Published: September 15, 2006 11:49 am

A Quick Look at the Cowboys

-compiled by Ryan Steele
Stillwater NewsPress

Going for three

Oklahoma State will try to improve to 3-0 when it faces Florida Atlantic at Boone Pickens Stadium at 6:05 p.m. Saturday. The Cowboys have started three-consecutive seasons at 3-0 just once in the history of the program (1983-85).

Dating back to 1912, OSU has recorded at least three-straight wins to open a season 16 times. In 14 of those seasons, the Cowboys went on to post a final winning record and 10 of those teams advanced to a postseason bowl game.



High scoring

O-State has scored points in seven of the first eight quarters of the 2006 season. The Cowboys were unable to score in the opening quarter during last Saturday?s contest against Arkansas State.

Through two games, OSU has scored 38 points in the second period ? 24 against Missouri State and 14 against ASU. Mike Gundy?s club scored just 61 points in the second quarter all of 2005.

The Cowboys have outscored its two opponents, 87-17. That marks their best point total since they scored 95 in two games in 2004 ? including a 59-7 rout against Southern Methodist University and 36-7 win against Iowa State.



Leading the nation

The Cowboys lead the country in kickoff returns with an average of 44.67 yards on three opportunities. OSU is one of seven schools with a kickoff return for a touchdown this season. O-State is fifth nationally in punt returns (24.89 yards per try) and No. 10 in net punting (41.83).

If sophomore Matt Fodge had enough attempts to qualify for the NCAA stats, he would be the nation?s leading punter. Against both MSU and ASU, Fodge had three punts covering 158 yards (an average of 52.7 yards per kick). However, six punts through two games fail to reach the minimum of 7.2 boots.



In the air

In 2005, O-State threw 17 interceptions and forced just five. On the flip side, OSU threw just 11 touchdown passes all season. Through two games, OSU defenders already have two interceptions ? one by true freshman Perrish Cox and the other by Martel Van Zant ? and the offense has already completed six TD passes.

Sophomore quarterback Bobby Reid enters Saturday as the nation?s 10th-ranked passer with an efficiency rating of 173.39, and is second in the country in points responsible for (42).



Individual effort

Through two games, 10 different Cowboys have scored touchdowns. To put that number in perspective, only seven players earned a TD score all of last season. Newcomers Adarius Bowman, Keith Toston and Perrish Cox have combined for four scores.



A look ahead

The Cowboys will head to the Lone Star State next weekend for its biggest non-conference game of the year ? a meeting with Houston. The Cougars are off to a 2-0 start after earning a 31-30 victory in their season opener against Rice and routing Tulane, 45-7, last weekend.

Houston ? who plays Grambling State at home Saturday ? is led by quarterback and preseason Heisman Trophy candidate Kevin Kolb. Kolb, the Conference USA Player of the Year in 2005, completed 24-of-41 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns against Tulane.



2006 schedule

Sept. 2 Missouri St. … beating up on I-AA, 52-10

Sept. 9 at Arkansas St. … A little adversity, Pokes respond, 35-7

Sept. 16 Florida Atlantic … 0-2 Owls still a decade away?

Sept. 23 at Houston … Big game No. 1

Oct. 7 at Kansas State … A chance for a good league start

Oct. 14 at Kansas … Not as salty as anticipated

Oct. 21 Texas A&M … best homecoming in the country

Oct. 28 Nebraska … We?ll see against the Trojans on Saturday

Nov. 4 at Texas … Finally, no Vince Young

Nov. 11 Baylor … Can Baylor finish above .500?

