Carson Cunningham and Colby Powell recap OSU’s disappointing 49-21 loss to Texas in the Big 12 championship game. Plus, they react to the College Football Playoff leaving out Florida State.

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This season’s Texas Bowl features a former conference rivalry renewed in a bowl rematch from five years ago.

Oklahoma State will play Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 27 in NRG Stadium in Houston. The Cowboys and Aggies shared the Big 12 from 1996 until A&M left for the SEC (sound familiar) in 2011. Here is a look at the history between the two programs.

Capsule

Overall record: Texas A&M leads 18-10
Neutral site meetings: Texas A&M leads 4-1
Meetings in Stillwater: Texas A&M leads 6-5
Meetings in College Station: Texas A&M leads 8-4
Past 10 meetings: Tied 5-5
First meeting (1913): Oklahoma State won 3-0
Most recent meeting (2019): Texas A&M won 24-14

The Early Days

These teams met seven times between 1913 and 1954, with Texas A&M winning five of those meetings.

OSU got on the board first, though, with a 3-0 win in Stillwater in 1913. A&M won the next five meetings by a combined score of 142-7. The Cowboys got back in the win column with a 14-6 win in 1954, the teams’ last meeting for nearly three decades.

The 1980s

Ah, the 80s — what a time to be alive (I wouldn’t know).

The Cowboys and Aggies met three times in the 1980s with OSU going 2-1 in the decade.

OSU had its biggest win of the series behind Barry Sanders in 1988, besting the Aggies 52-15. Sanders ran for 157 yards and two touchdowns against A&M on his way to hoisting the Heisman trophy.

The Big 12 Era

The Big 12 kicked off in 1996 with OSU joining from the Big Eight and A&M joining from the Southwest Conference. The two schools met on the gridiron every year between 1996 and 2011, where A&M held a 10-6 advantage over the Pokes as conference foes.

Most of that came in the beginning with A&M winning the first six Big 12 meetings against OSU. That included an overtime game in 1997 in College Station.

2002: OSU finally broke the streak in 2002 with a 28-23 win. It must’ve been a magical time in Stillwater as the Cowboys beat Nebraska on Lewis Field, had a bye week and then beat A&M on Lewis Field. OSU had a 28-7 lead against the Aggies at the half that year before holding on for the win.

Tatum Bell was the star of the show, running for 143 yards and three touchdowns. OSU other score was from Josh Fields to John Lewis, who finished with five catches for 86 yards.

Vernon Grant and Chay Nease each picked off A&M quarterback Dustin Long.

2003: The Cowboys then went to College Station and beat the Aggies 38-10 the next season. It was OSU’s first win in College Station since 1983.

Bell was, again, that guy. The DeSoto speedster ran for 196 yards and three touchdowns. Rashaun Woods caught four passes for 109 yards and a pair of scores.

2008: Mike Gundy got his first coaching win against the Aggies in 2008 after an 0-3 start. OSU won 56-28.

Zac Robinson completed 10 passes that day — five went to Dez Bryant. Bryant was unstoppable (the sentence could stop here) against A&M, going for 106 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Bryant also had a 78-yard punt return touchdown that day. Utter domination.

2010: Gundy parlayed his first win against the Aggies into a four-game winning streak in the series. This game was the third of those and ended 38-35 via a Dan Bailey walk-off.

Kendall Hunter ran for 101 yards and two scores, but this was where many were getting their first real look at Justin Blackmon. Blackmon had 10 catches for 127 yards and a score.

The OSU defense picked off A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson four times that day with Markelle Martin, Ugo Chinasa, Andrew McGee and Shaun Lewis all getting involved in the fun.

2011: One of the all-time great games in a season full of all-time great games, this Top 10 matchup ended with Blackmon running 39 yards backward for a safety to secure OSU’s 30-29 win and send the Aggies packing to the SEC.

Brandon Weeden completed a ridiculous 47 passes that day in College Station. Eleven of those went to Blackmon for 121 yards and a touchdown. Josh Cooper had another 11 for 123 yards. And Hubert Anyiam also got into double digits with 10 catches for 92 yards.

The OSU D picked off Ryan Tannehill three times via Justin Gilbert, Brodrick Brown and James Thomas.

A Texas Bowl Rematch

The last time these teams met was also in the Texas Bowl in Houston, a 24-21 Aggie win.

