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![]() The Cowboys return the guy at running back in the 2024 college football season, and Oklahoma State has put a handful of interesting pieces around him. This offseason I’m pondering on three questions for each of OSU’s position groups. Wednesday we looked at the Cowboys’ QB room. Now we’ll take a look at Ollie Gordon’s running back room. 1. Can Ollie Do It Again?OSU fans were already intrigued with Gordon when he was a jumbo, four-star running back in the DFW area who turned down a late Texas offer to stick with his Oklahoma State commitment. That intrigue only grew when Gordon ran for 136 yards and a touchdown on just 17 carries against West Virginia as a true freshman. But after his 2023 season, Stillwater’s secret is out. The nation knows of Gordon’s prowess. Gordon ran for 1,732 yards and 21 touchdowns as a sophomore on his way to winning the Doak Walker. And that came after he had just 19 total carries in the Cowboys’ three nonconference games. He’ll have a chance at an encore in 2024. There are similarities in Gordon returning after a big season to Chuba Hubbard doing the same in 2020, but there are also differences. Hubbard rushed for 2,094 yards and 21 touchdowns in a breakout 2019 season before a return in 2020 didn’t go exactly according to plan. Hubbard was hobbled with injuries that season and so was his offensive line. Oh, and it was in the middle of a pandemic. Hubbard, more known for his speed, was also less physically imposing than Gordon is, so perhaps Gordon will be better suited to handle the load for a second straight season. 2. What Will the Carry Distribution Be Like?With that being said, Mike Gundy this spring talked about the importance of getting Gordon some rest in 2024. “We have a lot of carries for another back,” Gundy said. “The 30 carry a game for Ollie is somewhat concerning. Perfect world would be 20 to keep him healthy throughout for us and his career. He had to carry the load last year, moreso than what we’d like. There’s enough carries to go around.” Initially, it looked as if Arkansas transfer AJ Green would be the guy to relieve Gordon before Green posted on Instagram that he had suffered some sort of leg injury. That happened just about the time that OSU added Indiana transfer Trent Howland. The room also features Sesi Vailahi, who turned some heads in limited work as a true freshman last season, and the Cowboys added Rodney Fields and Jaden Allen-Hendrix from the 2024 recruiting class. Howland, at this point, seems the most likely to be Gordon’s RB2 as the season gets going. He rushed for 354 yards and a pair of scores for the Hoosiers this past season. At 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, he adds a bigger crack of thunder to Gordon’s already booming thunder. Should Green get back healthy, he would add the lightning. It’s a shame Elijah Collins had to battle through injuries last season because that might’ve provided a clearer picture of what we could expect this season. But instead we’ll have to wait and see how the Cowboys plan on feeding their superstar while also keeping him as rested as possible. Lightening Gordon’s load leads to my final question. 3. What Does the Future of the Room Look Like?If 2024 Ollie Gordon shares much of a semblance of 2023 Ollie Gordon, it wouldn’t be crazy to think he heads for the NFL after this season. Fox Sports, for example, has him as the No. 10 pick in a way-too-early mock draft. Projecting the future of any position group on any team could be a pointless exercise in the transfer portal era, but I’ll try my best. Green should have just one season of eligibility remaining, but he also has a redshirt. Should his injury keep him out for an extended period of time, there is a chance he could be in Stillwater in 2025. Howland should have two seasons of eligibility remaining — meaning he could play this season and return for 2025. Vailahi has four years left after playing in three games and redshirting last season, and Fields and Allen-Hendrix obviously also have four seasons (and redshirts) to play. Gordon would leave some big shoes to fill, but right now the Cowboys are in a good spot to potentially have five scholarship backs return in 2025 even if Gordon leaves for the NFL. But with that said, it’s tough to say who would slot in where because the only one to take a carry in an OSU uniform to this point is Vailahi, who had just six carries as a true freshman. ![]() Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. ![]() A quartet of kick times for the Cowboys’ 2024 season have been announced. The Big 12 on Thursday released kick times for select games, featuring four for the Cowboys (all times are Central): Arkansas at Oklahoma State — 11 a.m. Sept. 7 on ABC The conference also made note that OSU’s season-opener against South Dakota State (Aug. 31) will be on ESPN+, but it’s the only opening-weekend date in the league without a kick time yet. The remaining kick times will be announced in a 12-day or six-day window. Oklahoma State enters the 2024 season with momentum. The Cowboys return a majority of its production from last season, a season in which OSU went 10-4 and made an appearance in the Big 12 title game. The Big 12 title