By Matt Palmer Staff Writer
STILLWATER -- The Oklahoma State offense finally showed improvement Saturday afternoon.
The Cowboys managed a second-half explosion in a 38-31 loss to Missouri at Boone Pickens Stadium, and they did it in comeback fashion.
The Cowboys, who ranked 102nd nationally in total offense at 287.8 yards per game coming in, rolled up 222 yards after trailing 21-9 at halftime.
"That's where I saw most of our improvement," said OSU coach Mike Gundy. "They were able to say, "It doesn't matter if we're down by two scores.""
A week ago, the Cowboys managed only 208 offensive yards in a 34-0, Big 12-Conference opening loss to Colorado.
Trailing 31-9 with 10:07 remaining in the third, redshirt freshman quarterback Bobby Reid led the Cowboys on two-straight touchdown-scoring drives.
The first drive lasted seven plays and traversed 56 yards en route to a Julius Crosslin touchdown run. The second went nine plays and 61 yards, capped by a 2-yard Crosslin scoring run.
A two-point conversion completion from Reid to D'Juan Woods cut the lead to 31-24.
The offensive success improved vastly from a first half in which the Cowboys had to settle for three Bruce Redden field goals.
"I took the approach with (offensive coordinator Larry Fedora) that from the third quarter on, we're not kicking any field goals," Gundy said. "It's like playing in the front yard. You get four to score."
But on the next OSU drive, Reid went down and later was carted off the field with a towel over his right leg. Gundy said he didn't know the extent of Reid's injury.
He finished with a career-high 155 passing yards, completing 11 of 20 passes.
That brought in backup quarterback Al Pena, who was third-string until Donovan Woods moved to defense a few games into the season.
The Cowboys, however, didn't miss a beat, scoring a touchdown on a 5-yard pass from Pena to D'Juan Woods in the backup's first drive.
Pena finished 4 of 7 for 64 yards, a touchdown and the defeat-clinching interception with 55 seconds remaining.
"I think he played pretty good," Gundy said.
The Cowboys' 351 offensive yards marked the first time OSU had gained more than 300 yards since a season-opening, 378-yard performance against Montana State.
Gundy said if Reid can't play against Texas A--M next week, the Cowboys will go with Pena at quarterback. He also said he hasn't thought about returning Donovan Woods to offense. Woods started every game of the 2004 season and two games of this season behind center.
