BEARS FALL 32-8 TO COWBOYS
STILLWATER, Okla. _ Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph threw for 401 yards to lead the Oklahoma State Cowboys to a 32-8 victory over the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 56,262 at Boone Pickens Stadium.
It was the second consecutive loss for the Bears to start the season, but this one was much easier to take for UCA head coach Steve Campbell.
"We played a lot harder tonight. We gave great effort,' said Campbell. "I'm very proud of the guys' effort. You're obviously disappointed anytime you come up short. But now we have two games under our belt and we have an open week before we open conference. I like the direction we're headed in. We have a long way to go, but I like where we're headed.'
The Bears managed just 86 total yards of offense in the first half but trailed only 10-0 as the defense did its part. The Cowboys (2-0) had 252 yards but the Bears kept them relatively in check, due in part to a second-quarter interception by sophomore cornerback Tremon Smith and five tackles each from George Odum and Devin Spurlock.
"I was very pleased with the way our defense played,' said Campbell. "They gave us a chance. It was 17-8 midway through the third quarter If we could have put something together there, and we had a couple of chances, maybe it could have been different. And we made some plays, just not enough of them at key times.
"I think we kept them off balance a little bit and gave ourselves a chance in the second half with the way we played on defense. Offensively, we just have to keep coming on and find some ways to score some points.'
The Bears, trailing 17-0 in the third quarter, finally engineered a 75-yard, 11-play drive, capped by senior quarterback Taylor Reed's 39-yard touchdown pass to junior Desmond Smith, who got behind the OSU defense in the end zone. Reed then faked a run and tossed a short pass to junior tight end Cody Gougler for the two-point conversion to draw the Bears within 17-8 with 8:08 left in the period.
From that point, the Cowboys hit two more touchdown passes and a field goal to set the final.
Reed completed 14 of 25 passes for 128 yards, while sophomore Dominque Thomas had 14 carries for 49 yards on the ground. Rudolph, a sophomore from Rock Hill, S.C., completed 23 of 35 passes and tossed a pair of touchdowns for the Cowboys. David Glidden had four receptions for 145 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
UCA struggled for most of the night offensively and finished with 220 total yards, with 134 of those in the second half.
"We were able to get a little bit of a rhythm going (in the second half),' said Campbell. "The drive that we scored on, we converted a fourth down and a couple of things and then hit a big play. There was another drive where we got clicking a little bit. We just didn't sustain enough.
"But I think we improved a lot from last week, on the road, in an environment not anything like this, to competing and being close somewhere in the third quarter. I think if we could've made one or two more plays somewhere in the third quarter, that we could have tied things up and put a little more pressure on the Cowboys.
"We were worried about crowd noise, penalties and things of that nature. We had a few, but we cut our penalties in a third from last week and we didn't have any turnovers. I was proud of the guys.'
UCA enjoys an open date next Saturday before opening Southland Conference play at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La. on Sept. 26.