OSU raced to a 14-0 lead before A&M scored 24 unanswered. OSU scored again with about a minute to play but failed to recover the onside kick.

Full Series History

For the second time in program history, the Cowboys are headed to the Texas Bowl. And for the second time in program history, the Cowboys are playing Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl.

Oklahoma State will play the Aggies on Dec. 27 in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston. It’s a quick return to H Town after the Cowboys played the Cougars Nov. 18, a 43-30 win for the Pokes.

This marks the second time the Cowboys have played in the Texas Bowl, but it’s the fourth time OSU has bowled in Houston. Here is a look at the Cowboys history in Houston-based bowl games.

2019 Texas Bowl

Opponent: Texas A&M
Result: L, 24-21

This game started out as the Braydon Johnson game before the Aggies rallied back to beat the Pokes 24-21 in a meeting between former conference foes.

With Dru Brown filling in for an injured Spencer Sanders, the Cowboys raced out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead against the Aggies thanks to a 42-yard Johnson touchdown before Brown scrambled in from nine yards out for the Cowboys’ second score.

A&M then scored the next 24 points of the game before Johnson scored again with about a minute to go. A failed onside kick ended things.

Johnson finished with five catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Brown was sacked four times, but he still managed to throw for 184 yards and the two scores in his final college game. Chuba Hubbard capped off his 2,000-yard season with 158 yards against the Aggies.

2002 Houston Bowl

Opponent: Southern Miss
Result: W, 33-23

Fresh off a win against Oklahoma in the 2002 Bedlam game, the 7-5 Cowboys faced Southern Miss in the 2002 Houston Bowl, winning 33-23.

Rashaun Woods earned MVP honors, catching nine passes for 164 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown. Tatum Bell was also unstoppable that day, running for 160 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries (that’s 12.3 yards per carry). Josh Fields was 21-for-40 for 310 yards and two touchdowns. His other TD pass was to Mike Denard.

Kevin Williams set up shop in the Southern Miss backfield that day, sacking Dustin Almond three times. Greg Richmond — now OSU’s defensive line coach — also recorded a sack that day. Darrent Williams had an interception and three pass breakups against Southern Miss.

1983 Bluebonnet Bowl

Opponent: Baylor
Result: W, 24-14

One of three neutral site meetings between OSU and Baylor, the Cowboys bested the Bears 24-14 in the 1983 Bluebonnet Bowl.

Earnest Anders ran for 143 yards and a touchdown, while Rusty Hilger completed 12 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns.

The Cowboys started with a 21-0 lead, a run capped off by a 26-yard pass from Hilger to Jamie Harris. Harris had 69 receiving yards on the day.

Adam Hinds and James Spencer each picked off Baylor passes.

The Cowboys are headed to Houston for a rematch.

No. 20 Oklahoma State will face Texas A&M in the TaxAct Texas Bowl, according to a report by Brett McMurphy, in what will be a rematch of the 2019 Texas Bowl.

The former Big 12 foes have played 28 times with the Cowboys going 10-18 all-time versus the Aggies. OSU is 1-4 on neutral site games against A&M the last meeting being that 2019 postseason game.

This is the Cowboys’ second time to play in the Texas Bowl. OSU lost to Texas A&M 24-21 in the then-Academy Sports and Outdoors Texas Bowl in 2019. The Cowboys took a 14-0 lead in the first half before the Aggies scored 24 unanswered points. A late Braydon Johnson TD catch pulled the Pokes to within three with a minute left but the Cowboys weren’t able to stop the clock and the Aggies held on to win it.

This extends OSU’s bowl streak to 18 seasons under Mike Gundy. The Cowboys are 11-6 in bowl games under Gundy.

Here are the basic details including when, where and how to watch.

When: Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 8 p.m.
Where: NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas
Watch: ESPN

With the early signing period opening later this month, the Cowboys’ staff extended a late offer Sunday to an under-the-radar tailback.

Jaden Allen-Hendrix, out of South Carolina, announced an offer Sunday. Allen-Hendrix in unranked by the major recruiting services.

