STILLWATER, Okla. — Arkansas let the 16th-ranked Oklahoma State football team off the ropes Saturday.
The Cowboys overcame a 21-7 halftime deficit to win 39-31 in double overtime in front of an announced attendance of 52,202 at Pickens Stadium.
Bottled up all game, Oklahoma State All-America running back Ollie Gordon scored on a 12-yard touchdown run and had a catch on the 2-point try in the second overtime to give the Cowboys (2-0) the lead.
Arkansas running back Rodney Hill was stopped for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 from the OSU 6 on the final play of the game.
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy credited the victory to being better conditioned than Arkansas and to the Cowboys’ culture.
“Our culture allows us to function in critical times,” said Gundy, who won his 168th game in 20 seasons. “Times when most people panic, we don’t panic.”
The Razorbacks (1-1) lost despite out-gaining the Cowboys 648-385 on offense. Oklahoma State scored 18 points off of three Arkansas turnovers and also scored when the Razorbacks failed on a fourth-down attempt deep in Cowboys territory in the fourth quarter.
“Oklahoma State came back and beat us,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said. “We’ve got to take care of the ball. I like the intensity that we played with, and it came down to we turned the ball over too many times and we got beat.”
The fourth-down failure set up a go-ahead score for Oklahoma State. Brennan Presley’s 3-yard touchdown run with 5:13 remaining gave the Cowboys their first lead, 28-21. A 63-yard pass from Alan Bowman to Jake Schultz on a flea flicker preceded the touchdown.
Arkansas responded with a 3-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Taylen Green’s 43-yard touchdown pass to Luke Hasz with 4:01 remaining.
Much of the rest of the game hinged on kickers. Logan Ward’s 38-yard field goal with 55 seconds remaining put Oklahoma State ahead 31-28, but Arkansas’ Kyle Ramsey made a 45-yard field goal as time expired to force overtime.
Ramsey’s kick followed a 33-yard catch and run by Andrew Armstrong to the OSU 27 with 12 seconds remaining. Ramsey missed a 41-yard attempt earlier in the fourth quarter.
Both kickers missed their attempts in the first overtime. Following a 12-yard sack by Obi Ezeigbo, Ramsey pushed a 46-yard attempt to the left on the first possession of overtime. Ward missed from 46 yards wide right after the Cowboys played for a field goal.
Arkansas forced Oklahoma State into a third-and-long situation on the first possession of the second overtime, but linebacker Xavian Sorey was flagged for unnecessary roughness to move the ball to the 12. Gordon, who rushed 17 times for 49 yards, scored on the next play on a toss to the left side.
Running back Ja’Quinden Jackson had a 10-yard run on the Razorbacks’ first offensive play of the second overtime, but Arkansas followed with a run for no gain by Jackson and an incomplete pass by Green toward the wide-open running back Hill on a wheel route near the end zone.
Green ran for a 9-yard gain on third-and-10. The Razorbacks overloaded the right side on fourth down but ran Hill to the left and he was stopped for a loss by Gabe Brown and Kendal Daniels.
Oklahoma State players poured onto the field and Arkansas lost a one-possession game that felt all-too-similar to a year ago when the team went 1-5 in games decided by one score.
Jackson ran for touchdowns of 5, 5 and 11 yards in the first half to help the Razorbacks to a 21-7 lead. Arkansas out-gained Oklahoma State 351-77 in the first half and had the Cowboys thoroughly frustrated through 30 minutes.
“We wasted the first half,” Gundy said. “Their coaches had better concepts and schedules than our coaches did….At halftime our coaches were fantastic with the adjustments we made.”
Jackson ran 24 times for 149 yards but was in and out of the game late with cramps and was not on the field for the game’s decisive play.
Arkansas had 232 rushing yards and held the Cowboys to 59.
“We got our ass kicked in the run game,” Gundy said.
Oklahoma State’s only touchdown of the first half was a 73-yard interception return by Kale Smith in the second quarter. Green was hit as he let go of the ball and Smith caught a ball that was under thrown.
Ward made field goals of 45 and 35 yards in the third quarter to cut Arkansas’ lead to 21-13. One of the field goals followed a chop block penalty by Schultz that negated an 8-yard touchdown pass from Bowman to Presley.
Oklahoma State tied the game 21-21 when Presley caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bowman, and Bowman completed a 2-point pass to De’Zhaun Stripling with 9:37 left in regulation.
Presley had 9 catches for 91 yards and 1 touchdown, and also rushed for a score.
Green completed 26 of 45 passes for 416 yards and 1 touchdown and was intercepted once. He also ran 15 times for 89 yards when adjusted for sacks. Three sacks accounted for 28 lost yards and Green was hurried nine times.
Armstrong caught 10 passes for a career-high 164 yards and Isaiah Sategna had 4 catches for 78 yards. Sategna also muffed a punt when his teammate Krosse Johnson was blocked into him. That led to an Oklahoma State touchdown in the fourth quarter after the Cowboys began the drive at the Arkansas 25.
Bowman completed 27 of 48 passes for 326 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He also made a costly penalty late in the game when he was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct that pushed Oklahoma State from the 6 to the 21, resulting in Ward’s last-minute field goal.
Following a 36-yard pass to Presley on third down, Bowman pointed finger pistols toward the Arkansas bench.
Why Arkansas Lost
The Razorbacks missed too many opportunities, scoring only 31 points despite finishing with 648 yards, the 10th-highest total in program history.
Counting the overtime possessions, Arkansas had 13 drives reach Oklahoma State territory and another reached midfield.
Player of the Game: Oklahoma State WR Brennan Presley
Presley’s 94-yard stat line does not tell the full story of his impact on the game.
It seemed whenever the Cowboys needed a big play in the second half, Presley delivered.
He scored both Oklahoma State touchdowns in regulation and his 36-yard catch set up a go-ahead field goal in the final minute.
Series Update
Oklahoma State won the first meeting between the programs since 1980 and their first matchup in Stillwater since 1978.
Arkansas leads the all-time series 30-16-1.
Saturday’s game was the first of four contracted games between the teams. They are scheduled to play in Fayetteville in 2027 and 2033, and in Stillwater again in 2032.
Up Next
The Razorbacks are scheduled to host Alabama-Birmingham next Saturday at 3:15 p.m. in their on-campus opener.