game this season is set for Dec. 7 on ABC but doesn’t yet have a kick time. Here is the full list of kick times and TV listings the Big 12 released on Thursday: Thursday, August 29 Friday, August 30 Saturday, August 31 Friday, September 6 Saturday, September 7 Thursday, September 12 Friday, September 13 Saturday, September 14 Saturday, September 21 Friday, October 4 Friday, October 11 Friday, October 18 Friday, November 15 Friday, November 29 Saturday, December 7 ![]() Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. ![]() The Cowgirls picked up another pair of All-America accolades on Wednesday. The NFCA named Oklahoma State pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl a First Team All-American, while Liberty transfer catcher Caroline Wang was named a Third Team All-American. This is already the third All-America honor Kilfoyl has picked up, after D1 Softball and Softball America put her on their First Teams earlier this week. Among the myriad other accolades she has picked up this season, Kilfoyl was also the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and a finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. Kilfoyl is 26-3 this season with a 1.06 ERA and 146 strikeouts to just 30 walks. She earned wins in all five of the Cowgirls’ NCAA Tournament games to this point, throwing 28 of the 33 innings in OSU’s Regional and Super Regional. She gave up just four runs off 17 hits in those games while striking out 27 and walking one. After a successful stint at Liberty that saw her earn ASUN Player of the Year honors the past two seasons, Wang transferred to Stillwater this offseason and has provided the Cowgirls a reliable bat from the catcher spot. Wang is hitting a team-best .380 on the season. She also leads the Cowgirls in hits (68), home runs (17) and RBIs (51). She is hitting .467 in the postseason. Kilfoyl, Wang and the Cowgirls are set to start their WCWS journey at 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Oklahoma City with a game against Florida. ![]() Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
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![]() STILLWATER — The Cowboys haven’t made it past the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament since 2019, but there are some parallels shaping up between that 2019 season and this one. Oklahoma State earned the 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will host Nebraska, Florida and Niagara for Regional play this weekend at O’Brate Stadium. OSU’s first game of the Regional comes at 6 p.m. Friday against Niagara. The Cowboys are coming off a Big 12 Tournament win … for the first time since 2019 when OSU last made it to a Super Regional. Like the 2019 conference tournament, the 2024 Big 12 tourney had some funky start times for the Pokes. OSU’s first three games in Arlington all started after 8:30 p.m. with the latest of those starting at 9:40 p.m. Back in the 2019 tournament in Oklahoma City, OSU opened with back-to-back games that started past 8:30 p.m., the latest coming at 9:45 p.m. The Cowboys earned the 9 seed in the national tournament in 2019, which allowed them to host, but standing water in the outfield at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium meant OSU had to host the Regional at Bricktown. So, the Pokes essentially moved to Oklahoma City, spending back-to-back weeks there. This 2024 group has gone through something similar. Ahead of the Big 12 Tournament, OSU closed out its regular season with a series in Houston that got cut down to two games because of weather. OSU went straight from Houston up to Arlington for the conference tournament, meaning the Cowboys were away from Stillwater for 12 days. Although that couldn’t have been easy, it allowed this group to spend a ton of time together. Starting pitcher Sam Garcia mentioned OSU’s Buc-ee’s trips while in the Lone Star State were a lot of fun. He also said there was a lot of MLB The Show being played in the hotel among groups of players and that the team got together for some workouts at the pool. “Fabulous for comradery,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said. “Time spent together, isolated with one another, secluded and removed from some of the distractions, meals together, late bus rides together, funny moments, things you’ll never forget, funny sounds being made from the bullpen and the dugout. To go on a road trip like we did for 12 days and play in a couple of different sites and venues, it’s just time together and trust. “You learn how to motivate yourself even if the externals aren’t there. I think that was really good for us, and I think these kids are really enjoying one another’s time. Just create that same type of close-nit focus here back at home this week.” Another parallel this postseason has to 2019 is that Nebraska is in OSU’s Regional. The Cornhuskers were a part of an electric OSU moment in that Regional, as Trevor Boone stepped to the plate with two on in the ninth inning with the Cowboys down two runs. Boone was the Big 12’s leader in home runs that season, and when he got up to the plate, it was as if everyone in the stadium knew he was going to hit another. He did. Then he let rip a bat toss that could be rivaled by only Sam Show.
