STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Ollie Gordon II’s 12-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion catch in the second overtime pushed No. 16 Oklahoma State past Arkansas 39-31 on Saturday.
Gordon, last season’s Doak Walker Award winner as the nation’s best running back, was held to 49 yards on 17 carries.
His teammates picked up the slack. Alan Bowman passed for 326 yards and Brennan Presley had 91 yards receiving, caught a touchdown pass and ran for a score.
“Those are the games we talk about forever,” Bowman said. “Don’t want to be in those situations a lot. I think we started out really slow. But be able to kind of fight back and battle back and trust in it — it’s obviously a great win.”
Arkansas (1-1) outgained Oklahoma State 648 yards to 385. But the Razorbacks missed two of their three field goals and had three turnovers to one for Oklahoma State (2-0).
“It’s one loss,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said. “It’s not an SEC loss. It’s one that we’ll learn from it and and flush it and then come back. I feel like we’ve got a really good football team. We just — we can’t win games turning the football over.”
Taylen Green passed for 416 yards and ran for 61 for Arkansas. Ja’Quinden Jackson ran for a career-high 149 yards and three touchdowns and Andrew Armstrong had career bests of 10 catches and 164 yards for the Razorbacks.
Oklahoma State overcame a 21-7 halftime deficit.
“At halftime, our coaches were fantastic, the adjustments we made,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “Players were really good about absorbing information, not panicking, not pointing fingers, taking it back out on the field and executing it and playing much better.”
Presley caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bowman, and the two-point conversion catch by De’Zhaun Stribling tied the game at 21 early in the fourth quarter.
Oklahoma State got a fourth-down stop, then went to razzle-dazzle. Bowman’s pass off a reverse flea flicker went 63 yards to fullback Jake Schultz to put the Cowboys in the red zone. Presley’s 3-yard touchdown run put the Cowboys up 28-21 with 5:13 remaining.
Green bounced right back with a 43-yard touchdown pass to tight end Luke Hasz, and Arkansas tied the game with 4:01 remaining.
Oklahoma State’s Logan Ward hit a 38-yard field goal with 55 seconds remaining to put Oklahoma State up 31-28. Arkansas, with no time outs, drove 48 yards in eight plays, and Kyle Ramsey’s 44-yard field goal as time expired forced overtime.
Ward and Ramsey both missed field goals in the first overtime — Ramsey from 46 yards, then Ward from 41. Oklahoma State scored first in the second overtime, then the Cowboys stopped the Razorbacks on a fourth-and-short to end the game.
“I think we won the game because we were in better condition,” Gundy said. “The latter part of the third quarter, fourth quarter and overtime — when you get tired, the first thing that goes is your mind. Mentally, you don’t play well. You make mistakes. That didn’t happen.”
THE TAKEAWAY
Arkansas: Mistakes helped the Razorbacks give away a game they had firmly in control. Gordon’s winning touchdown run came the play after a personal foul against Arkansas. On the drive that gave Oklahoma State a 3-point lead late in the fourth quarter, the Razorbacks committed two pass interference penalties against Presley.
Oklahoma State: The Cowboys proved they could win if Gordon doesn’t post big numbers. He accounted for just 69 yards and one touchdown from scrimmage a week after producing 146 yards and three touchdowns combined rushing and receiving against South Dakota State.
TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW
It was a tough day for Ramsey, who was trying to fill large shoes.
Ramsey replaced Cameron Little, who is now kicking for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ramsey missed field goals of 41 and 46 yards.
Pittman said Ramsey will likely compete with Matthew Shipley for the job going forward.
“I think so,” Pittman said. “I mean, it’s always a competition, but, I think so. I mean, I hate it, you know, I hate it for him. You know, I know we missed a couple, but he also made one. Put us in the overtime. And if we played a little bit better, maybe that wouldn’t have come up, you know?”
OLIVER OUT
Gundy said Oklahoma State linebacker Collin Oliver will be out indefinitely after suffering an injury to his right leg.
Oliver, a preseason All-Big 12 selection, was hurt on a pressure that led to Kale Smith’s 73-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“I think that he’s done for the year,” Gundy said. “I’m not sure. I haven’t gotten an update other than the game when they said that he wasn’t coming back and they thought that he might have had maybe a fracture or a crack or something that I’m not for sure.”
UP NEXT
Arkansas: Hosts UAB on Saturday.
Oklahoma State: Visits Tulsa on Saturday.
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