Published: September 07, 2008 01:43 am            

Smooth sailing

• Balanced attack leads Cowboys to comeback victory

A week ago, Oklahoma State’s defense stole the show, but Saturday night was the offense’s spotlight.

In a 56-37 victory against Houston, the Cowboys put up 699 yards of total offense — the second-highest total in school history — in front of 45,001 fans at Boone Pickens Stadium.

Sophomores Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter co-starred in the O-State offensive performance.

Bryant caught nine passes for 236 yards, and Hunter rushed 22 times for 210 yards.

“Dez has continued to mature,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “He’s playing more plays than he’s ever played before, and he shows more consistency, and obviously he’s got some skill. And then Kendall has been a good runner for us.”

Gundy said OSU is fortunate to have two solid options for offense in Bryant and Hunter.

“We like to have weapons,” he said. “Everybody knows that. When you have a guy that can make a play, it makes it a lot easier.”

Co-offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer said the duo will only get better in the coming years.

“They’re still just learning offense,” he said. “That’s what scary about it. You see maturity out of those two now because they played last year as true freshmen. Just think what they’ll be like as seniors.”

Much of the Cowboys’ offensive success came in the second half of the game. OSU trailed, 16-7, at one point but narrowed the gap to 16-14 at halftime.

“Obviously, our team played much better in the second half on offense,” Gundy said. “If you turn the ball over offensively, you don’t give yourself much of a chance, and that’s what we did in the first half. That’s why we didn’t play as well.”

Brewer said halftime was a turning point.

“That’s what the halftime speech was all about: Just do what we do, and we’ll be fine,” he said. “We didn’t do anything special. We just executed.”

Included in Bryant’s heavy offensive front were touchdown receptions for 29 yards, 39 yards and 74 yards. He also had a 71-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Offensive lineman Andrew Lewis said Bryant was impressive Saturday.

“I was just kind of watching him take off and stiff arming people,” he said. “It was incredible just watching him — me and the whole line were. We’re slow guys so we were watching him from behind, but it was crazy though.”

Hunter’s scores include a 10-yard touchdown run and a 58-yard touchdown run.

Junior quarterback Zac Robinson threw 14-for-21 for 320 yards.

“First half, obviously, I struggled,” he said. “We still were putting up some yards but just couldn’t punch it in. And then the second half, we got things going, and things were just clicking.”



Reporter contest

Think you have the word skills to be major college sports reporter? The NewsPress is giving you a chance to prove it.

After each Oklahoma State University home football game this season, submit your own game story — between 200 and 400 words — to gamestory@stwnewspress.com.

The deadline (you can’t be a reporter without a deadline!) will 5 p.m. on the Tuesday following the game.

Each week, NewsPress staff members will select the best story and it will be published in the paper. It’s that easy! Make sure to include your name, address and telephone number with your story.

        

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