After a amazing conversation and home visit from @JohnWozniak2 I am truly blessed to receive an offer from OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY‼️#AGTG #GoPokes @CowboyFB @HaleMcGranahan @Irmo_Football @LoJoe12 pic.twitter.com/Cf9m7FhQlK

— Jaden Allen – Hendrix (@Jaden_0930) December 3, 2023

His only other FBS offer, per his Twitter account, is to Charlotte. Looking at his measurables and his film, it’s a wonder as to why other programs haven’t been after him. He is a bruiser with burst, listed at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds. He plays at Irmo High School in South Carolina, leading the Yellowjackets to a 13-1 record this season and an appearance in the state semifinals.

Allen-Hendrix ran for 2,215 yards and 25 touchdowns in 14 games this season. He eclipsed 200 rushing yards in three games this season, running for a season-high 257 in his season-opener. He also caught 20 passes for another 360 yards and four touchdowns in his senior season.

This feels like a similar situation to Tywon Wray last recruiting cycle. A safety from Georgia, Wray didn’t have a ton of notable offers last year before OSU offered in December. He signed shortly after.

OSU has one running back committed in the 2024 class in Del City’s Rodney Fields. The Cowboys have 16 commits in the class overall — a class that ranks 50th nationally and eight in the Big 12, per 247.

The early signing period opens Dec. 20.

Oklahoma State fell a couple spots after getting blown out in the Big 12 Championship game.

The Cowboys are No. 20 in the final rankings from the College Football Playoff committee, down from 18 last week. OSU came in at No. 22 and 21 in the AP and Coaches polls, respectively.

The biggest reveal — after Texas’ inclusion in the Final Four — was Oklahoma falling just below the cut line for a NY6 bowl. If the Sooners had been in the top 11, if could have opened up a spot for the Cowboys as the third-highest ranked Big 12 team. Kansas State remained just in the ranking at 25th.

The Cowboys have 43 appearances in the CFP rankings since 2015, with their highest ranking being at No. 5 late in 2021. This is the seventh time the OSU is ranked in the committee’s final ranking of the season.

Now that the full CFP rankings are out, OSU’s bowl destination should be forthcoming.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Big 12 title No. 2 for Mike Gundy will have to wait.

Oklahoma State lost to Texas 49-21 on Saturday in the Big 12 Championship. Here are five quotes from Gundy’s postgame news conference with video of his full conference below.

On OSU’s Rough Day on the Ground

Boasting the nation’s leading rusher, OSU ran for just 31 yards Saturday against the Longhorns.

Texas scored 21 points in the first quarter, making it tough to justify running the ball when OSU was already playing catchup. It also certainly didn’t help that OSU was going up against T’Vondre Sweat and a rush defense that ranked in the top five nationally coming into the game.

Ollie Gordon, the aforementioned nation’s leading rusher, carried just 13 times Saturday for 34 yards. Considering all the heavy lifting Gordon has done for this team entering the season, it would’ve been hard to imagine OSU winning this game given that line.

“We were going to use the run game some, but we knew we had to try to throw the ball more than what we had done in most games,” Gundy said. “They’re really good up front. They’ve got mass, and at times it can be a little difficult.

“… Early we didn’t get off to a good start, so we ended up being a little more one-dimensional offensively than what we would have wanted to.”

On a Rough Defensive Outing

Bluntly, the Texas offense dominated OSU’s defense Saturday.

The Longhorns had a season-high 662 yards of total offense to go with 33 first downs and one, singular punt.

Texas faced just one third down in the first quarter, a quarter it scored 21 points and had 197 yards of total offense in. It was a torching.

“There’s things we needed to do against them in man coverage to try to get the extra guy in the box at times,” Gundy said. “They did a good job on cross concepts and such and got us in some trail technique. They did a good job, as I said. They had some good concepts and schemes. When we went into the game, we felt like we had to be in a little bit more man than we needed to, just to kind of match up up front. We didn’t get as much pressure on the quarterback as we needed to. It’s not easy to get pressure on him. We rushed three people at times. There’s times it worked for us, and there’s times when he sat back there longer than what we wanted. We kind of knew that going in that might happen, but we tried to rush three, we rushed four, we rushed five, there’s times we rushed six.

“They had some good concepts on scheme. I didn’t hear there was a lot of what we hadn’t seen. They did a good job of getting the ball quick into the hands of skill kids and getting kick-out blocks and getting down the field and making plays.”

