The Oklahoma State Cowboys can focus on trying to win that sixth game of the season as they prepare to face the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday in Manhattan.
The Cowboys (5-3, 3-2 in Big 12) are all but out of the Big 12 Championship game race, which is to say there is still a mathematical shot but not a reasonable shot. The Wildcats (4-4, 1-4 in Big 12) left their changes behind long ago and quarterback Avery Johnson might miss the rest of the season due to an injury.
With the Cowboys preparing to face Wildcats quarterback Blake Barnett, here are some players who really helped themselves with their play and some really hurt themselves against Iowa State.
We should be talking about Caleb Hawkins not just as one of the best running backs in the Big 12, but as one of the best running backs in the country. After his enormous performance against Iowa State Hawkins now ranks No. 11 in the country in rushing yards with 906. He's also 10th in the country in rushing yards per game with 113.2.
With his surge in production the last three weeks, especially in the passing game, Hawkins is now third in the country in all-purpose yards with 157.38 yards per game. The only running backs in front of him are North Texas back Jaheim White, who played for West Virginia last year, and Duke's Nate Sheppard.
As I've written in the past couple of days, Hawkins is setting himself up for Heisman Trophy candidacy in 2027.
Joseph Hanson has emerged as perhaps the steadiest offensive lineman at Oklahoma State. His Pro Football Focus (subsrcription required) scores are always in the green from week to week, whether it's around blocking or pass blocking. He's part of the reason Caleb Hawkins had such a huge game on the ground on Saturday. He's also part of the reason that quarterback Drew Mestemaker avoided being sacked for most of the game.
PFN 365 rated Hanson as its top right guard of the week with a grade of 90.4. The former Coastal Carolina star has been lurking in the shadows all season. But he's clearly emerged as one of the best options the Cowboys have on their offensive line.
Since the Cowboys took the field against Houston three weeks ago, LaDainian Fields has picked off four passes. That includes the two he intercepted against Colorado at Boone Pickens Stadium. With five interceptions this season he leads the Big 12. The total also puts him tops in the country with several other players and tied for first with three others for the lead in interceptions per game at .62.
Remember when he picked off a pass against Tulsa and then didn't pick off another pass for a month? Those days are long behind him. He's Oklahoma State's best cornerback and he's fulfilling the potential the head coach Eric Morris had for him at the start of the season.
With the unclear status of defensive end Jaleel Johnson, who left the Iowa State game with an injury and stood on the sideline with his arm in a sling, Charles figures to be the primary beneficiary of additional playing time if Johnson can't play against Kansas State.
Charles had a solid game against Iowa State finishing with five tackles, including two solos. The Cowboys need an injection of pressure on the outside and Charles has proven an ability to be that injection at times. It will be interesting to see what he does with starter's reps, if that's what he gets this week.
The injury to Carson Cobb gave Morris an opportunity to get Oscar Hammond more playing time. And he delivered. Hammond had one catch for seven yards. But the key is that he played most of the game. The Cowboys snapped the ball more than 70 times and he was on the field for 66 of them.
Morris saw him as a key matchup in this game, even though Hammond has only been available for the past few games due to an offseason injury. Hammond knows the system because he played in North Texas and he has a good rapport with Mestemaker, even though much of his time at North Texas was spent rehabbing an injury.
Skyler Cassity. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
For those fans that want to run Cassidy out of town after that awful defensive performance on Saturday - and there are a few of them - a reminder that he coordinated the same unit that you loved after it slow down Colorado and West Virginia and UCF.
But to be clear the defense was bad on Saturday. It gave up 581 yards and the gap in talent between the offense and the defense finally caught up to this unit. What Cassidy does next is key. He runs a 4-2-5 scheme and while he's OK with running multiple fronts, those experiments haven't worked.
Cassidy must acknowledge where he has talent gaps and find ways to mitigate it. The talent isn't going to get any better or any worse. But he can find ways to augment that by how he schemes the defense.
But those folks connecting him to the head coaching job at Sam Houston probably need to chill.
Wyatt Young is a great player who is coming off a great game as he caught seven passes for 74 yards and two scores. He's also had a great season. He's one of the best wide receivers in the country. But his gaffe at the end of the game, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, drops his stock for the week.
Let's be clear - fans people on the sideline they say all sorts of stuff to players. And while it makes sense for someone to react, players are coached to ignore it. The same goes with anything said to an official. If someone says something that falls into the "no-no" category with an official, they are will within their rights to throw a flag.
It really doesn't matter. It's on Young to be in control in that moment and he wasn't. That wasn't the only thing that cost Oklahoma State that win, but he cost them 15 yards of field position at a time when they needed it on the kickoff. Joseph Kim could have kicked the ensuing kickoff in the end zone and put the Cyclones at 25-yard line. It might have made a difference. I suspect the punishment from Morris will be not starting or not playing for a certain portion of the game against Kansas State.
Starting safety Quentin Hammonds was questionable all week with an injury and obviously it wasn't clear if he would play against Iowa State. He was a game-time decision. Well, when game time came around Hammonds was good to go. He played nearly the entire game - 69 plays -even though he missed part of the Colorado game with one of his arms in a sling.
Both Epps and Williams stood to get more playing time if Hammonds didn't play. The pair combined for 19 plays. They did make much of an impact on the game. Even if Hammonds wasn't 100%, he's clearly their best option at the position.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/oklahomastate as Oklahoma State Football Stock Report: Big Risers in Backfield, Offensive Line .
