“Our guys played really well tonight,” Gundy said. “I guess I should say I’m very proud of them. We had a chance to win. I wish we would have got the stop at the end.

“But we rushed the ball effectively and we were really good with penalties. But we were fifty percent on third downs and they (BYU) were about seventy-five percent on third downs. That’s what I thought got us a little bit, but our guys played their butts off and I’m proud of them.”

Gundy felt it was just a hard-fought game between two teams that brought great effort.

“I’m not going to take anything away from BYU and what they accomplished, but I’m not going to take anything away from our team and what we accomplished,” Gundy said.

In their three previous games, all defeats, the Cowboys struggled running the ball. And even though Ollie Gordon II was banged up, he gave a great effort rushing 16 times for 107 yards with two touchdowns on the ground to go along with one receiving. Gordon II also broke off a 50-yard TD run that opened the Cowboy scoring.

“Ollie ran well,” Gundy said of his running back who has fought through injury issues in 2024 after rushing for 1,732 yards last season. “He made some good plays, ran hard, and ran through some tackles. He’s obviously a good player, strong. He’s beat up a little bit. He didn’t practice quite as much in the last couple of weeks but he came back in and gave us a good effort.”

All total Oklahoma State rushed for 269 yards, significantly better than their average in their first six games of just over 90 yards per contest.

The last two games BYU and Oklahoma State have been highly entertaining nail-biters and Gundy feels BYU, and the rest of the relatively new additions, have been good for the conference.

“The teams that we have brought into our conference have made the Big 12 a really, really good conference,” Gundy said. “I’m excited for the long-term future of this league with the new teams we have brought in.”

Gundy is the most senior coach in the Big 12 with an overall record of 169-82 in his 20 seasons with Oklahoma State. And though the Cowboys have lost four straight, Gundy showed some of his coaching chops Friday night including a great trick play for a touchdown to open the fourth quarter and then on the final Cowboy drive of the final stanza, a brilliant screen pass for a first down on a third-down and-13 yard situation that kept the Cowboy drive alive eventually leading to a go-ahead touchdown

But in the end, some of the defensive issues the Cowboys have been saddled with in their losing skid came back to haunt them as Cougar quarterback Jake Retzlaff engineered a 75-yard touchdown drive that put the Cougar faithful into a frenzy and delivered a huge Big 12 win.

Stats indicated a close game

Sometimes stats like total yards and time of possession aren’t the greatest indicators in the outcome of a game. But in this case, the statistics just showed how close this contest really was.

BYU had 473 total yards while Oklahoma State had 421. The Cougars didn’t overtake the Cowboys in that statistic until the final drive. The Cowboys did have the edge in time of possession 31:43 to 28:17. BYU committed three turnovers and Oklahoma State had two, though the Cowboy turnovers were probably more detrimental to their cause as BYU cashed in both for touchdowns.

Both teams did extremely well in regards to penalties as BYU had just two penalties for 15 yards and the Cowboys were even better with just one penalty for five yards.

BYU ran the ball well

LJ Martin had his best game of the 2024 season rushing for 120 yards on 20 carries. His running back stable mate Hinkcley Ropati had six rushes for 49 yards.

When needed, Cougar signal caller Jake Retzlaff showed his mobility running the pigskin nine times for 81 yards. But no run was bigger than Retzlaff’s 29 yarder he had in the final drive that set up his winning throw to Darius Lassiter.

Unsung hero Will Ferrin

While heroics of the likes of Retzlaff, Lassiter, Martin, and defensive back Tanner Wall were obvious in the positive outcome of the game for BYU, ultimately, the 41-yard field goal Ferrin made while Oklahoma State missed on its 48-yard effort was the scoring difference in the game.

The Cowboys had a chance to take a two-score lead in the third quarter but didn’t cash in, while Ferrin made his and now has field goals in nine straight games for the Cougars.

The undefeated 1984 team had some close calls

Maybe some of the BYU faithful are concerned that the Cougars didn’t win more decisively at home against a 3-4 Oklahoma State team, but in 1984 BYU had a very close call at home against another Cowboy team in Wyoming, winning 41-38.

In this case both teams scored six touchdowns but Wyoming missed a PAT early in the game and went unsuccessfully on three two-point conversions “chasing the lost point”. BYU trailed by five points late in the game but All-American David Mills hauled in his third TD catch late in the fourth quarter as BYU survived.

And it wasn’t like Wyoming had a stellar team in 1984 as they finished 6-6. But sometimes for a magical season to occur, one has to survive the great play of a team that is normally having a mediocre season.

Extra Points

• Since BYU played on a Friday night, the Cougars became the first team in the country to go 7-0 on the season. And with the win, BYU moved to 7-0 for the first time since 2020 and the fifth time in program history (1979, 1984, 2001, 2020, 2024).
• Besides a thrilling contest on the gridiron, BYU put on a great show with drones on both the north and south side of the stadium. Some of the formations were the Y logo, the Cougar head logo, tributes to the 1984 National Champion football team, a hand showing the Y sign, lyrics to the Cougar fight song, and many others images.
• Over 50 members of the 1984 national championship team showed up to the game and lit the Y prior to the contest.
• Both BYU and Oklahoma State were recognized for meeting in the 1974 Fiesta Bowl won by Oklahoma State. It was the first bowl game ever played in BYU football history.
• Captains for the coin toss were Jakob Robinson (CB), Chase Roberts (WR), Logan Lutui (DE) and Weylin Lapuaho (OL). BYU lost the coin toss and Oklahoma State elected to defer its choice to receive the ball in the second half kickoff.
• Carrying the team flags were wide receiver wide receiver Marquise Taliuli (USA Flag), offensive lineman Trevor Pay (State of Utah), punter Sam Vander Haar (Big 12 flag), safety Talan Alfrey (Cancer Awareness flag) and the new Roar of Cougars (ROC) flag was carried by defensive end Viliami Po’uha.
• The alumni flags were carried by Brad Smith (DL 1980-81, 83-84), Mark Bellini (WR 1982-86), and Ladd Akeo (LB 1984-86), all members of the 1984 national championship team.
• What a difference six days made in the weather as against Arizona last Saturday temperatures were in the 80s for most of the game, while on Friday night, after a cold front came through with snow at the higher elevations, temperatures were in the 40s for most of the contest.
• The 40th anniversary of the movie “Footloose”, filmed in Utah County, was the theme for the halftime show.
• Official attendance was 62,481 and fans were encouraged to wear royal blue.