2015 Oklahoma State Cowboys Football Preview

Team Info
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Head Coach: Mike Gundy
2014 Record: 7-6 overall, 4-5 Big 12
2014 Bowl Result: Beat Washington 30-22 in the Cactus Bowl
2015 Returning Starters: 7 offense, 7 defense

Betting Info
Odds to Win 2016 College Football Championship Game: 90/1
Odds to win 2015 Big 12 Championship: 7/1
Regular Season Wins: over 7 -165 / under 7 +135
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Oklahoma State is a dark horse candidate to win the Big 12.
Oklahoma State is a dark horse candidate to win the Big 12.

Last year, most expected a rebuilding year for Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State. The task grew even more difficult when quarterback J.W. Walsh suffered a shoulder injury in the second game of the season and would not play again. Walsh almost led an upset over defending national champion Florida State in the opener before the injury. Back-up quarterback Daxx Garman led a five game winning streak against soft competition. However, the wheels fell off once they started playing tougher competition with 5 straight losses all by 21 points or more. Garman suffered an injury of his own forcing Gundy to remove the redshirt from quarterback Mason Rudolph.

Rudolph would start the last three games and the offense played much better. They hung around for awhile against Baylor before the Bears pulled away in the second half for the 49-28 win. Rudolph led an upset win on the road 38-35 in overtime at bedlam rival Oklahoma that allowed the Cowboys to become bowl eligible. The Cowboys would beat Washington 30-22 in the Cactus Bowl in Tempe, Arizona.

Rudolph showed enough promise in the last three games to make the future seem bright for the Cowboys. In fact, many are picking the Cowboys as the fourth best team in the Big 12 ahead of Texas, West Virginia and Kansas State. Let’s take a look at the Cowboys on offense, defense, special teams, plus the schedule and outlook.

Offense

Garman transferred to Maryland, but both Walsh and Rudolph return. Officially, they will compete in fall camp, but really the job is Rudolph’s barring injury. It is only a competition out of respect for what Walsh has done in the past. Rudolph is a perfect fit for offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich’s system. Rudolph completed 57% of his passes for 853 yards with 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Walsh threw for 233 yards with a touchdown and an interception before the injury and also added 2 rushing touchdowns.

While nine of the top ten pass catchers return, the notable exception is Tyreek Hill. He was kicked off the team after a domestic violence incident after the Oklahoma game and transferred to Akron. Hill is a world class sprinter and had over 1,800 all-purpose yards. He was the second leading rusher with over 500 yards and a touchdown, plus he made 31 catches and a touchdown. Hill was even more dangerous as a return man with 2 kick returns for touchdowns a punt return for a touchdown late against Oklahoma that sent the game into overtime.

Leading rusher Desmond Roland has graduated. He rushed for 770 yards with 10 touchdowns. Rennie Childs and JUCO transfer Chris Carson will likely compete for the feature back carries. Childs, a junior had 78 carries for 294 yards and 3 touchdowns last season. Carson was originally set to go to Georgia but decided to go to Oklahoma State instead. Last year, at Butler Community College in Kansas Carson rushed for almost 1,000 yards and 9 touchdowns in just nine games. He averaged 110 yards per game. Raymond Taylor will also get some carries.

As mentioned the receivers are loaded with depth and talent. Brandon Sheperd had 39 catches for 737 yards and 5 touchdowns. David Glidden had 42 catches for 598 yards and 2 touchdowns. James Washington had 28 catches for 456 yards and 6 touchdowns. Jhajuan Seales had 18 catches for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns. Redshirt freshman Keenan Brown had an impressive spring and will also get some targets.

Two starters return on the offensive line in right tackle Zachary Crabtree and left guard Michael Wilson. The line was bolstered by the addition of left tackle Victor Salako who transferred from the now dissolved football program at UAB and is free to play this season.

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Defense

Seven starters return for Glenn Spencer’s defense. Last year, the defense was overworked because the offense struggled under Garman. This year they should be much better with stars in every unit and more depth.

Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah was the Big 12 defensive linemen of the year last year with 17 tackles for loss and 11 sacks. Jimmy Bean also returns at the other end. The new tackles will be sophomores Vincent Taylor and Vili Leveni.

Ryan Simmons and Seth Jacobs return to anchor a young and talented linebacking corps. Jordan Burton will also start.

Three starters return in the secondary with corners Kevin Peterson and Ramon Richards, and free safety Jordan Sterns. strong safety Tre Flowers is the only new starter. Like the linebackers, the secondary is loaded with young talent.

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Special Teams

Kicker Ben Grogan hit his stride last year making 20 of his last 23 kicks after missing 3 of his first 5 kicks. He returns for his junior year. Freshman Zach Sinor will likely be the new punter. The return game must replace the explosiveness of Hill. Washington and Glidden will likely return kicks and punts respectively.

Schedule

The non-conference schedule is pretty soft with a road game at Central Michigan and home games against UTSA and Central Arkansas. The Cowboys close out September with the conference opener at Texas. In October, OSU alternates home and road games with home games against Kansas State and Kansas. The Cowboys travel to West Virginia and close out October at Texas Tech. November is challenging but TCU, Baylor, and Oklahoma all come to Stillwater. The only road game in the month is at Iowa State.

Outlook

If the Cowboys can survive tough road games at Texas and West Virginia then they should be in pretty good shape going into the tough November slate. However, anything more than 8 wins for this team would be a surprise. I think the Cowboys will go to a mid-tier bowl like the Texas or Liberty Bowl.

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  1. More than 8 wins would surprise you? What an idiot. 3 non conference games are guaranteed wins. Texas tech, Iowa State, Kansas are basically guaranteed wins. Texas should be a win. Kansas State and West Virginia are rebuilding, and we have OU, TCU, and Baylor at home. Baylor hasn’t beat OSU in Stillwater since the 1930’s.

  2. Trips to Austin and Morgantown are no gimmes, and I think they split those two games. As for Baylor not winning in Stillwater since the 30’s, they hadn’t won in Norman ever until last year. OSU might beat Oklahoma but Stillwater or not, TCU and Baylor are simply better. So that adds up to 8 wins. I might be wrong, wouldn’t be the first time. But it is always good to hear from passionate Cowboy fans.

  3. I believe losing less then 8 games would be a huge disappointment for how our schedule is set up. If we can survive at texas and at WVU then we can be 8-0 going into Nov. Heck we get OU, Baylor, Tcu all at home. win 1 possibly even 2 that puts us at 10 and then at Iowa state puts us at 11. we only win 1 that still puts us at 9 and beat Iowa state at 10-2. Tcu will be the toughest opponent of the 3. Baylor for some reason does not play well on the road let alone in Stillwater. RG3 bears and Petty came to Stillwater and were embarrassed. This Baylor team wont be more talented then that one, better on Defense yes. OSU D will be salty though having a lot of depth. If we can get TO’s like we did in 2011 we will compete in all of our games. My honest guess for this season is 9-3 at worse, 10-2 realistically, and 11-1 praying everything goes our way. GO POKES!!!!

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