'It's all about the mental approach': What it'll take for OSU to get its running game going

STILLWATER — Ollie Gordon had five rushing touchdowns against BYU last season, but through six games in 2024, the reigning Doak Walker winner has just four.

Gordon was a man on a mission during the rained-out game against the Cougars last season: He ran for 166 yards on a season-high 34 carries to get his team to the Big 12 title game. Somewhere between then and now, OSU lost its ability to rush the football.

The Cowboys rank 124th nationally (out of 133) in rushing offense this season, averaging just 91.2 yards per game. The only Power Four teams behind OSU in this statistic are Colorado, UCLA and Florida State. Gordon, meanwhile, is the Big 12's 10th-leading rusher, a season removed from leading the nation in rushing. It's all pretty strange.

“We definitely need to block better as an offensive line,” starting left tackle Dalton Cooper said. “With our double teams, we don’t move people off the ball like we should. I'll be honest, West Virginia, I didn't play a very good game – not good at all. We just get our double teams going, don't let the linebackers get away too quickly, let them sit and let the defenders see the holes because we screw it up just a little bit and that's a two-yard gain. If we just get our double teams going, fire the ball, have good pad level and low hat reads, we’ll be good.”

In the game against West Virginia that Cooper mentioned, the Cowboys managed just 36 rushing yards to the Mountaineers' 389. Gordon finished the game with 50 rushing yards (OSU was attacked for two sacks). To this point in the season, Gordon had yet to have a 100-yard game against an FBS opponent, as the only time he eclipsed the hundred-yard mark was against FCS team South Dakota State. In five games against FBS opponents, Gordon ran 73 times for 258 yards (3.5 yards per carry) and one touchdown.

A well-timed bye week last season helped the Cowboys get off to a 2-2 start. The Cowboys lost 34-27 to Iowa State last season, in a game where signs of something began to shine through for OSU. Then they had an open week before hosting Kansas State, a game that snapped a five-game winning streak for OSU. During that five-game span, Gordon ran for 995 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Cooper said this open week also felt productive.

“I feel like we just went to work,” Cooper said. “Every day it was, ‘Record, go out here, watch some film and just come out here and get to work.’ Nobody looks down. Nobody points fingers or anything. It's just like, “Okay, let's get to work.” There was enthusiasm, there was energy. It was the same. We just didn't shoot the ball our way. We just have to keep chugging along and we’ll be good.”

It sounds like Cooper and the Cowboys O-line know in theory what needs to be done to get OSU's fast-paced game going, but now it's all about turning that theory into reality.

“It comes down to the mental approach,” Cooper said. “We know what we can do, we just have to do it. I felt like Ollie just lost his mind last year, so we thought, 'Oh, he'll do that again.' But we kind of helped him a little bit. We just have to go back to the way we were. Like, shoot the ball, let him take a shot, let another guy miss and just drag his ass down the field.”