Oklahoma State University Athletics
Next Man Up - 2019 Season Review
January 03, 2020 | Cowboy Football
Final Stats, Box Scores and More in PDF Format
STILLWATER - The 2019 season was always going to be one of transition for the Oklahoma State football team. Mike Gundy was breaking in a new offensive coordinator, a new offensive line coach and a new quarterback on one side of the ball and had to replace every starting defensive lineman and every starting linebacker on the other side of the ball.
So what does a transition year look like for Oklahoma State these days? Eight regular-season wins (two of which came over ranked opponents) and finishing higher than predicted in the preseason Big 12 standings. And that's before mentioning that All-America receiver Tylan Wallace had to miss the final five games and quarterback Spencer Sanders had to miss the final three games of the season to injury.
Most coaches will tell you that when players are lost to graduation or injury, someone else needs to emerge for the team to be successful, and in the case of Oklahoma State in 2019, the most prominent emergences were that of running back Chuba Hubbard, safety Kolby Harvell-Peel and linebackers Malcolm Rodriguez and Amen Ogbongbemiga, each of whom went from unheralded entering the season to All-Big 12 honorees after the season.
Many were optimistic about Hubbard after his strong finish to the 2018 campaign when he filled in for the injured Justice Hill in the season's final three games. The thought was that Hubbard might be pretty good as a full-time starter in 2019. As it turned out, Hubbard was better than good. He was historic.
After rushing for 221 yards in the Cowboys' season-opening win at Oregon State, Hubbard led the FBS in rushing from beginning to end en route to earning unanimous All-America honors. He was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year as selected by both the league's coaches and the Associated Press and was one of three national finalists for the Doak Walker Award presented to the nation's top running back. Hubbard finished eighth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy and became only the second Oklahoma State back to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He finished with 2,094 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns.
Harvell-Peel was selected as a first-team All-Big 12 performer by both the coaches and the AP. He led the Big 12 with 1.5 passes defended per game and ranked in the top five in the conference in interceptions, fumbles forced and fumbles recovered. During one three-game stretch (vs. Iowa State, TCU and Kansas), Harvell-Peel had four interceptions, one fumble recovery and eight passes broken up. All three of those games resulted in Oklahoma State wins.
Rodriguez was an interesting case. A starter at safety in 2018, he was moved to linebacker in 2019 and despite being undersized for the position, still led the team and ranked fourth in the Big 12 with 103 tackles. He and Ogbongbemiga (100 tackles to rank fifth in the Big 12) were both named to the second-team All-Big 12 squad by the league's coaches and formed one of the better linebacker tandems in the league.
No single game encapsulated the impact of Harvell-Peel, Rodriguez and Ogbongbemiga quite as much as the win over No. 23 Iowa State in Ames. In that win, Harvell-Peel set a school record by breaking up six passes, Rodriguez had a game-winning interception return for a touchdown and Ogbongbemiga and safety Tre Sterling picked off Cyclone quarterback Brock Purdy on ISU's final two possessions of the game to seal the victory.
That win over Iowa State was significant because it came on the heels of back-to-back losses to Texas Tech and Baylor. The Cowboys and Cyclones were tied at 27 with less than seven minutes remaining in the game and at a time when OSU could have faltered, the defense rose to the occasion and delivered a victory that sparked a four-game win streak. In fact, from the Iowa State game through the end of the season, the Cowboy defense held each of its final six opponents below their season scoring averages. It can be argued that the win over Iowa State is what changed the entire tone of the season.
Beyond the players mentioned earlier, other OSU standouts were offensive lineman Marcus Keyes, who earned first-team All-Big 12 honors by the Associated Press and cornerback A.J. Green, who was a second-team All-Big 12 selection by the AP and was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award presented to the nation's top defensive back.
A three-year starter, Green was one of five players voted as a captain by his teammates, joining Ogbongbemiga, quarterback Dru Brown, receiver Dillon Stoner and special teams ace Philip Redwine-Bryant.
Brown's was one of the most fascinating storylines of the season. A two-year starter at Hawaii who graduated from UH and came to Stillwater in 2018, Brown was beaten out for the quarterback job by Taylor Cornelius last season, then was narrowly beaten out by Spencer Sanders in a competition that lasted right up to the week of the 2019 opener. Still, Brown worked and prepared and did things the right way, despite the disappointment. Sanders, meanwhile, thrived as the starter and was eventually voted as the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year by the league's coaches. In the Cowboys' win over Kansas, however, Sanders went down with a season-ending injury. Enter Brown. He finished out the victory over the Jayhawks, then quarterbacked the Cowboys to a road win over West Virginia the following week. Put simply, when it was Brown's time to emerge, he did.
Other similar examples of players stepping up when needed were provided by Stoner and receiver Braydon Johnson, who both took their games to a new level when Wallace was lost for the season.
And that was the general theme for the season - when adversity struck, whether through injury or defeat, Oklahoma State had example after example of players who were prepared and resilient enough to emerge when called upon and do their part to uphold the winning standard.
