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Oregon simply more physical than O-State

 
By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist
Published: 12/31/2008  2:22 AM
Last Modified: 12/31/2008  2:29 AM

SAN DIEGO — Oklahoma State found itself in the fourth quarter of what became the expected shootout with Oregon.

But the Cowboys, who dominated the first half, didn't have their biggest weapons when the game was on the line.

OSU wide receiver Dez Bryant and quarterback Zac Robinson were both injured earlier in the game and were no factor when the game was up for grabs.

Oregon found OSU's weak spot — run defense — and quarterback Jeremiah Masoli polished off the Cowboys in a 42-31 victory in Tuesday's night's Holiday Bowl.

The Cowboys, without the usually reliable Robinson and the dominating Bryant, could not keep pace with Oregon's high-powered run game.

OSU's last lead, at 31-28, came with about 12 minutes to go.

The Cowboys, without their go-to guy at receiver, and a quarterback with an obviously injured shoulder, could not answer as the Ducks scored a pair of touchdowns in the final 11 minutes.

To his credit, OSU coach Mike Gundy, who easily could have used the two injuries as some sort of explanation for the loss, did not.

"It is very simple what happened," said OSU coach Mike Gundy. "They were more physical than us in the second half."

That is true. The Cowboys could not stop the run, giving up 307 rushing yards to the Ducks. That is nothing new.

What was new was OSU's inability to run the ball. The Cowboys got just 119 yards on the ground. Kendall Hunter gained 37 yards on 13 carries (less than 3 yards per try).

"It came down to us not being able to run the ball and us not being able to stop the run," said Gundy.

Bryant, virtually unstoppable for three quarters, was injured in the first half and then was finished after limping off on the first play of the fourth quarter. He made only a brief appearance at the end of the game but was obviously not his usual self.

Up to that point, Bryant had been sensational. He had 13 catches for 167 yards — both Holiday Bowl records. He had nine catches in the first half.

"Dez Bryant is a great player," said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti. "He makes plays. That obviously hurt them."

Gundy tried to downplay the impact.

"I'm not going to say it doesn't affect us not having Dez," said Gundy. "Obviously, he played very well. But we have other players and moved the ball."

Add in Robinson's injury, suffered when he took a couple of vicious hits, and OSU's offense suddenly became very average when the Cowboys needed it most in the fourth quarter. Robinson was suffering with an injured shoulder.

"I went to shake hands with him after the game and he couldn't shake my hand," said Bellotti. "Obviously, he wasn't the same in the second half."

When you are missing your best offensive player, your usually reliable run game is being stuffed and your quarterback is trying to throw with a bad shoulder, you have some trouble.

That was Oklahoma State in the fourth quarter.

"It came down to us not being able to run the ball," said Gundy.

By contrast, the Ducks had no trouble running the ball. Masoli ran for 106 yards and three touchdowns. Jeremiah Johnson had 119 yards and a 76-yard TD run.

"I am more disappointed that we were not more physical on both sides of the ball," said Gundy.

The Ducks ran for 203 yards in the second half.

"We made some adjustments to what we were doing and that really opened it up in the second half," said Masoli.

It was a disappointing end to what had been an exciting season for OSU (9-4). The loss to Oregon was the Cowboys' first of the season to a team not ranked in the top three.

But, until Bryant was injured it appeared the Cowboys had more than enough offense to handle the Ducks. Bryant had nine catches for 110 yards in the first half, when OSU claimed a 17-7 lead.

"We just needed to get some defensive stops," said Bellotti. "Obviously, losing (Bryant) hurt them.

"We just needed to create a storm on defense."

The Cowboys, who have suffered with a weak defense much of the past four years, were shredded in the second half for 35 points.

Oregon's offensive explosion coincided with OSU's offensive slump after Bryant and Robinson were hurt.

"I certainly applaud the season our team had," said Gundy. "This should not take away from it."




Read John Klein's blog

By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist

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COMMENTS 
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6 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!

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TMS, (12/31/2008 10:44:01 AM)
Ah, Mr. Gundy, it does take away from the season. Oregon made adjustments (and OSU did not) and were way better coached. They are a good team but not a great team. I wish Gundy had to face facts.
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intrepid, (12/31/2008 11:15:06 AM)
Did we not have a healty backup at quarterback?
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Imaman, (12/31/2008 2:41:55 PM)
Hats off to Oregon, they were more physical, faster and stronger.Oregon was way better than advertised, maybe the pac 10 is tougher than the media leads us to believe. As for Gundy, he brought out every play in the book, unfortunately, Oregon had already read that book. Great Win Oregon, and Great season Oklahoma State. We're just not "there" yet.
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Raider35, Meadowlakes (12/31/2008 8:07:04 PM)
Gundy would make a good high school coach, but he's not capable of taking OSU to the heights enjoyed by the Sooners. At least he didn't suffer a ranting meltdown this time. What an idiot.
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Native, (1/1/2009 10:33:15 AM)
One would think the OSU team,including the coaches, would be embarassed that Oregon was much more physical during this game on both sides of the ball. Is this a result of coaching or the players strength and/or attitudes? OSU's defense will not improve until the players consistently play with an attitude that they have a "chip on their shoulders".
It was evident that the injuries during the game did hurt OSU and one would think that during the season OSU would have had ample opportunity to establish depth at positions very critical to its skilled positions like quarterback and receiver. For example, with five games won by three touchdowns or more, why would the OSU coaches not get another quarterback some valuable game experience so that he would have been a viable option in place of Zac who was injured and should not have been playing after his injury? While one cannot dispute that Dez Bryant is an All-American and a playmaker, why would the next TWO wide receivers combined only have a third as many catches as him during the season? Tuesday night we saw what would happen when a critical link (two in this case) gets disabled. One can only imagine what OSU's season would have been like if either or both the injuries to Dez or Zac had happened, for example, in the fourth or fifth game of the season?
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OU@BVAR, Bella Vista (1/1/2009 12:21:02 PM)
Ever wonder why Oregon has never won the bis one?
Maybe style of play and refereeing by west coast refs?


 

 
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