QUICK HITS: OSU offense stuck in neutral, Alan Bowman benched in 22-19 loss to Utah

Cowboy defense put in tough spots repeatedly but stands tall.

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(Twitter via Utah_Football)

STILLWATER — In the top-15 match-up between Oklahoma State and Utah, we expected to see all sorts of interesting things.

A Cowboy quarterback change wasn’t among them.

Alan Bowman getting benched for Garret Rangel might not have been on the bingo card, but at the start of the second half, that’s exactly what happened.

The Cowboys were looking for a spark.

It didn’t happen in time.

Utah 22, OSU 19.

Here’s what I saw in Stillwater.

Alan Bowman benched, then reinserted

Bowman had arguably his best game as a Cowboy a week ago at Tulsa.

Saturday?

Easily his worst.

In the first half, Bowman went 8 for 22 for 89 yards. That’s only a 36% completion rate. He had no touchdowns and one interception.

His quarterback rating: 61.3.

There were myriad issues. Bad throws. Questionable decisions. But in a game the Cowboys needed the passing game to move the ball in an attempt to loosen up the Utes’ defense, Bowman wasn’t delivering.

Rangel didn’t do any better.

He went 3 of 11 for 31 yards, a completion percentage of 27%.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Rangel gave way to Bowman, who started out not playing much better than he did in the first half. His first pass attempt after his return one-hopped short of a wide open Ollie Gordon (remember him, Cowboy fans?). Bowman’s second attempt was batted at the line of scrimmage.

His third? Interception.

But then Bowman led the Cowboys on a quick touchdown drive and converted the two-point conversion, followed by another touchdown drive and two-point conversion that made the Utes sweat a bit.

His final line: 16 of 33 for 206 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions.

Now, the question becomes: what do the Cowboys do now? Is Bowman the starter next week at Kansas State? With a week of practice with the first team, could Rangel be the guy? Or is Zane Flores suddenly in the mix?

Kudos to the Cowboy defense

The OSU defense was on the field for 81 plays, 22 more than the OSU offense. The inept offense put the defense in a bad spot, especially with on-field temperatures reported to have been over 150 degrees.

But the Cowboy defense stood about as tall as could be expected.

The Utes had 15 possessions, and 10 of them ended with no points.

OSU held Utah to two touchdowns, the second of which is hard to blame on the defense. It came with 6:21 left in the game after the defense had gotten yet another stop, only to see the offense give it right back to Utah on an interception.

Cowboys fail to capitalize on turnovers

The OSU defense came up with three turnovers in the first half, two interceptions and one fumble recovery.

And the Cowboy offense scored no points off them.

The offense didn’t even manage a first down on the three ensuing possessions. After the turnovers, the Cowboys’ possessions ended with a three and out, an interception and the end of the half.

Momentum that could’ve been seized was squandered instead.

Now, failing to turn those turnovers into points wasn’t a killer. The Cowboys had lots of opportunities after that. But against good teams, squandered chances eventually pile up and become costly. Not putting more points on the board in the first half — and forcing the defense right back on the field on a day it was 100-plus degrees — was detrimental.

I’ll have more on Beyond the Boxscore later.