Oklahoma State football: Cowboys have to find their 'edge' against lowly Savannah State

Savannah State won only one game a year ago. Opponents outscored the Tigers 442-138. That means these guys lost by wide margins. And remember, there wasn't one major-college opponent on their schedule.

So, can OSU gain anything from this opener?

The Cowboys can gauge how mature they are.

“I don't want to sound corny, but you would hope they would go out and play the same way we play against OU,” Cowboy co-defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer said.

“Find that edge.”

That won't be an easy thing to do, and the Cowboys know it. They've watched the tape. They've scouted the Tigers. They know the team that they'll be facing Saturday night would struggle against Central Oklahoma, much less Oklahoma.

But here's a sign of a mature team — find a way to focus on yourself when the opponent is weak. You play up to your level, not down to their level. You find that edge.

How will we know if the Cowboys did that?

It comes down to how clean a game they play. Did they commit penalties? Did they miss tackles? Did they turn the ball over?

I'm not crazy enough to think a team could have a game where it didn't do any of those things. Then again, this is Savannah State. Why couldn't OSU have a game without a penalty, a missed tackle or a turnover?