Monday, November 30, 2020
Past, present and future Cowboys showed off all aspects of the team to stay alive
Chris Becker The Oklahoma State and Texas Tech game took fans back to an old school Big 12 shootout, but it also took OSU fans to the future, giving them a view of Dezmon Jackson. Jackson, a redshirt junior, was able to get the start at running back Saturday after Chuba Hubbard and LD Brown were inactive due to lingering injuries. He made the most of his opportunity rushing the ball 36 times for 235 yards and three touchdowns. “I was very emotional. I couldn’t believe it,” Jackson said. Jackson had been playing in a minimal role all season in different capacities, and he had not handled this heavy ofa workload all season. Jackson showed his combination of strength and speed, especially running straight downhill. “I’m just thrilled and overwhelmed with Dez,” coach Mike Gundy said.
“We knew Dez’s skill, but he had never been the lead carrier. He was always playing a role. To be in at least 70 plays and carry 36 times and on the one drive eight times in a row — that experience and the reps makes all the difference in the world.” On the other side of the ball, the Cowboys defense had its worst showing of the year,
giving up more than 600 total yards and 44 points. The Cowboys defense was gutted by Texas Tech’s big plays. “(The defense) got off the field a bunch, the explosive plays killed us,” defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “I think we took a step backwards in terms of the explosive plays, and we’re a little beat up.” The defense contin-
ued to get off the field despite having three corners banged up. Top corner Rodarius Williams left the game and did not return early in the contest. Knowles said the other two corners, Jarrick BernardConverse and Christian Holmes, were also banged up. Missing a piece as key as Williams and still being able to make
plays shows the will of the defense that will have to shine to turn the unit around back to the dominant form of earlier in the season. “I don’t think anyone realized Rodarius was out for the rest of the game,” safety Tre Sterling said. “That’s a credit to our team and to the depth of the defense.” With the win, the Cowboys kept their Big 12 Championship hopes alive for another week. One domino fell with Texas out of the picture with three losses after losing to Iowa State. Now the Cowboys need Oklahoma or Iowa State to lose a game to move back into the top two spots in the conference. “We know what the odds are and they can be in our favor,” receiver Tylan Wallace said. “We need to stick to the mindset of controlling what we can control. We can’t control how the other teams play but we can control how we play. We need to give our best effort and hopefully things go our way.” sports.ed@ocolly.com