Associated Press No. 5 Oklahoma State entered this season with the highest preseason ranking in the school’s history and immediately showed it could handle the pressure by knocking off then-No. 13 Georgia, 24-10.
The Cowboys, who were No. 9 to start the season, are known mostly for their high-powered offense, but their defense was the story against Georgia. The Bulldogs scored a touchdown on their opening drive, but managed just a field goal the rest of the game.
‘I’m very proud of our defense for coming back after the first drive,’ Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy said in a postgame press conference. ‘I noticed statistically (we) gave up 257 yards, and (we) gave up 80 within the first four minutes, so essentially it was 177 for the rest of the game. They did a tremendous job.’
Defensive tackle Shane Jarka knew the defense was capable of playing better than it did last season.
‘We’ve always believed in ourselves, and we’ve always thought that we could push ourselves to a whole other level,’ Jarka said during a press conference Monday, ‘and I think we did that.’
Although some may consider the win over Georgia to be one of the biggest in program history, Oklahoma State is already looking ahead to Saturday’s matchup with UH in Stillwater, Okla. The Cougars also opened their season on a high note, dismantling Northwestern State, 55-7, on Saturday.
‘Overall, (last Saturday) may have been one of the best days we’ve had here for everybody involved,’ Gundy said. ‘It worked out well for all of us, but we have to move forward now. We’re looking forward to playing a good football team.’
While he was pleased with his defense’s performance against Georgia, Gundy said it would face a different challenge with the Cougars’ style of play.
‘We’re going to play a very good football team that can score a lot of points and is very dangerous,’ Gundy said. ‘They do a great job on offense of spreading people out and putting you in a position where you’ve got to make a play, you’ve got to make a tackle.’
Fullback Bryant Ward is well aware of the need to stay focused on the opponent at hand, despite last weekend’s triumph.
‘Every opponent you have to prepare for the same way, or you try to prepare for the same way,’ Ward said. ‘If you let a big win like that get to your head, then it can be dangerous.’
Defensive end Jermiah Price knows he and his teammates will have their hands full with UH quarterback Case Keenum.
‘He’s a fast guy. I haven’t played too many quarterbacks that fast,’ Price said. ‘So we’re going to try to contain him with the ends and get pressure with the defensive tackles.’
Oklahoma State hasn’t forgotten its slow start from last year’s game, where UH led 16-14 at halftime.
‘That keeps us focused, definitely. Every game, once we go in at halftime, we’re thinking it’s 0-0,’ Price said.
The game against Houston is also big for the Cowboys from a recruiting standpoint.
Oklahoma State has a number of players from Texas, some from the Houston area, and Gundy knows how important it is to be able to recruit Texas players.
‘We’ve had players in the past and that are currently on our team from Houston that contribute to us having a lot of success,’ Gundy said. ‘It will always be important when we play teams from the state of Texas that we perform well.’
