First Look: Oklahoma State Cowboys

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10/10/6 BAYLOR (8–1, 5–1) vs. 4/4/8 Oklahoma State (10–0, 7–0) Nov. 21, 2015 | 6:30 p.m. CT Stillwater, Okla. | Boone Pickens Stadium (60,218) TV: FOX

Watch |  Listen | Gametracker | Notes

OPPONENT: Oklahoma State Cowboys
ODB GAME HUB: Baylor Bears vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys 2015
MEET THE PRESS: Baylor vs. Oklahoma State
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.okstate.com
MEDIA GUIDE: 2015 Oklahoma State Football Media Guide (Click here for roster)
ADVANCED STATS PROFILE: Oklahoma State Cowboys Advanced Stats Profile
LAST MEETING: 49–28 Baylor | ODB Game Hub
LAST GAME: W; OkSt 35, Iowa State 31
SB NATION BLOG: Cowboys Ride For Free, at right
SPREAD: PK (Open: PK - we didn’t have a thread this week)
TV COVERAGE: FOX, 6:30 p.m. CST Saturday WEATHER FORECAST: Clear and Cold, high of 49°, light winds (wunderground puts game time temp at 37°)

SBNation.com Oklahoma State Preview
baylorbears.com Preview
Bears vs. Cowboys Coverage

Out of the Frying Pan, Into The Fire?

Last week the Bears faced off against Oklahoma, the team probably playing the best, most complete football in the conference at this point in the season. This week, the Bears play Oklahoma State, the team that is arguably playing the second best football in the conference. The Cowboys are undefeated and have the inside track on a spot in the College Football Playoff, should things shake out favorably for them. Add to that the fact that the Bears haven’t won in Stillwater the day Bill Snyder was born: October 7, 1939. Granted, there’s a big gap in there, but still. That’s a long time.

There’s some good news and some bad news about the trip to Stillwater: the bad news is that we got the night game slot. It’s going to be COLD. According to Wunderground, it’s going to be 37° at game time and just get colder from there. The good news is that there’s no precipitation of any kind in the forecast, and there isn’t even supposed to be much wind. So… cold, but none of the stuff that’s been a real problem in the past. Can this be the year that the Bears finally get off the schneid in Stillwater? Will Stidham be fully healthy or will his back hamper him? How will the defensive line fare, given all of the injuries? Speaking of that…

Injury Update

If you didn’t see it yesterday in the Meet the Press thread, Stidham had an MRI on his back that came back negative. He’s just really sore, but apparently getting better by the day. Who knows if he’ll be absolutely 100% on Saturday? Only time will tell. As far as the other reported injuries, this was the latest at the press conference yesterday:

Briles: Waz is probable. Blackshear doubtful. Stewart will know more as the week goes on. Bonds is doubtful.

— Joshua Davis (@jdavis_second) November 16, 2015

Of course, we’ll keep you posted if we find out any more information.

Oklahoma State Cowboys 2015 Schedule

September
@ Central Michigan Chippewas	Thursday, September 03 2015	win 24–13	coverage
Central Arkansas Bears	Saturday, September 12 2015	win 32–8	coverage
Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners	Saturday, September 19 2015	win 69–14	coverage
@ Texas Longhorns	Saturday, September 26 2015	win 30–27	coverage
October
Kansas State Wildcats	Saturday, October 03 2015	win 36–34	coverage
@ West Virginia Mountaineers	Saturday, October 10 2015	win 33–26	coverage
Kansas Jayhawks	Saturday, October 24 2015	win 58–10	coverage
@ Texas Tech Red Raiders	Saturday, October 31 2015	win 70–53	coverage
November
TCU Horned Frogs	Saturday, November 07 2015	win 49–29	coverage
@ Iowa St. Cyclones	Saturday, November 14 2015	win 35–31	coverage
Baylor Bears	Saturday, November 21 2015	7:30 PM EST	coverage
Oklahoma Sooners	Friday, November 27 2015	7:00 PM EST	coverage

This has been a really interesting year for Oklahoma State. They’ve struggled at times with some opponents that you wouldn’t think they would have trouble with. They required the weirdest botched punt ever to beat Texas, played Kansas State and West Virginia incredibly close in consecutive weeks. They pulled away from Texas Tech late and put together an impressive performance against TCU 10 days ago. They looked like they were really figuring things out, and then along came the Cyclones. The Cowboys trailed the game 24–7 at one point, and it wasn’t until 3:06 left in the 4th quarter that Oklahoma State took the lead. Despite two possessions Iowa State couldn’t mount a response. Which team shows up in Stillwater for the Cowboys on Saturday? My bet is that having survived the scare in Ames, they will be ready for the Bears.

Take a look at this state for the Cowboys in 2015:

This is Oklahoma State’s 5th win this season when it had an in-game win probability of less than 33% via @ESPNStatsInfo

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) November 14, 2015

Either that’s incredible, or ESPN’s win probability isn’t very good. Either way, I sure hope that Briles & Son, Inc. are paying close attention. If you get up, do not let your foot off the gas in this game. The Cowboys will come roaring back at ya.

