Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — The best thing Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy could say about Saturday's win over Iowa State was that his Cowboys won.
Desmond Roland ran for 95 yards and two touchdowns to help No. 21 Oklahoma State defeat Iowa State 37-20 on Saturday afternoon.
"We got to get a lot better," Gundy said. "There's not any reason to cancel practice. I was happy the team rallied there at the end, played hard, made some plays and found a way to win the football game. We've certainly got a long way to go and a lot of work ahead of us."
Brandon Sheperd caught a career-high eight passes for 91 yards and Jhajuan Seales added four catches for 75 yards and a score for the Cowboys (4-1, 2-0 Big 12). Tyreek Hill had 148 yards in kickoff returns, including a 97-yard runback for a touchdown, and 46 yards in punt returns for Oklahoma State. Daxx Garman passed for 271 yards and a touchdown and Ben Grogan made three field goals for the Cowboys.
The score was tied at 6 in the final minute of the second quarter when the Cyclones failed to cover the kickoff after the ball touched an Iowa State player, and Oklahoma State recovered at the Iowa State 11. On the final play of the first half, officials ruled that Roland was stopped just short of the goal line as time expired. The play was reviewed, and the call reversed to put the Cowboys up 13-6 at the break.
Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard went on a 2 ½-minute postgame rant about the reversal.
"I recognize that the Big 12 does not allow comments to be made on officiating, and I recognize there's penalties for that, but folks, our institution has been penalized already," he said. "I can think of three situations where the fine has been pretty great, because we lost games as the result of calls that either we were apologized (to) for, or the media certainly felt we should have been apologized to."
Roland believed all along that he had scored a touchdown.
"I already knew I had scored, I was telling everybody on the sidelines - they asked me if I scored, I said, 'yeah, yeah.' I told them I crossed the pylon," he said. "I knew I had scored, and we needed that touchdown going into halftime."
Hill's kickoff return pushed the Cowboys' lead to 20-6 in the opening seconds of the third quarter.
Sam B. Richardson passed for 200 yards and threw two touchdown passes to E.J. Bibbs. The Cyclones (1-4, 0-3) were held to 322 total yards.
Iowa State went up 6-0 on a pair of 34-yard field goals by Cole Netten in the second quarter.
Oklahoma State finally got on the board when Grogan made a 34-yard field goal. Grogan made a 30-yarder with 43 seconds left in the first half to tie the score at 6.
Hill left the Cyclones behind on the second-half kickoff. His touchdown ended a flurry of 17 points by Oklahoma State in 54 seconds of game time that gave the Cowboys a 20-6 lead.
Iowa State answered after Oklahoma State had two takeaways negated by penalties. Bibbs caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Richardson to trim Oklahoma State's edge to 20-13.
Oklahoma State responded with a touchdown drive. Garman found Seales down the middle for a 40-yard touchdown pass to put the Cowboys up 27-13.
Roland's second touchdown run, a 6-yarder at the beginning of the fourth quarter, bumped Oklahoma State's lead to 37-13.
"It's a roller coaster, and that's what happens when you have a number of young players on the field," Gundy said. "We have to do a better job of coaching them and giving them a better chance to have success."
__
Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CliffBruntAP
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
