DAXX ATTACK: Garman leads Pokes to a 40-23 win

OSU backup quarterback, Daxx Garman, took an
injured J.W. Walsh's place in the first quarter
Saturday.

The first quarter ended in Boone Pickens Stadium with quarterback, J.W. Walsh, in the locker room with an apparent ankle injury. That’s all Oklahoma State fans knew on Saturday as backup QB, Daxx Garman, took the center stage for the rest of the foreseeable game. With having played a mediocre first quarter, OSU was getting more fight out of the Missouri State Bears than they bargained for, but as the second quarter unfolded, so did the arm strength of Garman. He whizzed passes into the arms of several receivers, and even had a pass across is body to wide receiver, Brandon Shepard, for an 87-yard touchdown.

Garman wasn’t through after that, though, and finished with 244 passing yards and another touchdown pass that gave in 2 on the afternoon. Walsh played valiantly in the first quarter, but only amassed 30 yards through the air that was coupled with 42 rushing yards. With that being said, we don’t really know how J.W. would’ve progressed throughout the rest of the game, but initial analysis would indicate that he would’ve faired about the same against the Bears defense. Missouri State is no power house when it comes to playing in the FCS (notch below D-I), but they sacked Garman twice, and got presser on Walsh a few times as well. The offensive line, which had 0 penalties against Florida State the week before, wasn’t as efficient, but got the job done, nonetheless. Down inside the 5-yard line, though, the offense struggled to punch it in for 6 points before the half, and that is a little concerning.

               But now that Garman played so well and his arm looked so impressive, Mike Gundy and his coaching staff will have another quarterback controversy on their hands. Out of the 10 years Gundy has overseen the program, he has had only 2 years where there wasn’t a legitimate quarterback controversy, and that was when Brandon Weeden was at the helm. Gundy did state that Daxx would get some snaps against Florida State, but that never happened since J.W. had the Cowboys on the verge of upsetting the nation’s top team all throughout the second half.  So now that Walsh is on the bench with this ankle sprain, or whatever they are calling it, Garman will most likely start against Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) this upcoming Saturday. This gives Walsh 2 weeks to heal before the Pokes conference opener against Texas Tech., and with the way the offense got outscored in the second half against Missouri State (17-13), having the leader of that offense back on the field should be something that needs to take place as soon as possible.

            Another thing that needs to happen fast is improvement on the special teams side of the ball. Kicking the ball, the Cowboys kicker, Ben Grogan, Missed is first 2 attempts from 51 and 46 yards out, before connecting with his next 2 tries that came inside of 40 yards. Kip Smith, the Cowboys punter, had a kick go off the side of his foot in the 4^th quarter that traveled a mere 18 yards, and that put MSU (Missouri State) into great field position. Definitely some things wrong with the offensive side of special teams, but on the defensive side, it was nothing short of a spectacular performance. OSU blocked 3 kicks the entire game (a new school record) that included 1 blocked field goal, 1 blocked extra point, and Jordan Sterns, the safety who had an article written about him the day before in The Daily Oklahoman, blocked and recovered a punt for the Pokes. A very impressive performance from the defense when it came time for them to thwart the Bears of any special teams points throughout the game.

             In the end, the Cowboys got their first win of the season, and have not lost a home opener since 1995. Also, the streak of scoring at least 20 points in a game has extended itself to 54 in a row for the Pokes. They are only 9 games away from tying the record of 63 games in a row with at least 20 that was set by the University of Southern California (USC). Just something to think about, as OSU takes on UTSA Saturday at 6 PM CT, and looks to extend their winning streak to 2 games in a row.