Three Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 31-23 Win Over Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl
The regular season is in the books and now it is time for bowl season. Nine Big 12 teams will be playing over the next two weeks and Oklahoma State is next up on the bowl list. The Cowboys finished the regular season with a 9-3 record and played Texas A&M in the TaxAct Texas Bowl. It was a fun evening in Houston as Oklahoma State was looking to win their tenth game of the season. Here are my three thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 31-23 win over Texas A&M on Wednesday night.
Oklahoma State Aired It Out
Coming into the Texas Bowl, all people could talk about was star running back Ollie Gordon. He was the Big 12’s leading rusher this season and he recently announced that he would be returning in 2024. While he certainly is a great player who had an excellent performance (118 yards and a score), the reason Oklahoma State won was due to the passing attack.
In what was likely his final game, Alan Bowman let it fly. Bowman completed 34 passes for 402 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite targets were Brennan Presley and Rashod Owens who combined for 316 receiving yards and two scores.
History Was Made
In this game we saw two players make history for Oklahoma State. First, linebacker Nick Martin recorded his 134th tackle. He now has the most single season tackles for an Oklahoma State player since 1986. As impressive as that was, we also saw Ollie Gordon become the fifth player in Oklahoma State history to reach 2,000 all purpose yards in a season. The only other Oklahoma State players to reach that mark are Barry Sanders (3,526 in 1988), Chuba Hubbard (2,334 in 2019), Thurman Thomas (2,130 in 1987) and Terry Miller (2,009 in 1976). So not only did Oklahoma State win the game but they were also able to make a little history in the process.
What a Year
I know that the Big 12 Championship didn’t go their way, but beating an SEC team was a wonderful way to end the 2023 season. It also helps when that SEC team just so happens to be Texas A&M who was a former Big 12 foe. Before the 2023 season started, nobody was talking about the Oklahoma State Cowboys. They were picked to finish seventh in the preseason and somehow found themselves playing in Jerry World for a Big 12 title.
Remember their 33-7 loss to South Alabama back in September? That feels like a lifetime ago. After that game, many wondered if Mike Gundy still had it in him to turn things around. Well, it turned out that he did as Oklahoma State went on to win seven of their last eight games of the regular season including a big win over instate rival Oklahoma. The Cowboys came into Tuesday sitting at nine wins and after the Texas Bowl, they got to that magic number ten. And speaking of winning, this season marks the eighth time Oklahoma State has won ten or more games since 2010.
