, connected on both of his field goal attempts with a long of 45 yards.
Pahl punted three times with a 51.7-yard average, boasting a long punt of 60 yards. Hudson Kaak punted twice, a 37-yarder and a 29-yarder.
In the return game, standout receiver Brennan Presley tops the list at both kickoff returner and punt returner. In the opening game, Presley returned one punt but for no yardage and had two kickoff returns, one for 15 yards and one for 10 yards. He was a Second-Team All-Big 12 returns specialist in 2021.
Overall Summary
A rubber match of sorts as the all-time series is tied 2-2 with ASU wins in Stillwater in 1991 and in Tempe in 1993 and Cowboy victories in Tempe in 1984 and in Stillwater last season, though this game wraps up the home-and-home non-conference series, a new chapter will soon begin as Arizona State and Oklahoma State will be Big 12 Conference foes in all sports starting in 2024.
It isn’t easy to get a true sense of the state of the Cowboy program as Mike Gundy has begun his 19th season at the helm for OSU – tying him with Utah’s Kyle Whittingham as the second-longest tenured active FBS coaches behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.
In 2021, OSU won 12 games, finished in the top 10, and claimed a Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame. Last season, Oklahoma State’s record dipped to 7-6, with that five-win drop-off from 2021 to ’22 standing as the largest year-over-year drop in wins during Gundy’s entire tenure in Stillwater.
Using last year’s matchup between these two teams to try to assess what this weekend’s contest might bring is generally an exercise in futility as of the 44 combined offensive and defensive starters from ASU and OSU in that September game last year, only 15 are on the 2023 rosters for Arizona State and Oklahoma State (eight for OSU, seven for ASU).
Both teams had uninspiring wins over FCS opponents in week one, so in many ways, there are a multitude of yet to be answered questions for both programs as far as what the overall product on the field will look like in 2023.
Though OSU isn’t a top-12 team in this game as it was entering last year’s matchup, a victory would be an early sign of legitimate progress for Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State.
Ultimately, this game figures to come down to line play, as many do. OSU totaled five sacks last week, and ASU had none, while the Sun Devil offensive line showed much to be desired in that weird week one win. On the other hand, if ASU can crank up the pressure on Oklahoma State’s group of quarterbacks, advantageous opportunities can be gained by the home team.
Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, run by the longest-tenured Sun Devil sports beat writer, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today and get your daily fix of Sun Devil news!