Oklahoma State Cowboys 2015 Individual Stats

Once again, the individual stats produced below come from Bill Connelly’s Advanced Statistical Profile page, which can be found in the link block above. Check it out. It’s neat.

Passing Statistics

Player	Ht, Wt	Year	Comp	Att	Yards	TD	INT	Comp Rate	Sacks	Sack Rate	Yards/ Att.
Mason Rudolph	6’4, 220	SO	219	340	3161	18	8	64.4%	21	5.8%	8.5
J.W. Walsh	6’2, 215	SR	22	28	335	10	0	78.6%	0	0.0%	12.0
Taylor Cornelius	6’6, 190	FR	2	5	8	0	0	40.0%	2	28.6%	–1.1

Sophomore Mason Rudolph played his first game in last year’s blackout game at McLane Stadium (side note: can we please have a blackout game that doesn’t feature torrential downpour? That’d be really nice.) and it immediately became apparent that he was the frontrunner for the starting job in 2015. Though he struggled at spots this season, he’s largely retained the job and has performed admirably over the past few weeks. J.W. Walsh still featured in the offense from time to time, mostly as a running threat. Fantastic.

Individual Rushing Stats

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	Year	Rushes	Yards	TD	Yards/ Carry	Hlt Yds/ Opp.	Opp. Rate	Fumbles (Lost)
Chris Carson	RB	6’2, 202	JR	108	446	4	4.1	3.4	37.0%	0 (0)
Rennie Childs	RB	5’10, 205	JR	62	259	2	4.2	3.9	38.7%	0 (0)
J.W. Walsh	QB	6’2, 215	SR	50	226	10	4.5	7.4	28.0%	1 (0)
Raymond Taylor	RB	5’8, 195	JR	41	262	4	6.4	6.3	43.9%	0 (0)
Mason Rudolph	QB	6’4, 220	SO	34	133	1	3.9	6.2	38.2%	6 (2)
Jeff Carr	RB	5’7, 168	FR	33	136	1	4.1	4.6	27.3%	1 (0)
Brandon Sheperd	WR	6’1, 195	SR	7	39	0	5.6	2.8	57.1%	0 (0)
Jalen McCleskey	WR	5’10, 156	FR	4	25	0	6.3	3.3	75.0%	4 (1)
Taylor Cornelius	QB	6’6, 190	FR	2	21	0	10.5	3.5	100.0%	0 (0)
NOTE: Quarterback run totals above do not include sacks (which are counted toward pass averages below) or kneeldowns.

Like I mentioned before, J.W. Walsh is the "backup" QB but serves more as the Oklahoma State version of the mobile QB. He can still throw it, as shown by his game-winning touchdown pass against Iowa State last Saturday. But by and large, Walsh is there for mobility, and given Baylor’s history with mobile quarterbacks, you can bet that they will attempt to use Walsh to great effect this Saturday night.

I can’t say that I’ve watched the rest of Oklahoma State’s running back corps very closely this season, so I’m relying on the stats fairly heavily here. Walsh is their primary rushing threat inside the red zone, being the only player with over 5 rushing touchdowns. Beyond that, nobody else has 500 rushing yards on the season. That’s a bit unusual to me for a team that’s 10–0 at this point in the season. They do, however, like to air it out a bit more than running it.

Individual Receiving Stats

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	Year	Targets	Catches	Yards	TD	Yds/ Catch	Yds/ Target	Catch Rate	Target Rate
James Washington	WR	6’0, 200	SO	72	40	820	7	17.8	9.9	55.6%	19.7%
David Glidden	WR	5’8, 185	SR	63	45	714	3	15.9	11.3	71.4%	17.2%
Marcell Ateman	WR	6’4, 210	JR	50	33	590	5	17.9	11.8	66.0%	13.7%
Brandon Sheperd	WR	6’1, 195	SR	31	16	263	3	16.4	8.5	51.6%	8.5%
Austin Hays	WR	6’2, 190	JR	26	20	165	1	8.3	6.4	76.9%	7.1%
Jalen McCleskey	WR	5’10, 156	FR	21	20	285	2	14.3	13.6	95.2%	5.7%
Jhajuan Seales	WR	6’2, 198	JR	21	12	164	1	13.7	7.8	57.1%	5.7%
Blake Jarwin	TE	6’5, 242	JR	19	14	190	2	13.6	10.0	73.7%	5.2%
Chris Lacy	WR	6’3, 195	SO	13	8	120	2	15.0	9.2	61.5%	3.6%
Chris Carson	RB	6’2, 202	JR	13	9	72	0	8.0	5.5	69.2%	3.6%
Jeff Carr	RB	5’7, 168	FR	12	9	40	2	4.4	3.3	75.0%	3.3%
Jeremy Seaton	FB	6’2, 250	SR	9	6	70	2	11.7	7.8	66.7%	2.5%
Rennie Childs	RB	5’10, 205	JR	6	6	65	0	10.8	10.8	100.0%	1.6%
Kameron Doolittle	WR	5’8, 200	SR	2	1	3	0	3.0	1.5	50.0%	0.5%
Raymond Taylor	RB	5’8, 195	JR	1	1	13	0	13.0	13.0	100.0%	0.3%

