MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Oklahoma State has struggled in several aspects while dropping consecutive games to start Big 12 Conference play.
Pass protection, however, hasn’t been an area of concern.
Entering Saturday’s 4 p.m. contest against West Virginia at Boone Pickens Stadium, the Cowboys (3-2, 0-2) have allowed one sack for the season. It was recorded by Utah’s Van Fillinger during the Utes’ 22-19 victory in Stillwater on September 21, and came in Oklahoma State’s 16th quarter of play this season.
West Virginia has displayed significant improvement rushing the passer since a season-opening loss to Penn State, but is now tasked with developing a plan that allows its pass-rushers to at least affect Cowboys’ quarterback Alan Bowman if they’re not able to add to the Cowboys’ total of sacks allowed.
All that while also navigating challenges presented by OSU tailback Ollie Gordon, an All-American and recipient of the Doak Walker Award in 2023 who rushed for a career-high 282 yards during the Cowboys’ win in Morgantown.
“You have to play these guys saying we have to figure out how to stop Ollie Gordon. That’s the mentality,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “Stop is probably not the right word. We have to figure out a way to contain him. Everything in the game plan then feeds off that.
“They’ve given up one sack. So to think we’re going to go in there and have a bunch of sacks is probably not realistic. We have to figure out how to affect him. They threw the ball 50 times last week. They’re going to throw the football. We have to figure out how to get some pressure and affect him understanding we may not get home all the time.”
Bowman has thrown 195 of Oklahoma State’s 214 passes this season, and between his ability to get rid of the ball timely and playing behind an experienced offensive line, opposing team’s have largely been unable disrupt the Cowboys’ signal-callers.
Only three FBS teams — Army, Georgia Tech and New Mexico — have yet to surrender a sack this season, and the remaining 129 programs have each allowed multiple sacks.
“He’s sneaky athletic. They have some plays for him,” Brown said of Bowman. “The thing that he does that’s unique is he gets the ball out of his hand really fast. They’ve given up one sack all year, and that’s as much a credit to him and probably more credit to him than the offensive line. The offensive line has done a really good job in pass protection, but he gets the ball out of his hand and makes it really difficult to get to him whether it’s pressure or hits.”
The Mountaineers failed to record a sack or quarterback hurry against the Nittany Lions. In three games since, West Virginia has nine sacks and 11 quarterback hurries. The most disruptive its pass rush has been came in a narrow loss at Pitt when the visitors finished with five sacks and six quarterback hurries.
Defensive lineman T.J. Jackson, with 3.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss, has been the most productive player along the defensive line, while linebacker Trey Lathan has 5.5 TFLs to go with one sack.
“The first game, we embarrassed ourselves a bit,” WVU defensive lineman Asani Redwood said. “We had no sacks and barely any pressures. We realized we’re a good defensive line and led the Big 12 in sacks last year. We just need to play our game. T.J. started balling out, and everyone was like, ‘if T.J. can ball, we can ball, too.”
The Mountaineers have the luxury of an extra week of preparation leading into a matchup against a team they’re 3-9 against since joining the Big 12. In addition to allowing for added rest and recovery, West Virginia is not only out to develop a plan that limits Gordon, but bothers Bowman more than what one of college football’s most experienced quarterbacks has been to this point while completing 60 percent of his passes for 1,537 yards with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.
“We’ll have to get there faster than we normally would,” Lathan said, “because the quarterback gets rid of the ball faster.”