Stillwater, Okla. ? Brandon Weeden connected with Justin Blackmon on two short touchdown tosses, Joseph Randle ran for two scores, and No. 9 Oklahoma State used an early burst of offense to beat Arizona, 37-14, on Thursday night in a rematch of last year’s Alamo Bowl.
The Cowboys (2-0) scored on their first three drives to open a 21-0 lead in the first 161/2 minutes, then put it away with two scores midway through the second half.
Randle had 121 yards rushing and nine catches for 99 yards, and Blackmon had 128 yards on 12 receptions to extend his NCAA record streak to 14 straight games with at least 100 yards receiving.
Weeden finished with 397 yards passing, one less than Arizona’s Nick Foles, in a duel between the nation’s top two passers from the first week of the season.
The Wildcats (1-1) played without Juron Criner, who was the Pac-10’s top receiver last season and tied the school record with 11 touchdown catches. He had an appendectomy on Monday, and it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to return in time for Arizona’s home games the next two weeks against No. 6 Stanford and No. 12 Oregon.
But even with Criner out, Foles flung it around without many issues. Texas transfer Dan Buckner had 10 catches for 142 yards, including a 54-yarder for a touchdown, and Austin Hill had 128 yards on eight receptions.
The Wildcats’ running game was virtually nonexistent for the second straight week, though. Keola Antonin had just 22 yards on 13 carries, including a 1-yard touchdown run during a stretch when Arizona made five straight defensive stops to give itself a chance.
Oklahoma State flipped the field when punter Quinn Sharp took off for a 23-yard gain on a fake, and the Wildcats then got in their own way with a series of penalties that backed them up to their own 1-yard line before punting it back.
Weeden capitalized on the short field by feeding Blackmon on four straight plays, the last one a 3-yard fade pattern to the right side of the end zone. Randle highlighted the Cowboys’ next drive by coming out of the backfield to catch a 63-yard flip over the middle and set up Jeremy Smith’s 6-yard TD run that made it 34-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Buckner answered with his long TD on a stop-and-go down the right sideline against Devin Hedgepeth, but it was too little, too late for Arizona.
The Wildcats, who lost 36-10 in the Alamo Bowl to complete a five-game free fall at the end of last season, hadn’t put up nearly enough resistance at the start and lost to OSU for the second time in nine months.
Weeden completed 19 of his first 20 passes as Oklahoma State charged down the field on scoring drives of 88, 80 and 70 yards. Randle had touchdown runs of 1 and 4 yards, and in between Weeden tossed a 3-yard fade pass that Blackmon caught over his shoulder before tapping his right foot in the corner of the end zone.
Weeden’s first 13 passes were completed.