No Comeback Saturday

OSU overcame a 14-point deficit against Houston two weeks ago and an 18-point deficit against BYU last week. The comeback machine ran out of juice Saturday.

The Cowboys trailed by as many as 35 on Saturday. OSU had been coming out of halftime well, but it wasn’t able to replicate that in AT&T Stadium.

Texas was forced to punt for the one and only time Saturday on its first drive out of halftime. The Cowboys answered with a quick first down and a nine-yard gain before a wayward snap forced the Cowboys into a 3rd-and-8 that they were unable to convert. Any momentum the Pokes thought they had ended there. Had OSU scored on that drive, it would’ve cut the Longhorns’ lead to 35-21.

“We came out and got a stop,” Gundy said. “Then we rolled a little bit, and we had a high snap. We were on second and two or three. We had a high snap, we got sent back, and they stopped us. Ifs and buts, you know all that. To me, I envision and think about what if you go down and score there? At least you may kind of clamp them a little bit on play calling.

“But I don’t want to take away from Texas. Today they were really well coached, and they played good. They have good players, and they have good coaches. So I don’t want to take anything away from anybody. I still like my team.”

No Break for the Coaching Staff

Gundy said he plans on giving his players seven or eight days off — something Gundy said is unprecedented but that this team needs it.

The staff, however, gets no such break. With the transfer portal open and the early signing period starting Dec. 20, the staff is back to work.

“They’re gone,” Gundy said. “Everybody’s out here — I say everybody, most of them will be out of here tomorrow morning, and the rest will be out Monday afternoon or Tuesday. Everybody’s gone, hitting it and back at it. We get 12 hours off. It’s awesome.”

‘Our Guys, They Had an Unbelievable Year’

It might be tough for the OSU faithful to stomach a blowout loss in a conference title game, but Gundy is keeping things in perspective.

The start of this year went about as poorly as possible for the Pokes — with a loss to South Alabama. OSU then started Big 12 play 0-1 after a trip to Ames, and that was before anyone knew the Cyclones would have a pulse this season after gambling investigations gutted their roster. So given all of that, the fact that the Cowboys even made it to this game is somewhat remarkable.

“Our guys, they had an unbelievable year,” Gundy said. “I told them that. Sometimes you don’t win — you come up short. But there’s no way I’m taking anything away from what these guys were able to accomplish. I couldn’t be any more proud of the way they competed to get to this point. Week in, week out, they stayed with the process. They didn’t lose their train of thought. They didn’t lose the process of preparing each week. We’re lucky. We get to play another game. We’re going to find out where we’re going to go in a bowl game. We’ll get to go play again.

“I wanted them to know how much I appreciate that and what they brought to the table and that there’s nobody taking anything away from this football team, in my opinion, as we move forward to a week off and then get ready to play in a bowl game.”

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Oklahoma State football team fell to Texas 49-21 on Saturday in the Big 12 Championship. After the game, Mike Gundy, Kasey Dunn, Bryan Nardo, Alan Bowman, Nickolas Martin, Brennan Presley, Rashod Owens and Anthony Goodlow met with reporters to recap it.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Cinderella’s foot was too dang big.

Oklahoma State’s storybook run to the Big 12 title game ended with an unbefitting 49-21 loss to Texas on Saturday in AT&T Stadium. Here are 10 thoughts from the game.

1. A Woeful Defensive Performance

Texas is no doubt a good (perhaps great) football team. The Longhorns didn’t come into Saturday averaging 35 points and 460 yards of offense a game by accident.

But boy, that was a bad outing for the OSU D.

Texas had:

49 points
662 yards of total offense (season-high)
464 yards passing (season-high)
33 first downs (tied a season-high)
40:06 time of possession (season-high)
7.41 yards per play

The Longhorns punted just once Saturday, with that coming in the third quarter. The Cowboys stopped the Longhorns three times (four if you count Arch Manning kneeling to end the game).

Bryan Nardo’s scheme is new, and the defensive backs are young (even younger when Korie Black left in the first half with injury). But the Texas offense saw little resistance Saturday. The OSU offense wasn’t outstanding, but it didn’t really have a chance to keep up.

2. Texas Is Good Enough to Be In the CFP

For better or worse, Texas football is officially back.

