Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Cheez Champs
Presley shines as OSU tops Miami in Cheez-It bowl Ryan Breeden
Stephen Dowell
The future of the wide receiver group looks bright. In the Cowboys’ 37-34 victory against Miami to cap off the 2020 season, true freshman Brennan Presley showed off his talent in a 118-yard, three-touchdown performance, helping OSU win a close one in Orlando. “Coach [Kasey] Dunn told us some of the young guys will be in the second half as a way to bring in the new year and get the young guys some reps, but if you would have told me I’d have this type of game and all that, I never would have believed it,” Presley said. The Cowboy offense got off to an incredibly fast start in the first quarter, pulling out to a 21-0 lead. The gameplan early on was to throw the ball to try and take away Miami’s athletic defensive line, and they did just that. Fourteen of the first 15 plays from scrimmage were passes, and most of them were completions. Spencer Sanders finished the first quarter with 166 passing yards and two touchdowns, both of which went to Presley, one from 30 yards out and the other from 32. “Our goal was to try to throw the ball 25 times in the first half,” coach Mike Gundy said. “Spencer did execute and play very well. The schemes that we came up with in the first half were very well designed, in my opinion.” Miami was able to close the gap to 21-10 at the half, but it suffered a big-time loss when quarterback D’Eriq King injured his right knee while scrambling and he didn’t return to the game. Going into halftime, OSU fans probably knew that Tylan Wallace had played his last snap. In a decision made by offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn, Gundy, as well as Wallace and his family, it was decided that he would sit the See Cheez on page 2
Despite an up and down offense, Cowboys defeat Hurricanes in Cheez-It Bowl
Dean Ruhl OSU was supposed to run the ball a lot tonight, right? While the Cowboys did, eventually, the game opened up with 15 consecutive pass plays, something that was able to get the OSU offense rolling, scoring a touchdown on the first three drives and stacking up 198 yards. The Cowboys built up a 21-0 lead after 15 minutes, thanks in large part to freshman Brennan Presley being the surprise of the game and scoring two touchdowns. “If you would have told me I would have had this type of game, I never would have believed it,” Presley said. But 15 minutes later, the offense had stalled, totaling just 54 yards in the second quarter, only six of which were rushing yards despite having running back L.D. Brown back for this game. A muffed punt even put the Cowboys on the Miami side of
the field in the second, but they came up empty-handed. The Hurricanes were able to take advantage of this and get back into the game, almost cutting the Cowboys lead in half before going back to the locker room. The start of the third also came with a challenge, as wide receiver Tylan Wallace sat out the remainder of the game, a decision that Gundy said was made for multiple factors, such as getting other players more playing time, and injuries to other players in this game. “(Tylan) has done plenty for us,” quarterback Spencer Sanders said. “If anybody wants to call him a quitter, you just don’t know football.” The absence of Wallace didn’t faze the Cowboys in the third quarter, with Sanders completing five passes for 44 yards and the running backs combining for 52, but OSU was only able to walk away with a field goal as its lead continued to shrink. Similar to the second quarter, the fourth quarter saw the woes return, with the Cowboys putting up a game low 70 yards of offense, but two touchdowns,
Stephen M. Dowell Oklahoma State receiver Brennan Presley (80) pulls away from Miami defender Keyshawn Washington (23) fo
as well as several big stops on the defensive side of the ball, allowed the Cowboys to walk out of Orlando with a victory. “Putting pressure on the quarterback (was key),” line-
backer Malcolm Rodriguez said. “It’s always a big accomplishment to send (the seniors) out with a win. sports.ed@ocolly.com