Nov. 18 at Texas Tech … Pokes always troubled in Lubbock

Nov. 25 Oklahoma … Sooners in Eugene to face the Ducks on Saturday



2006 Statistical Leaders

Rushing ? Mike Hamilton 33-228 yrds, TD; Keith Toston 17-70 yrds, TD; Bobby Reid 12-60 yrds, TD; Julius Crosslin 13-46 yrds, 2TD; Calvin Roberts 5-15 yrds; Artrell Woods 1-2 yrds; Zac Robinson 1-(-)2 yrds

Passing ? Reid 19-35-332 yrds, 6TD, 3INT; Robinson 4-7-48 yrds

Receiving ? Adarius Bowman 6-125 yrds, TD; D?Juan Woods 3-80 yrds, TD; Toston 3-42 yrds, TD; Brandon Pettigrew 3-23 yrds, TD; Ricky Price 1-43 yrds; Justin Waller 1-27 yrds, Hamilton 1-17 yrds, Seth Newton 1-8 yrds, Tommy Devereaux 1-5 yrds, Jeremiah Burton 1-4 yrds, TD; A. Woods 1-3 yrds, John Johnson 1-3 yrds, TD

Punt Returns ? Perrish Cox 6-138 yrds; Devereaux 2-75 yrds, Chris Collins 1-11 yrds

Kick Returns ? Cox 1-96 yrds, TD; Devereaux 1-23 yrds, Grant Jones 1-15 yrds

Interceptions ? Cox 1-21 yrds, Martel Van Zant 1-22 yrds

Tackles ? Collins 11, Marcus Brown 10, Andre Sexton 9, Jeremy Nethon 9, Rodrick Johnson 8, Donovan Woods 7, Quinton Moore 6, Derek Burton 6, Nathan Peterson 6, Jacob Lacey 5, Grant Jones 5, Van Zant 4, Darnell Smith 4, Larry Brown 3, Ryan McBean 3, Marque Fountain 3, Victor DeGrate 3, Kevin White 2, TJ Bell 2, Terrance Anderson 2, Crosslin 2, Maurice Cummings 2, Zach Carter 2, Alex Odiari 2, Cox 2

Tackles for loss ? L. Brown 3, R. Johnson 2, M. Brown 2, Sexton 2, Burton 2, Peterson 2, Fountain 1 1/2, Collins 1 1/2, McBean 1, DeGrate 1, Nethon 1/2, Lacey 1/2, D. Smith 1/2



Sacks ? L. Brown 2, R. Johnson 1, Collins 1, Burton 1, Peterson 1, DeGrate 1, Nethon 1/2

Fumble recoveries ? Moore 1, D. Smith 1, McBean 1

Career starts (consecutive) ? D?Juan Woods 33 (18), Corey Hilliard 30 (24), David Koenig 16 (13), McBean 13 (13), David Washington 13 (13), Hamilton 13 (13), Pettigrew 11 (9), Donovan Woods 20 (7), D. Smith 14 (1), DeGrate 13 (2)



2006 Team Statistics

OSU Opp.

Scoring 87 17

Points per game 43.5 8.5

First Downs 36 26

Rushing Yards 401 178

Avg. per game 200.5 89

Rush TDs 5 1

Passing Yards 380 344

Avg. per game 190 172

Att-Comp-Int 42-23-3 50-26-2

Passing TDs 6 0

Total Offense 781 522

Avg. per game 390.5 261

Kick Returns: #-Yrds 3-134 9-158

Punt Returns: #-Yrds 9-224 3-25

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 5-3

Penalties-Yrds 12-104 12-90

Punts-Avg. 6-52.7 16-39.2



Score by Quarters

Oklahoma St. 14 38 21 14 87

Opponents 7 0 3 7 17

Published: September 15, 2006 12:03 pm

Not standing around

? Plenty of young players making an immediate impact for Cowboys

Jacob Longan
Stillwater NewsPress

The season was less than 20 seconds old when a true freshman showed the Oklahoma State fans how valuable a youth movement can be.

Freshman cornerback Perrish Cox returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown in the Cowboys? 52-10 whipping of Missouri State on Sept. 2.

Cox is second on the depth chart at cornerback for a defense that has yet to see a point scored when the starters are on the field.