For the first time since 2009, the Longhorns are Big 12 champions, and they did so in dominant, dominant fashion.

Texas entered the day at No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings, but there is room for movement. No. 6 Ohio State didn’t play this week — move the Buckeyes back. No. 5 Oregon lost to Washington in the Big Ten title game — move the Ducks back. No. 4 Florida State plays No. 11 Louisville on Saturday night, and the Seminoles will do so without their starting quarterback.

Should the Seminoles lose, I think Texas has to have that fourth spot — perhaps no matter if No. 8 Alabama beats No. 1 Georgia (a game that is ongoing as of writing). Alabama has gotten better since Texas beat the Tide in Tuscaloosa, but if both have one loss in a battle for the final spot in the Playoff, you have to give it to the team that won the head-to-head matchup. There is an argument to be made that Texas should get in over an unbeaten but Jordan Travis-less FSU. I wouldn’t make that call, but some could definitely argue it.

The one blemish on the Longhorns’ record is a Red River loss to a Top 15 team. That game is usually a coin flip no matter the year, and while the loss should be counted against Texas, it shouldn’t count nearly as much as Alabama’s loss to Texas should count.

The Longhorns have size, they have speed and they have a quarterback who went off to the tune of 452 yards and four touchdowns in a conference title game.

3. Recruiting Difference Evident in Team Speed

For much of that game, it looked as if the Cowboy defenders were playing these game while wearing Cowboy boots in a muddy Western Oklahoma prairie while the Longhorns’ offense was playing on a freshly waxed basketball court in a new pair of Air Jordans.

That’s the difference in the level these two schools recruit at. I don’t even mean that as a knock on Oklahoma State’s recruiting efforts. Texas has resources that OSU simply doesn’t. Over the past five classes, Texas has averaged the 6.8 class in the country. OSU has averaged the 38.2 class in the country.

Whether it was straight-line speed or coming out of cuts, the Longhorns seemingly always had someone (or three someones) beat his man and make a play.

That speed then made tackling angles different. Even if the Longhorns weren’t flat out running by OSU’s defense, the speed made tackling more difficult because they were a step or two past where ball carriers usually are.

4. Give Nickolas Martin All of the NIL Money

Despite being in the middle of a defense that gave up 49 points and 662 yards of total offense, Nickolas Martin had a heck of a day.

He just keeps going. He keeps signing up to be a part of about 20 high-speed collisions every Saturday. He did his entire postgame interview Saturday with a bag of ice on the right side of his face.

“It’s war,” Martin said. “If I gotta do this and go through all the pain inflicted for my guys, I’ll do it a million times-plus.”

Martin made two plays Saturday that were somewhat awestriking given the circumstance.

The first was on Texas’ second drive when he tackled speedster Xavier Worthy 54 yards past the line of scrimmage — laying out to swipe the legs of the All-Big 12 pass catcher and return man. Middle linebackers aren’t supposed to catch return men that far down the field.

The other play was more obvious. Martin picked off an Ewers pass in the second quarter and returned it 27 yards to the Texas 3-yard line, setting up the Cowboys second touchdown.

Give this man all the NIL monies.

pic.twitter.com/eF0pRMFifi

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) December 2, 2023

He finished the day with 13 tackles, bringing his season total to 133. That puts him one tackle outside OSU’s top 10 list for tackles in a season, a list that hasn’t changed since the 1980s.

After the bowl game, OSU ought to put him in a cryochamber and take him out next August. The man deserves a good nap.

5. Ollie Didn’t Have Much of a Chance

The most hyped matchup entering this game was Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year Ollie Gordon vs. Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year T’Vondre Sweat.

If the score wasn’t enough to show how that matchup went, Sweat finished with one touchdown to Gordon’s zero.

There just wasn’t a ton of room for Gordon to run, and on top of that, his team was down big basically instantly — meaning the Pokes desire to run the ball went out the Jerry World windows. He finished with 13 carries for 34 yards. His services were best used in the passing game, where he caught four balls for another 54 yards. For the math deficient like myself, that’s 88 total yards on 17 touches.

