How Oklahoma State's Kendal Daniels, defense pulled team out of 'rut' in win over Iowa State

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State safety Kendal Daniels wanted to make sure Iowa State knew he was there.

Iowa State running back Deon Silas discovered Daniels when he was leveled by the 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman, fumbling the football 7 minutes into the game.

Six minutes later, Cyclones quarterback Hunter Dekkers had a pass go off a receiver into Daniels’ hands. Later in the game, Daniels stopped Dekkers on a fourth-down play.

“I just want them to feel like, ‘OK, he’s here to play,’” Daniels said.

The Beggs product certainly met his expectations.

On a day the Cowboys got a tremendous boost from the late-game return of veteran quarterback Spencer Sanders in a 20-14 win over Iowa State, the defense and a budding star completely dominated.

“As good as Iowa State’s defense is — obviously we knew going in and then very convincing as good as they are — I told the team in the locker room that today our defense was better,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said.

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OSU forced five turnovers. It held the Cyclones to just 333 total yards, not allowing them to surpass 300 until the game’s final drive. Iowa State rushed for just 59 yards on 36 carries.

The Cowboys’ defensive identity appeared to be back after a miserable stretch of struggling for more than a month.

“We were in a tough rut,” OSU redshirt senior safety Jason Taylor II said. “A lot of injuries, a lot of things going on, and to play a game like this and get turnovers and to come out with a win is very satisfying.

“We’re going to try to build on this and continue to do this throughout the end of the season.”

But this was also the day that Daniels fully arrived.

He was tied for the team lead with 10 tackles — along with fellow safety Sean Michael Flanagan — and had 1.5 tackles for a loss. It was easily Daniels’ best game of his career.

“He doesn’t play young,” said Taylor, who also had an interception. “He’s only going to get better. This is just one of those games where he showed everybody he’s on that track.”

Daniels actually did get off to a slow start.

He missed a few tackles early, failing to get his head up on each play. Gundy was about ready to pull him aside for a fiery chat.

Then Daniels popped the football loose from Silas.

“I said, ‘Well, I’ll let him go,’” Gundy said.

The lesson was still there.

Daniels — who Gundy has labeled the “Wild Thing” this season — will have his ups and downs. Tackling will be an issue with his long frame. Daniels said he’s working daily to improve that.

But making his third start this season, Daniels' steady improvement allowed Jabbar Muhammad to move back fully to cornerback. Muhammad limited Iowa State star Xavier Hutchinson and had an interception.

For at least one night, nearly everything clicked. And OSU’s defense finally took off.

“What you saw was just time after time … he was consistent, he was fitting gaps, the football found him,” OSU defensive coordinator Derek Mason said, “and we know he’s got great ability.

“But I think this was a defensive win. It was a total defensive performance that we haven’t had all year. Now, that’s the standard moving forward.”

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Mike Gundy’s message to his son Gunnar

Gundy joked around with his middle son Gunnar late this week.

It was then known that Gunnar would make his first-career start in place of Sanders and injured backup Garret Rangel.

Mike brought up the good news: Gunnar would get to play, maybe have some fun.

The bad news? His first start would be against Iowa State, a team ranked No. 10 nationally in total defense.

“You picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue,” Gundy joked with his son, referencing the 1980 comedy “Airplane!”

Even with the offense struggling at times, Gundy believes his son made just one big mistake, throwing an interception on his last play of the day when he tried to make a play out of nothing along the sideline.

Gundy said he wants Gunnar to understand that it’s OK to not always make a play.

“Now statistically, I'm sure he’s going to look at it and think this was not good,” Gundy said. “But Gunnar competed. His poise was good. There’s a couple times I wish he could have made a guy or two miss, but they tackle good.”

Gunnar — who did not play the fourth quarter — completed 5 of 12 passes for 103 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

He earned the start with Sanders not expecting to play for a second straight week due to a shoulder injury that’s plagued him since early October. True freshman Garret Rangel, who started last week at Kansas, suffered a chest bruise in that game and was unavailable, according to the radio broadcast.

Cowboys finally get to the quarterback

For three weeks, the OSU defensive front failed to record a sack.

Then, they kept getting to Dekkers in the fourth quarter. Four times, to be exact.

Collin Oliver got to Dekkers first. Oliver also sealed the game with a fourth-down sack with 19 seconds remaining.

It was the second game-sealing sack of Oliver’s short career, the first coming in Bedlam a year ago.

“I guess that is pretty good,” Oliver said. “It’s pretty cool, pretty surreal.”

Iowa State was in comeback mode for most of the fourth, which meant it looked to pass more. The Cyclones ran the ball 12 times for just 2 yards in the quarter.

That allowed OSU’s talented defensive front to get more aggressive.

“If you want to make it a pass game, that’s really what our guys do,” Mason said. “We have pass rushers. I thought our guys really started to show their experience and really exert their will in the fourth quarter.”

OSU struggles on third down

OSU started the day 0 for 10 on third down and finished 1 for 14.

The lone conversion came on a Sanders run that set up the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.

That’s less than ideal.

But Iowa State’s defense was a big reason. The Cyclones had a lot of success with edge rushers MJ Anderson and Will McDonald IV.

“I’m going to give them credit,” Gundy said. “They’re good at what they do. But that’s not a good plan for success on third downs.”

Richardson goes deep

John Paul Richardson got a little excited for the play call.

A deep route designed to go his way? Nothing better.

And in mid route he turned and saw a perfect pass from Gunnar Gundy. Richardson caught the football with ease and then outran two defenders down field.

“Literally, he couldn't have dropped it in a better spot,” Richardson said. “I just ran as fast as I could to the end zone.”

Richardson said he did not use the giant videoboard to find the trailing defender. He knew he was there. Once he dove and missed, Richardson turned to the board to see how much space he had.

It was the longest play of the season for the Cowboys and longest passing play since 2019 against Tulsa — a Sanders to Tylan Wallace connection.

It was also the longest play of the year against Iowa State.

Extra points

Cowboys kicker Tanner Brown, who was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award this week, made two field goals. He’s now 20 for 21 on the season. … OSU was without offensive linemen Preston Wilson and Hunter Woodard, defensive ends Trace Ford and Tyler Lacy, and safety Thomas Harper due to injuries. … Kody Walterscheid and Xavier Ross earned their first-career starts.

Jacob Unruh covers college sports for The Oklahoman. You can send your story ideas to him at junruh@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @jacobunruh. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State's Kendal Daniels, defense dominated Iowa State in win