Five Things We Learned From Oklahoma State’s Win Over Iowa State

At this point in the season, this team seems fully formed (for better or worse) so “what we’re learning” also wanes with each week. Still, there were a few things we discovered about Oklahoma State in its win over Iowa State on Saturday.

1. We can’t totally trust Mike Gundy to manage the clock properly (KP)

The social media celebration started long before the thing was actually over as OSU went into its GOP offense with two minutes left and Iowa State with all its timeouts. I’m OK with OSU handing the thing over to its defense, but that wasn’t even the plan to begin with. I’m going to have some trust issues if OSU is up on Baylor or OU late with the Playoff on the line.

Gundy: "I made a mistake in the way we handled that last situation. We should have run our offense and we didn't."

— Kyle Fredrickson (@kylefredrickson) November 15, 2015

2. Mason Rudolph has the clutch gene (KB)

Rudolph has performed beautifully this season, and he’s been extremely good in pressure situations. Oklahoma State is converting 46% of their third downs, and that’s largely in part to Rudolphs ability to make good decisions – because most of those third down situations have been down and distance.

3. The running game still has a pulse (sort of) (KP)

It wasn’t close to OSU’s best game in terms of yards per carry, but it sure felt like that because of the way OSU ran the ball. That is, up the middle and around the end instead of the double reverses and pitch-back plays. Chris Carson was in the thick of it and Mike Yurcich keeps showing us that the well of plays is deeper than we all thought. It’s been impressive to watch.

4. Glenn Spencer is the king of adjustments (KB)

After allowing 24 points in the first half, Spencer’s defense buckled up TIGHT and only let the Cyclones score seven after the half. He may have an odd approach, but hey it worked.

Glenn showed me his call sheet from Sat's game, it had a bunch of indecipherable chicken scratch adlib plays on it. They worked. #OKSTvsISU

— Jeannine Edwards (@jeanninee12) November 15, 2015

5. J.W. is the closer (KP)

Add another nickname to Walsh’s vast collection of them. The General. The Commander in Chief. The Gamer. Now, The Closer. Walsh’s second half was something right out of the Mariano Rivera playbook. He put his hand on the door with this 16-yard run and then slammed the thing shut with a swing pass to Jeff Carr for the game-winner. Mason Rudolph should get a ton of credit, but Walsh is something special.