TCU Stunned By Oklahoma State

STILLWATER, Okla. – This month in the Big 12 is billed as the November to Remember, with all the top contenders set up for what amounts to a round robin.

Oklahoma State used the first Saturday to make a major statement, including one to the College Football Playoff committee: Remember the Cowboys.

Unbeaten Oklahoma State, which opened at No. 14 in the initial rankings, rolled out to a 26-point lead against No. 8 TCU on the way to a 49-29 romp at Boone Pickens Stadium.

“We were 14th, right?” said Cowboys coach Mike Gundy. “We’ve got a long way to go to get up there. Now, I’m not going to disregard that we’re going to play teams ranked high enough that we could make up some ground.

“We just have to control what we can control, which is the next game. At some point, they’ll have to make decisions on whatever they think. If we keep playing well, they may eventually throw us in there.”

Cowboys quarterback Mason Rudolph passed for 352 yards and five touchdowns – three to wide

receiver James Washington as Oklahoma State (9-0, 6-0) dealt TCU (8-1, 5-1) a major blow.

Horned Frogs quarterback Trevone Boykin, considered a Heisman Trophy frontrunner, totaled 518 yards, ran for two touchdowns and passed for one, but was intercepted three times before the Cowboys had their 42-16 lead and threw another that was returned for a touchdown in the final minute.

“They kicked our butts,” said TCU coach Gary Patterson. “You can’t give up big plays and you can’t turn the ball over. If you do that, you’re not going to win big ballgames.”

Oklahoma State owns a schedule edge the rest of the way. After a trip to Iowa State next Saturday, the Cowboys are home to face both No. 6 Baylor and No. 15 Oklahoma to close the month.

“We felt a bit snubbed,” said Cowboys linebacker Chad Whitener, who had two of the two interceptions of Boykin. “But our body of work has and will put us where we need to be at the end of the day.”

It was the first matchup of the four Big 12 contenders in the month, and the first opportunity to make an impression beyond the region.

The Cowboys surely did.

Washington, too.

A sophomore, Washington finished with five receptions for 184 yards. He started Oklahoma State’s big day with two first-quarter scores and stamped it with a long third-quarter touchdown catch, a 74-yard grab that featured a spin-move out of the catch.

“Coming into the game, I just thought to myself that I have to do my 111 percent,” Washington said. “I really just came in and tried to do what I could do to help the team win.”

TCU finished with 663 yards of offense but was undone by the turnovers and two failed fourth-down conversions, including from the Oklahoma State 1-yard line with 5:01 remaining and the Frogs still clinging to hope of a comeback.

“You’re not going to come into an environment like this and have four turnovers and expect to win a game,” Boykin said. “We played a great football team. And coach Gundy is a great coach. So props to those guys.”

For Boykin, it was the worst time to struggle, with his team hoping to make good on last year’s disappointment of being excluded from the playoff mix.

“He had a bad game,” Patterson said. “It just happened to be the game that we needed him to play well.”

The Cowboys, underdogs at home, led 28-9 at the half. And they did it by turning things upside down for TCU, the nation’s No. 2 total offense team.

Through two quarters, Oklahoma State ran 30 plays and had 28 points. TCU had nine points for its eight possessions. Rudolph had four touchdown passes and only five incompletions.

Rudolph and Washington connected twice for long touchdowns, the first a 48-yard strike that put the Cowboys in front 7-0.

On a nearly identical play down the sideline on Oklahoma State’s next series, Rudolph hit Washington for a 50-yard score. And it steamrolled from there.

TCU managed a field goal, but Oklahoma State tacked on two more touchdowns before halftime, with Rudolph going deep again for one, firing to wideout Marcell Ateman on an 82-yard score.

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