STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State built an early 31-point cushion before withstanding a valiant second-half charge from Missouri State to post a 58-17 season-opening victory over the Bears Thursday evening at Boone Pickens Stadium.
OSU (1-0), which recorded eight different scoring drives covering 67 yards or more in the contest, led 31-0 late in the first half before the Bears scored 17 of the next 24 points to cut their deficit to 21 points. Bears quarterbackPeyton Huslig totaled 109 yards on the ground and threw for 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns to help spark the surge, before the No. 25 Cowboys pulled away by scoring the final 20 points of the game.
Keyed by a pair of 100-yard rushing performances and five touchdown passes from senior quarterback Taylor Cornelius, Oklahoma State amassed 732 yards of total offense in their 24th straight win in a home opener. The Cowboys scored on each of their first four offensive possessions, outgaining the Bears by a 280-9 margin in first-quarter total offense.
Justice Hill, who punctuated the early onslaught with a 92-yard rush in the closing moments of the opening period, registered the 15th 100-yard rushing game of his OSU career, carrying the ball 10 times for 122 yards—all in the first quarter. He was joined in the century club by LD Brown, who racked up 115 yards on the ground, including a late 77-yard scoring run.
OSU set the tone for the night on its first drive, marching 75 yards in just 2:36 behind a run game that nicked the Bears for 53 yards on seven attempts. After Cornelius connected with Hill on a 22-yard completion, then broke free for a 32-yard scamper of his own to move the Cowboys within striking distance, Hill capped the drive with a three-yard run to make it a 7-0 game.
A pair of third-down sacks by the Cowboy defense thwarted the Bears’ first two offensive possessions, and the OSU offense cashed in for two more scoring drives to stretch the margin to 17 points. Cornelius completed 4-of-5 passes for 42 total yards on a 14-play drive that ended with a 20-yard Matt Ammendola field goal with 5:25 left in the first. Next, Jalen McCleskey punctuated another long OSU drive—this one covering 70 yards in just 1:53—taking it in from five yards out on a third-and-goal attempt, after a pair of Cornelius completions to Landon Wolf and a personal foul against the Bears moved the Cowboys into the red zone once again.
Missouri State punter Brendan Withrow provided an early highlight with his third career boot of 60 yards or more, pinning the Cowboys on their own 5-yard line with 1:22 left on the clock. But on the next play from scrimmage, Hill escaped traffic and sprinted all the way to the MSU 2 for the third-longest rush by a Bears opponent in the 107-year history of the MSU program.
Cornelius’s three-yard pass to Sione Finefeuiaki on the first play of the second quarter extended the Cowboys’ lead, and the senior signal-caller hooked up with Tylan Wallace at the 6:37 mark to finish off an 80-yard drive to push the margin to 31-0.
The Bears (0-1) put together their first scoring drive of the new season late in the opening half, as Huslig engineered a nine-play series that covered 75 yards and ended with a six-yard toss to freshman tight end Jordan Murray.
In all, the Cowboys dominated the half with 405 yards of offense, while the OSU defense yielded an average of just 2.9 yards per snap over the first 30 minutes of play.
MSU struck first following intermission, as Huslig carried three times for 15 yards, then completed a 14-yard pass to Tyler Currie to set up a 40-yardParker Lacina field goal on the Bears’ opening drive of the half.
After the Cowboys answered with a quick-strike score on a 19-yard pass from Cornelius to McCleskey, the Bears bounced back with another long march to find the end zone for a second time. Huslig registered a trio of 20-plus yard completions, including a 22-yard toss to Damoriea Vick and a 28-yarder to Jason Randall to move the Bears deep into OSU territory. The junior then found Antwan Woods open over the middle and the junior transfer bolted through the Cowboy secondary for a touchdown on his first catch as a Bear, slicing the home team’s lead to 38-17 with 6:28 left on the clock.
But that would be as close as the Bears got, as OSU forced a three-and-out on MSU’s next possession, before Chuba Hubbard took a swing pass from Cornelius and out-raced several MSU defenders to pay dirt for a 54-yard touchdown. Early in the fourth, Cornelius connected with McCleskey again on a 29-yard pitch and catch for his fifth TD pass of the night and a 35-point Cowboy margin.
Cornelius finished his night 24-of-34 for 295 yards in his first start as a Cowboy, while McCleskey caught six passes for 66 yards and two touchdowns. The OSU defense limited the Bears to 49 rushing yards on 31 carries and got to Huslig for four different third-down sacks to stall MSU drives.
Up next, the Bears return to Robert W. Plaster Stadium Thursday (Sept. 6) to open the home portion of the 2018 slate against Lincoln University. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m., and tickets are available through MissouriStateBears.com, or by calling (417) 836-7678 during regular box office hours.
Postgame Notes: Thursday night’s announced attendance of 50,103 represented the 10th largest crowd to witness a Missouri State football game…With the loss, the Bears fell to 51-53-3 all-time in season openers and 1-14 in openers against NCAA Division I FBS opponents…Marquis Prophete made his 28th consecutive start on the Bears’ offensive line, while tight end Mauricio Chio, center Casey O’Brien and defensive tackle Kylin Washington made their first career starts for the Bears…Withrow’s 63-yard punt in the opening quarter represented the second-longest of his Bears career, trailing only his 70-yard boot in last year’s season opener at Missouri; Withrow punted 10 times for an average of 44.6 yards per kick…Murray reeled in the first scoring catch of his MSU career on the Bears’ initial scoring drive of the game late in the second quarter…Lacina converted his first collegiate PAT and field goal tries, including a 40-yard FG in the third period…Kam Carter established a career high with his 11.0 solo tackles and matched a single-game high with 12 stops overall…Kevin Ellis (7 tackles) and Tyler Lovelace (5) also registered career-best tackle totals for MSU, while Zack Sanders turned in a personal-best seven stops to go along with his second career interception in the second quarter…Huslig moved up to 14th on the Bears’ career passing yardage chart with his 150-yard day; his career total of 2,131 yards is 341 behind Brodie Lambert (2,472) in the No. 13 position…Huslig also logged his fourth career 100-yard rushing effort, finishing with 109 yards on a career-best 18 carries; his four career 100-yard games is the best total by a Bears QB since DeAndre Smith recorded six such performances from 1987-90…OSU’s 732 yards of total offense ranks as the fourth-highest single-game total by a Bears’ opponent in the history of the program.
