Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Postgame Notes vs. Colorado - Alamo Bowl
December 30, 2016 | Cowboy Football
The Oklahoma State win…
:: Marked its fourth in its last five meetings with Colorado.
:: Improved the Cowboys' all-time record to 4-1 in bowl games played against Pac-12 opponents, and marked OSU's fourth straight win in such bowl games.
:: Improved the Cowboys to 2-2 all-time in the Valero Alamo Bowl.
:: Marked the Cowboys' third win over a ranked opponent this season, and their first away from Boone Pickens Stadium.
:: Marked the 20th time that the Cowboys have beaten an opponent ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press poll since Mike Gundy took over as head coach in 2005.
:: Marked the second time under Mike Gundy that the Cowboys have beaten a ranked opponent on a neutral field. OSU's previous neutral-site win over a ranked team was a 41-38 triumph over No. 4 Stanford in the 2012 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
:: Marked the fifth 10-win season in the last seven years.
:: Improved the Cowboys to 9-3 against teams currently playing the Pac-12 conference.
:: Moved Mike Gundy's record in bowl games to 7-4.
:: The OSU defense held Colorado scoreless in the opening quarter. The Cowboys join Stanford and USC as the only teams to do so this season.
:: Oklahoma State and USC were the only two teams to shutout Colorado in a half the season.
:: The 38-8 win was Oklahoma State's fourth-largest margin in a bowl win, and largest since the Cowboys' 58-14 victory over Purdue in the 2013 Heart of Dallas Bowl.
:: The Buffaloes' eight points tonight are the fewest points scored by an OSU bowl opponent since the 1974 Fiesta Bowl. In that game, the Cowboys held BYU to six points.
:: Entering the game, the Colorado defense had only allowed one player to surpass 100 yards receiving in a game (113 to USC's JuJu Smith-Schuster). James Washington surpassed that mark in second quarter, finishing the first half with 116 receiving yards. He finished the game with 171.
:: It marked Washington's 12th career 100-yard receiving game, his sixth of the season and his fourth in the last six games.
:: Washington's 171 receiving yards today moved his season total to 1,380 for the sixth-best in a season in school history. He moved into fourth place on the career receiving charts, and now has 2,923 receiving yards during his time at Oklahoma State.
:: Washington's 171 receiving yards tonight rank third among Cowboy receivers in bowl games. Mason Rudolph's 314 yards rank fifth.
:: Washington's nine receptions tonight give him 152 for his career, which ranks seventh all-time in school history.
:: The Colorado defense had also not allowed more than seven catches to any single player in a game this season. Washington had seven at the half and finished the game with nine.
:: The CU defense entered the game ranked 16th nationally with 31 explosive passing plays (20-plus yards gained) allowed (2.4 per game). OSU had seven such plays today.
:: Colorado entered the game ranked 13th in the nation with 182.5 passing yards allowed per game. The Cowboys had 216 passing yards in the first half and finished with 338 passing yards.
:: In the first half, Colorado ran six plays in OSU territory while OSU ran 19 plays in Colorado territory.
:: In the first quarter, Mason Rudolph was 7-for-7 passing for 72 yards and James Washington had four catches for 48 yards.
:: James Washington has caught a pass in 32 straight games.
:: The Cowboy defense forced at least one turnover in every game this season.
:: With 100 yards tonight, Cowboy running back Justice Hill reached the 100-yard mark for the sixth time this season, and the third time in the last four games.
:: Colorado came into tonight's game averaging 446.3 total yards per game. The Cowboy defense held them to well below that total tonight, allowing only 318.
:: The Cowboys held the Buffaloes to their lowest point total this season. Colorado's eight points tonight are the fewest the Buffaloes have scored since Nov. 21, 2015 against Washington State.
:: Ben Grogan added to his school record for points scored, going 1-for-2 on field goal attempts and 5-for-5 on PAT attempts. With eight points today, he finishes his collegiate career with 433 points.
:: Zach Sinor entered the game leading the nation with 61.5 percent of his punts downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line. Of his four punts today, three were downed inside the 20.
:: Due largely to Sinor, OSU entered the game leading the nation in opponent starting field position, as their average first snap has been at their own 23.8-yard line. On Colorado's 12 drives today, its average starting field position was its own 22-yard line.
:: Jordan Sterns finished the game with five total tackles. He moved into seventh-place all time on OSU's career tackles list, wrapping up his collegiate career with 325 total tackles.
:: With 314 yards tonight, Mason Rudolph reached 4,091 yards for the year and became the second quarterback in program history to pass for 4,000 yards in a single season. Rudolph joins Brandon Weeden, who reached the 4,000-yard mark twice in 2010 (4,277) and 2011 (4,727). Rudolph is now second on the program's career list with 8,714 yards during his time at OSU.
:: Vincent Taylor recorded seven tackles with one sack. That brought his season totals to 7.0 sacks and 13.0 tackles for loss, which are the most for an OSU interior defensive lineman in the Mike Gundy era.
:: Trey Carter finished the game with two total tackles and his first career sack, along with 1.5 tackles for loss.
:: The Cowboys held the Buffaloes to 62 yards on the ground tonight. It marked the third time this season that OSU held an opponent to under 100 yards rushing.
:: Defensive tackle Vincent Taylor was the game's Defensive MVP. Wide receiver James Washington took Offensive MVP honors.
:: WR James Washington, RB Chris Carson, S Jordan Sterns, DT Vincent Taylor and RB Keegan Metcalf served as Oklahoma State captains for today's game.
