OSU Players, Coaches On Loss To Ole Miss In Sugar Bowl

The Cowboys had a small window to gain an advantage over Ole Miss, but they couldn't find the end zone. 

Once Ole Miss found a rhythm, things got out of hand in a hurry. Chad Kelly sparked a surge in the Rebels by throwing three touchdown passes, two to star Laquon Treadwell. Add in a backwards pass to left tackle Laremy Tunsil, end the half and OSU was staring at a 34-6 deficit. 

J.W. Walsh scored twice in the second half after replacing Mason Rudolph, but it was Ole Miss' night, 48-20 the final.

“We never gave up,” said Walsh. “Nobody ever just backed down, gave in. We fought to the end. [It] was a hard way to go out. [I’m] proud of the guys and the way they fought.”

Head coach Mike Gundy said the Cowboys snowball downhill started in the second quarter.

“We couldn't slow them down from big plays on offense, and they started running trick plays, kind of like we did last year in our bowl game,” he explained. “Offensively, we couldn't establish a running game.”

OSU defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer said despite the turnout his team practiced well for the matchup.

“After that first quarter, you saw some guys coming off and not coming back in,” he stated. “We've got to be physically tough; we've got to work hard in the weight room. [We’ve] got a lot to build on.”

Gundy stated that OSU had some concerns when preparing for Ole Miss.

“I think they're a really, really good football team… There [were] times during the season they had some deficiencies but when you watched them on tape when they dominated Alabama and they dominated LSU, in our schemes, we had some concerns at times," he explained.

This could be described as a classic matchup of overachiever versus underachiever, and Ole Miss played more like the team everyone expected the Rebels to be this season.

Oklahoma State cornerback Kevin Peterson said this week he welcomed the challenge of covering Ole Miss wideout Laquon Treadwell, but Peterson nor anyone else wearing orange could slow him down. 

He made three big plays that broke the game open in the second quarter:  A 34-yard touchdown catch to put the Rebels up 17-3, throwing a double pass for a 45-yard gain that got the ball to the Cowboy 10, and then a touchdown catch on the next play to make it a 21 point game.

“He's a little more athletic; he does what he has to do,” explained Peterson. He went out there and made some plays, caught a couple of touchdowns, and I got a pass interference on one of them. He won the game for them.  He set them up to be able to do everything. [I] can't take anything away from him for that.”

Spencer says he called some bad plays trying to help some of his players that were a little mismatched.

“When you start having to do that kind of stuff, it makes you weak all over,” he stated.

Offensively, the Rebel defense seemed to always be a step ahead. Walsh was stuffed on a 3rd and 1 that led to a field goal instead of a touchdown, and plays to the edge seemed to always get swallowed up until the game was out of hand.

“It was definitely a challenge just being able to,” he said. “Any time you have a defense that's out there flying around, trying to be around the ball and makes plays, makes it harder on the offense.”

In what was likely Emmanuel Ogbah's last game, he had three tackles, no sacks, and was largely contained by Laremy Tunsil.