Glance at Oklahoma State?s two-deep heading into Saturday?s 6 p.m. contest with Florida Atlantic and you?ll spot plenty of youth and inexperience.

Of the 11 positions, four starting spots belong to sophomores ? outside linebacker Alex Odiari and cornerback Jacob Lacey ? and freshmen ? strong safety Andre Sexton and outside linebacker Chris Collins.

Include the backups and you add four sophomores ? middle linebacker Marcus Brown, defensive tackle Jeray Chatham, free safety Calvin Mickens and cornerback Quinton Moore ? and two freshmen ? Cox and outside linebacker Patrick Lavine.

Considering all that, it may be surprising the entire defense has allowed only 10 points, as Arkansas State?s score in a 35-7 OSU win came on an interception return.

But ask the Cowboys and they?ll tell you football isn?t about the age of the players.

?We sat them down and said, ?This is what it is. You need to be on the same level we are,?? said senior defensive tackle Ryan McBean. ?Freshman, that?s just a name. You?re a grown man. You?re in college now. You aren?t in high school no more, so I consider you a grown man. The only difference is the age and the class rates.

?We approach them like grown men and they reply like grown men. We just take it from there.?

Added junior free safety Donovan Woods, ?We didn?t recruit them here to sit on the bench. The coaches did a great job of bringing them in and getting them to come to our program and they?re doing a great job for us.?

Senior defensive end Darnell Smith said the younger players seem to have the same mindset he had when he arrived on campus ? do whatever is possible to help the team.

?Young players like Perrish Cox and Chris Collins, they have a mentality, ?Nobody is going to hold me down,?? Smith said. ??Nobody is going to stop me. I?m going to get after it. You may think I?m a freshman, but if you think like that, I?ve already got you beat.??

Mike Gundy said he was concerned about how his defense would cope with inexperience, but they have enough speed to overcome that weakness.

?Speed is such a big deal in football?? Gundy said. ?If you can run and tackle in space, you have a lot better chance than if you can?t.?

The coach said the best example was in the Arkansas State game, when ASU quarterback Travis Hewitt scrambled on a busted play on 2nd and 10 in the second quarter.

?He had a lot of room to run for a long time,? Gundy said. ?He ran about eight more steps and (Collins) caught him. Last year, we don?t catch that guy and he runs for at least 15 yards. (Collins) was like a heat-seeking missile. That is the difference on defense.?

Collins? tackle brought up 3rd and two and a negative-1-yard rushing play later, the Indians were forced to punt.

But even with increased speed and overall talent, Gundy admits he?d prefer to have a team full of battle-tested veterans.

?We are playing with what we?ve got,? he said. ?We are going on down the road. But I like our guys. I?m not saying they?re polished Big 12 corners and linebackers. We aren?t there yet.?

Ask defensive coordinator Vance Bedford what the group most needs to work on, and experience comes up.

?We have so many young guys who are making a lot of mistakes right now,? he said. ?We need to do a better job of defending the run and the pass. We have to get better with those young guys.?



One year since the switch

This weekend marks the anniversary of Woods moving from starting quarterback to safety, giving the signal-caller job to Bobby Reid.

Woods is now the starter at free safety and has forced two fumbles so far this season.

He said he had to change his mentality when he switched from offense to defense and he is still not done with that process.

?There are still some things I have to be conscious about and continue to work on those things,? he said.



Loving Lovie

Bedford came to OSU after six years coaching defensive backs for the Chicago Bears. He smiled when the Bears? season-opening 26-0 whipping of the rival Green Bay Packers was mentioned, though he said he didn?t get to watch the game.

?It wasn?t on television here,? Bedford said. ?(Coach) Lovie (Smith) has done a great job and I?m surprised that Jerry Angelo hasn?t redone his contract yet because he?s done a great job.?

Bedford coached under Smith one year, as he was the only assistant retained by Smith when he replaced Dick Jauron.