This shouldn’t do anything to hurt Gordon’s path to the Doak Walker, as the other two finalists aren’t playing this week. This might, though, be the decider in him making an appearance in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

6. Sesi Vailahi, One for the Future

The Pokes were without Jaden Nixon on Saturday for reasons undisclosed. Coming off an ankle injury, Elijah Collins suited up for the first time in a long time, but it appeared as if he was an “in case of emergency” option. So that left true freshman Sesi Vailahi to spell Ollie Gordon when needed.

Vailahi raised a few eyebrows in mop up duty against UCF, carrying four times for 20 yards, and though he didn’t get a ton of run Saturday, he was still impressive for a true freshman playing in a conference title game against a blue blood. Vailahi had two carries for seven yards and two catches for 12 yards. Nineteen total yards isn’t anything ridiculous, but the way he carried himself and the fact he didn’t look out of place despite getting his first major snaps in the Big 12 title game was enough to at least keep a close eye on him moving forward.

He converted a 3rd-and-2 from the Texas 12-yard line in the first quarter to set up OSU’s first touchdown. It came on the same play that Nixon converted the fourth down on against BYU last week — a fake to Gordon and a swing pass two the second back.

The Cowboys got Vailahi late in the 2023 cycle, signing him out of West High School in Salt Lake City. His high school film was interesting, as his team sometimes ran the triple option and put him in the slot when playing out of a more traditional spread.

7. Two Trips to Arlington, Two Totally Different Losses for the Pokes

It was going to hard to one-up the heartbreak from OSU’s 2021 trip to Arlington, but portions of this game at least made you think about it.

The Cowboys came into that game as a College Football Playoff hopeful and came mere inches short of winning the game. There was much less pressure on the Pokes on Saturday with a chance to ruin Texas’ CFP bid and send the Longhorns to the SEC on a loss in the process. But getting torched to that extent was also rather disappointing.

OSU and Texas have had so many fun games over recent history that this last one being an udder dismantling of the underdog just didn’t feel like the right way for this series to go out.

8. Bowl Possibilities

The bowl streak lives on, the next stop in OSU’s wacky, ridiculous, unconceivable 2023 season.

The most likely bowl destination at this point seems to be the Cowboys making a return trip to Houston for a Texas Bowl tilt against an SEC foe.

With four losses now, dreams of a trip back to Arlington for the Cotton Bowl are dead, but there are a few other possibilities. The second most likely option (and the one I’m rooting for) is a return trip to Orlando for the newly minted Pop-Tarts Bowl, but the Cowboys could also find themselves in the Alamo Bowl. It’d be a tough to imagine OSU slipping to the Liberty Bowl, but I suppose it is also a possibility.

The Alamo Bowl slot is interesting because while OSU beat OU and finished ahead of the Sooners in the standings, OU will enter Sunday ranked well ahead of the Pokes. However, if the Sooners find a way to move up into the top 11 (they entered Saturday at No. 12) despite being idle, OU could be New Year’s Six bound, which could shift where the rest of the Big 12 teams go. That would all of a sudden likely free up the Alamo Bowl for either Kansas State or OSU then the other would likely go to Orlando. With as close as all the teams finished near the top this year, there feel like a ton of possibilities.

9. The New Big 12

A fun trivia question for the future: Arch Manning took the final snap for Texas in Big 12 play.

The landscape has changed. Although it’s a real downer the Big 12 trophy belongs to an SEC team, I’m excited for the future of the league (though I’m less excited about all the travel). Saturday’s blowout aside, this league is so much fun because of its parity, and with the additions of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Arizona State, I don’t imagine that parity is going anywhere.

Will the Big 12 be thought of as highly as the SEC or Big Ten? No, but man, does it look like a fun conference heading into next season. It feels like a conference with endless possibilities, one where there is no major power running the show. That might not do a ton for casual college football fans, but for those in Big 12 country (which geographically spans most of the country at this point) it ought to be so much fun every week.

10. It Was About the Journey, Not the Destination (A Coping Mechanism)

Ever since the Cowboys’ 33-7 loss to South Alabama on Sept. 16, the Pokes have been playing with house money.

This group of Pokes took a season that seemed dead on arrival all the way to the Big 12 title game. It went from the bowl streak being on life support to a nine-win season where one of those wins was the last regularly scheduled meeting with OSU’s blue-blood, in-state rival.

This was undoubtedly a disappointing performance, but OSU making it to Arlington — staking its claim as a contender in the new-look league — is something to be celebrated, especially after how this thing started.