— STILLWATER – Falling victim to the offense a week earlier, the Oklahoma State defense got a chance to prove itself with Saturday’s 100-play scrimmage inside Boone Pickens Stadium.

And the defense came off much better in the second scrimmage of the fall camp.

“We definitely challenged them. If they should have had the better day, we didn’t feel like we played as well and had some real issues (in the first scrimmage),” defensive coordinator Bill Young said. “We let the ball get behind us, we didn’t have much pressure and we didn’t have a lot of containment. We played better, but gosh we’ve got a long way to go.”

After allowing the offense to charge up and down the field in the first scrimmage, the defense understandably had something to prove this time around.

“We gave up a lot of deep balls last week and that’s not in our nature – we’re supposed to be strong in the secondary,” OSU safety Daytawion Lowe said. “So our coach got after us and we worked on a lot of disguising and playing the ball better. And I think we did that today.”

The defense upped their turnover production from last week, as well, after forcing three takeaways in the first scrimmage – which Young wasn’t satisfied with.

“I think we did a lot better. Somebody told me we had five, which is not bad,” Lowe said. “We could have more. We had a few opportunities that were wasted, but we’re going to have to capitalize on them because we aren’t going to get a lot of chances in a game. But it’s definitely a positive to get more turnovers.”

As for the progress of Oklahoma State’s freshman quarterback Wes Lunt, there still appear to be baby steps being made in the right direction.

“I don’t see much, because he’s behind me,” senior offensive lineman Johnathan Rush said. “... But I do feel like he took more of a command going out there as opposed to last scrimmage. I think he’s just making these little advances.”

The receivers felt Lunt managed the offense considering he played more against the starting defense.

“Wes did OK. He went against our one defense today and they’re a lot more experienced group,” receiver Tracy Moore said. “It was a lot of good work for him. He has to grow up and get out of that freshman mode 100 percent before we hit this first game and today was a big step for him.”

“Wes is playing well. He seems to have good command of the offense and seems to be handling the blitz very well,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “I would expect the first two or three games of the season guys are going to try to blitz him a lot and he seems to be handling it pretty well because our defense is bringing a lot of pressure.”