Mike Gundy calls out refs over roughing the passer call on Brock Martin

Oklahoma State traveled to Boise State last weekend to face a perennial power amongst the Group of Five teams, and it required a last-minute blocked field goal to survive in a 21-20 win.

While the Broncos may have eventually gotten deep into Cowboys territory anyway, their final offensive drive was aided by a controversial roughing the passer call. Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy expressed his disdain for the call on Monday. 

Defensive end Brock Martin sacked Boise State quarterback Hank Bachmeier, pushing the Cowboys out of field goal range. After the call, the Broncos got a first down and the ball moved to the 20 yard line. 

“Yeah, they missed the call,” Gundy said Monday. 

When asked what he tells Martin or another defender that finds themselves in that situation following a play like that, Gundy was not shy in his critique. 

“Bad breaks and crooked refs,” Gundy replied flippantly.

The senior defensive end had a good day otherwise, amassing four tackles, one additional sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry. 

The Cowboys defense finished the day with four sacks. The game was a defensive battle, especially in the second half; all of the game’s points came before halftime, as each team had three punts, a missed field goal and a turnover to conclude the game.

Injuries plaguing struggling Cowboys offense

Oklahoma State is 3-0, but their three wins have come by a total of just 13 points. Largely, the defense is not to blame for the struggles. 

Gundy’s offense is the second-worst in the Big 12 right now, averaging just 336.7 yards and 24 points per game. In Saturday’s win, quarterback Spencer Sanders had just 82 yards after going 6-for-13, although he did have a rushing touchdown. In 2020, Oklahoma State averaged 426.8 yards per game. 

Running back Jaylen Warren accounted for ⅔ of Oklahoma State’s total yardage, running for 218 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries.

In the past, the Cowboys have had excellent skill players, particularly at wide receiver. But this season, injuries plague the squad. Gundy noted Saturday night that more wideouts were on the injured list than wideouts they have available to participate in games. 

Receivers Tay Martin, Braydon Johnson and Jaden Bray were all unavailable last week. Bray, a true freshman, currently leads the team in receiving yardage with 136 yards on six receptions. No Oklahoma State receiver has more than one touchdown catch this season, and they have just three passing scores through three games.