James Washington is the man you need to watch in this group. He’s emerged as the go-to threat for Mason Rudolph and had a massive game against TCU. He was quieter against the Cyclones last Saturday, but he’s still the man that gets the most targets. Senior David Gladden has fewer targets but more catches and remains a potent threat that the Bears will have to contend with. He gets the ball fewer times, but his yards per target numbers suggest that he is more productive with those targets than Washington. Regardless, both are serious threats.

The Cowboys like to spread the ball around, though, with 7 different receivers with at least 20 targets apiece. This is a stacked WR corps, and you can bet that they’re going to test Baylor’s secondary early and often in this game.

Individual Defensive Statistics

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	Year	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Jordan Sterns	S	6’1, 205	JR	68.5	10.9%	1.0	0.0	1	3	1	0
Jordan Burton	LB	6’3, 215	JR	58.5	9.3%	7.5	2.5	1	0	0	0
Tre Flowers	S	6’3, 190	SO	57.5	9.2%	2.0	0.0	2	5	1	0
Chad Whitener	LB	6’1, 240	SO	49.0	7.8%	6.0	2.0	2	0	1	0
Emmanuel Ogbah	DE	6’4, 275	JR	42.0	6.7%	15.5	11.0	0	2	2	0
Seth Jacobs	LB	6’2, 225	JR	37.0	5.9%	6.0	0.0	2	1	0	0
Vincent Taylor	DT	6’3, 300	SO	29.0	4.6%	7.5	4.0	0	0	0	0
Kevin Peterson	CB	5’11, 190	SR	24.5	3.9%	3.5	0.0	1	5	0	0
Jimmy Bean	DE	6’5, 250	SR	22.5	3.6%	10.5	5.5	0	0	0	0
Devante Averette	LB	6’0, 230	JR	22.5	3.6%	3.5	2.0	2	0	0	1
Ashton Lampkin	CB	5’11, 185	JR	22.0	3.5%	1.0	0.0	0	5	0	0
Michael Hunter	CB	6’0, 191	SR	15.5	2.5%	0.0	0.0	2	1	0	0
Miketavius Jones	CB	5’10, 175	SR	13.5	2.2%	2.5	2.5	0	0	1	0
Ramon Richards	CB	6’0, 180	SO	13.5	2.2%	1.0	0.0	2	2	1	0
Motekiai Maile	DT	6’4, 305	JR	13.0	2.1%	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Kirk Tucker	LB	6’2, 195	SO	12.5	2.0%	0.0	0.0	0	0	1	0
Jordan Brailford	DE	6’3, 240	FR	12.0	1.9%	2.5	1.0	0	0	0	0
Darrion Daniels	DT	6’3, 320	FR	12.0	1.9%	2.5	0.5	0	0	0	0
Jerel Morrow	S	6’0, 190	SO	12.0	1.9%	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Trace Clark	DE	6’4, 257	SR	11.5	1.8%	0.0	0.0	0	1	0	0
Ryan Simmons	LB	6’0, 240	SR	11.5	1.8%	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Deric Robertson	S	6’2, 205	JR	10.5	1.7%	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	1
Kenneth Edison-McGruder	S	6’2, 205	FR	9.5	1.5%	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Darius Curry	CB	6’1, 195	SO	8.5	1.4%	1.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Gyasi Akem	LB	6’1, 215	SO	6.5	1.0%	1.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Note: It appears "Fumble Returns" are getting pulled instead of "Fumble Recoveries." My apologies. Will try to get that corrected.

If there’s one name you pay attention to on this list, it should be Emmanuel Ogbah. Ogbah is arguably the best defensive end in the conference. After a rough first half against Iowa State, Ogbah practically built a home in Iowa State’s backfield, harassing, hurrying, and sacking Joel Lanning the entire second half. He was credited with seven tackles, two sacks, and two QB hurries in the game. As Ogbah goes, so goes the Cowboys defense. If the Bears can neutralize him, they will make Jarrett Stidham’s day much, much easier. If not, this could be another tough one for the true freshman QB.

2015 Oklahoma State Cowboys Team Stats and Rankings

It’s Question Time!

FIRST: How are you feeling after the tough loss to Oklahoma last week?
SECOND: What was your favorite sign from GameDay that you saw?
THIRD: What scares you the most about this weekend’s matchup with Oklahoma State?
FOURTH: What do you think the uniform prediction will be this week?