OSU ended up losing to Texas Tech in three games in the 2019 Super Regional round and haven’t gotten that far since, but with as hot as this team finished the regular season and how hot they’ve stayed through some late nights in the postseason, it’d be tough to put a cap on what this group could achieve. ![]() Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. ![]() Carson Cunningham and Colby Powell discuss baseball beating Bedlam rivals Oklahoma to win the Big 12 tournament. Plus, they preview the Cowgirls returning to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. You know what helps the show and helps us make more shows? When you rate us on Apple Podcasts or subscribe to our pod: Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | SoundCloud. As always, we appreciate our sponsors Chris’ University Spirit and Yuengling. ![]() Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. ![]() June is drawing near, then will come July and Big 12 Media Days before fall camps start in August. Soon, football will be back. Kyle Cox did a great job on our spring position previews over the past few months, and I wanted to compliment those with some questions I have for each position group entering the 2024 season. We’ll start with the most heralded position in all of American sports: quarterback. Then we’ll work our way around from there. Some questions will be about the here and now, some will be about the looming future of the group. Let’s get started. 1. How Much Better Will Alan Bowman Be?Year 1 of Alan Bowman leading the Cowboys was filled with a lot of ups but a few downs. At the end of the day, the number that matters most is wins, and Bowman headed a team that finished with 10 in 2024, and he finished third in the Big 12 in passing yards with 3,460, a number he met despite sharing reps with two other guys at the start of the year. The downs from Bowman’s first campaign with the Cowboys mostly had to do with interceptions, as he tossed a Big 12-high 14. But the context of Bowman’s first year in Stillwater also matters. Yes, he had about as much college experience as possible, but he was entering a new system. And while entering that new system, he was sharing reps and didn’t get the reins fully handed to him until conference play. Add onto that, he played next to the best running back in college football last season, so he wasn’t asked to be Mason Rudolph. He just needed to find a way to finish with more points than the other team. The phrase “system quarterback” brings a slightly negative connotation, but it shouldn’t. If a guy can facilitate winning, that’s the most important thing. With that said, however, a full year in Stillwater and a full offseason as the starter could do wonders for Bowman entering 2024. He could go from a system guy to a driving force like some of his earlier years at Texas Tech. 2. Who Is QB2?Oklahoma State hasn’t had one quarterback start every game since the 2018 season (shoutout Taylor Cornelius). With that being said, last season’s QB switches were by choice instead of an injury-caused necessity, but at the same time, Bowman is not immune from a freak injury. He broke a collarbone and collapsed a lung while at Texas Tech. I’d expect Garret Rangel and Zane Flores to have an “or” between them on the first depth chart OSU releases, but say Bowman’s helmet comes off in Provo on Oct. 18, who comes in? Flores certainly brings a lot of hype around him. It’s a traditional sort of highly touted prospect hype that is only further boosted by the allure of what could be. I’m on the Zane train. He’s listed at 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, tying true freshman Maealiuaki Smith as the tallest QBs on the roster. And Flores looks every bit of 6-4, too. Seeing his headshot, it’s easy to get caught up in the Trevor Lawrence-esque flow, but seeming him in spring ball, he has a physical presence to him. The issue is, Flores hasn’t played a college game. We can all think he is going to be the next big thing, but we won’t really know until we see it with our own eyes. Rangel does have that experience. Some probably jumped off the Rangel bandwagon after his freshman season (2022) when he completed 51% of his passes and had five interceptions to four passing touchdowns, but I think that’s unfair. He got thrown to the wolves that season when Spencer Sanders went down with injury and was asked to do a near-impossible task. As a kid straight out of high school, Rangel had to pick up an offense in the middle of the season that had previously been captained by a true dual-threat QB. And he didn’t have much of a runway either. He played in the Arkansas-Pine Bluff game that season but threw only two passes. Then he got dropped into his first start in November in Lawrence against a Kansas crowd that was a win away from making a bowl game for the first time since 2008. Then he played against West Virginia in a monsoon. Then he played in a bowl game where no one in the (baseball) stadium could sustain solid footing for more than a few cuts. My take on Rangel’s freshman season was it was good for experience, but you could probably throw out most of what actually happened given the circumstances. Then I thought Rangel was hurt the most by the three-quarterback rotation in 2023, as he had the fewest pass attempts of the three — likely because he missed a day of practice heading into the infamous South Alabama. That was the nonconference game the Pokes played the poorest in, and Rangel threw just five passes. Even with that, Rangel was the only of the three QBs to throw multiple touchdown passes in the nonconference while completing 59% of his passes. All that is to say, I think OSU has two solid options to be QB2 in 2024. 3. How Long Can This QB Depth Last?The level of depth OSU has at the quarterback position seems like a luxury in the transfer portal-era of college athletics. Not including 2025 commit Adam Schobel, here are the past 10 classes of quarterbacks OSU has brought in from the high school ranks: 2024 — Maealiuaki Smith, entering freshman season at OSU Only one quarterback can play at a time (unless at OSU in early 2023), so the transfer movement makes sense, especially given the climate. But that makes it all the more impressive that OSU has guys from three straight classes on campus right now. How long can it last? Bowman will finally exhaust his eligibility at the end of this season, meaning OSU will have a new quarterback in 2025. Is that when this dam breaks, when OSU has to name its next heir? Or could the unthinkable happen and OSU go into 2025 with four quarterbacks from four different recruiting classes? I guess this question has little to do with the 2024 season, but it feels like the prologue for the next era of OSU football. ![]() Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
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![]() It’s national awards season in college softball, and in what has become a regular occurrence, the Cowgirls are tacking on the honors. D1Softball and Softball America on Tuesday released their All-America teams. Senior OSU pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl earned First Team All-America honors from both outlets, and Softball America named freshman duo Rosie Davis and Karli Godwin to its Freshman All-America team. Kilfoyl has now been an All-American in both of her seasons at Oklahoma State, as she earned NFCA Third Team honors last season. She took over the Cowgirls’ ace role this season after Kelly Maxwell transferred to OU, and Kilfoyl has been dominant. She’s the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and a finalist for USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year award. Kilfoyl enters the Women’s College World Series with a 1.06 ERA and a 26-3 record. She led the Big 12 in ERA, shutouts (seven) and wins and ranked second nationally in ERA and sixth in wins. Thus far in the NCAA Tournament, Kilfoyl has thrown 28 of OSU’s 33 innings, winning all five of those games and totaling 27 strikeouts to a lone walk. She gave up just four runs off 17 hits in those games. In the middle of OSU’s post-Super Regional news conference, tears started to flow from Kilfoyl, as it started to hit her that her college career is coming to an end. Kilfoyl was, though, selected in the Athletes Unlimited Draft earlier this month. “This whole season, everyone’s like, ‘Has it hit you yet?’ and it really just hit me right here,” Kilfoyl said. “I really wasn’t expecting that at all. It’s obviously sad tears and happy tears. I think it’s dawning on me that the days are limited right now. I just played my last game here [at Cowgirl Stadium], which is so sad, but still happy at the same time because I know we’re not done. We have a long way to go, but it definitely just hit me right now.” Davis and Godwin have hit the ground running in their college careers and have done so playing next to each other at second and first base, respectively. Out of Readyville, Tennessee, Davis is hitting .344 this season with 35 runs scored and 33 RBIs. She’s had a superb NCAA Tournament to this point, hitting .500 with five runs scored and four RBIs in the Cowgirls’ Regional and Super Regional. Godwin, out of Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, holds the program’s freshman home run record, having clobbered 15 entering the WCWS. She’s also hitting .344 this season and is tied for first on the team with Caroline Wang with 51 RBIs. Up next for Kilfoyl and that superb freshman tandem is the WCWS, where the Cowgirls will start with a game against Florida at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. “It just means so much,” said Davis of making the WCWS. “It’s like a little kid’s dreams come true. I just love this team so much and this coaching staff. It’s just awesome. Feels great.” ![]() Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. |
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