STILLWATER - The 2019 season was always going to be one of transition for the Oklahoma State football team. Mike Gundy was breaking in a new offensive coordinator, a new offensive line coach and a new quarterback on one side of the ball and had to replace every starting defensive lineman and every starting linebacker on the other side of the ball.
So what does a transition year look like for Oklahoma State these days? Eight regular-season wins (two of which came over ranked opponents) and finishing higher than predicted in the preseason Big 12 standings. And that's before mentioning that All-America receiver Tylan Wallace had to miss the final five games and quarterback Spencer Sanders had to miss the final three games of the season to injury.
Most coaches will tell you that when players are lost to graduation or injury, someone else needs to emerge for the team to be successful, and in the case of Oklahoma State in 2019, the most prominent emergences were that of running back Chuba Hubbard, safety Kolby Harvell-Peel and linebackers Malcolm Rodriguez and Amen Ogbongbemiga, each of whom went from unheralded entering the season to All-Big 12 honorees after the season.
Many were optimistic about Hubbard after his strong finish to the 2018 campaign when he filled in for the injured Justice Hill in the season's final three games. The thought was that Hubbard might be pretty good as a full-time starter in 2019. As it turned out, Hubbard was better than good. He was historic.
After rushing for 221 yards in the Cowboys' season-opening win at Oregon State, Hubbard led the FBS in rushing from beginning to end en route to earning unanimous All-America honors. He was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year as selected by both the league's coaches and the Associated Press and was one of three national finalists for the Doak Walker Award presented to the nation's top running back. Hubbard finished eighth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy and became only the second Oklahoma State back to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He finished with 2,094 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns.
Harvell-Peel was selected as a first-team All-Big 12 performer by both the coaches and the AP. He led the Big 12 with 1.5 passes defended per game and ranked in the top five in the conference in interceptions, fumbles forced and fumbles recovered. During one three-game stretch (vs. Iowa State, TCU and Kansas), Harvell-Peel had four interceptions, one fumble recovery and eight passes broken up. All three of those games resulted in Oklahoma State wins.
Rodriguez was an interesting case. A starter at safety in 2018, he was moved to linebacker in 2019 and despite being undersized for the position, still led the team and ranked fourth in the Big 12 with 103 tackles. He and Ogbongbemiga (100 tackles to rank fifth in the Big 12) were both named to the second-team All-Big 12 squad by the league's coaches and formed one of the better linebacker tandems in the league.
No single game encapsulated the impact of Harvell-Peel, Rodriguez and Ogbongbemiga quite as much as the win over No. 23 Iowa State in Ames. In that win, Harvell-Peel set a school record by breaking up six passes, Rodriguez had a game-winning interception return for a touchdown and Ogbongbemiga and safety Tre Sterling picked off Cyclone quarterback Brock Purdy on ISU's final two possessions of the game to seal the victory.
That win over Iowa State was significant because it came on the heels of back-to-back losses to Texas Tech and Baylor. The Cowboys and Cyclones were tied at 27 with less than seven minutes remaining in the game and at a time when OSU could have faltered, the defense rose to the occasion and delivered a victory that sparked a four-game win streak. In fact, from the Iowa State game through the end of the season, the Cowboy defense held each of its final six opponents below their season scoring averages. It can be argued that the win over Iowa State is what changed the entire tone of the season.
Beyond the players mentioned earlier, other OSU standouts were offensive lineman Marcus Keyes, who earned first-team All-Big 12 honors by the Associated Press and cornerback A.J. Green, who was a second-team All-Big 12 selection by the AP and was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award presented to the nation's top defensive back.
A three-year starter, Green was one of five players voted as a captain by his teammates, joining Ogbongbemiga, quarterback Dru Brown, receiver Dillon Stoner and special teams ace Philip Redwine-Bryant.
Brown's was one of the most fascinating storylines of the season. A two-year starter at Hawaii who graduated from UH and came to Stillwater in 2018, Brown was beaten out for the quarterback job by Taylor Cornelius last season, then was narrowly beaten out by Spencer Sanders in a competition that lasted right up to the week of the 2019 opener. Still, Brown worked and prepared and did things the right way, despite the disappointment. Sanders, meanwhile, thrived as the starter and was eventually voted as the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year by the league's coaches. In the Cowboys' win over Kansas, however, Sanders went down with a season-ending injury. Enter Brown. He finished out the victory over the Jayhawks, then quarterbacked the Cowboys to a road win over West Virginia the following week. Put simply, when it was Brown's time to emerge, he did.
Other similar examples of players stepping up when needed were provided by Stoner and receiver Braydon Johnson, who both took their games to a new level when Wallace was lost for the season.
And that was the general theme for the season - when adversity struck, whether through injury or defeat, Oklahoma State had example after example of players who were prepared and resilient enough to emerge when called upon and do their part to uphold the winning standard.
Players Mentioned
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OL
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LB
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LB
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QB
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S
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WR
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WR
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