Do you remember Refrigerator Perry?

The large Oklahoma State defensive tackle James Castleman did his best Refrigerator Perry impression by playing a few snaps on offense. Mr. Castleman pounded his way into the end zone from 1 yard out during an exciting moment in the first half to start all the scoring. The Cowboys were loose and ready to have fun. Would this be the last big play for Castleman?

The Oklahoma State Cowboys had a quick strike passing attack with their quarterback Mason Rudolph going 17 for 26 with 299 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The Washington Huskies QB Cyler Miles was not too far behind logging 25 for 38 with 268 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

The Cowboys had a well-balanced attack with their running back Desmond Roland accruing 123 rushing yards. This running back hadn’t even had a 100-yard game all season. It looks like he is a late bloomer.

Washington Huskies Make Late Rally

The Washington Huskies running attack was divided with Dwayne Washington registering 42 yards and Jaydon Mickens with one big run of 31 yards. Washington receivers Jaydon Mickens had 82 yards and Kasen Williams had 73 yards. Finally, the Huskies were starting to awake.

The Huskies got the score within one touchdown plus a 2-point conversion at 22 to 30 and hoped their defensive could stop the Cowboys. “Round up them Cowboys” growled the Huskies. There were 3 minutes and 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter with the Cowboys marching. But, then the Cowboys put in their secret weapon defensive tackle James Castleman. “Surely he would not win the game for them?” thought the Huskies. He was big and slow.

On third down, Mr. Castleman snuck out of the backfield for a short pass. None of the Huskies wanted to tackle him and Castleman rumbled for 48 yards before he was gang-tackled. Oklahoma State had a simple 27-yard gimme field goal and missed it! Washington needed a touchdown and 2-point conversion to send the game into overtime.

Washington Had Time Left and Needed a Score

Washington QB Miles stepped back to deliver a pass and overthrew his wide receiver. The interception had been the nail in the coffin sealing the Oklahoma State victory. Both teams had played well.

Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy concluded, “Our offense was resilient. I thought we blocked well, our running back ran hard, we made big catches and we turned James Castleman into a wide receiver.” The exciting fact for Oklahoma State fans is that their quarterback Mason Rudolph is only a freshman. Oklahoma State now hopes to accomplish even more next year.

It was all downhill from there. The Sooners got nowhere after getting the ball back following the touchdown, and the Tigers managed a field goal to take their lead to 10-0. To close out the first quarter, OU quarterback Trevor Knight had a pass intercepted by Ben Boulware, who brought it all the way in for another touchdown. That left the score at the end of the first quarter 17-0 in favor of the Tigers.

The rest of the game proceed likewise. The Tigers were up 27-0 at halftime and 40-0 after the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Sooners finally eked out a touchdown on a long drive that ended in a scoring run by Alex Ross. However, the Tigers were able to block the extra-point kick, which summed up the whole game in a nutshell.

The performance of the quarterbacks tells the whole story. Despite being a substitute for an injured Deshaun Watson, Tigers QB Cole Stoudt put up 319 passing yards, with 26 completions out of 36 attempts and no interceptions. On the other hand, the OU quarterback Trevor Knight only managed 17 completions on 37 attempts for a total of 103 yards, and he threw three interceptions.

During the entire game, the Sooners were unable to put together a convincing drive on offense and had five turnovers, while only getting two third down conversions. Their defense was unable to stop Stoudt’s passes, although the Tigers did not get much off in the way of running plays. The Tiger defense had little work to do, as the Sooners failed to make a first down on almost all of their possessions.

The flow of the game was that the Tigers would score, then the Sooners would try for a drive but get stopped and have to punt the ball, and then the Tigers would score again, either a touchdown or a field goal. The Sooners were simply incapable of putting up a fight. The game looked more lopsided than a 34-point margin of victory, and it is telling that the bowl nearly ended in a shutout.

The Sooners finished the season with eight wins, during a year when most expected them to win significantly more. After winning their first four, they proceeded to go 4-5 in the rest of the season with the loss at the Russell Athletic Bowl the dismal knockout blow to send them home. Clemson, finishing 10-3, overcame an injury to a star QB to end with a bowl game win in the last game the winning quarterback, Stoudt, will ever play for his school- he graduates in the spring.