Bowling for wins
Published: 10/17/2006 1:17 PM
Last Modified: 10/17/2006 1:17 PM
After he left the podium following his weekly press conference last week, OSU coach Mike Gundy joked that there were no bowl questions asked.
“That’s awesome,” he said.
At the time, the Cowboys had lost two consecutive games and were 3-2. Where were the Cowboys going to get three more wins to become bowl eligible? They allowed winnable games on the road at Houston and Kansas State (both of whom now are very ordinary teams) to slip away.
Well, OSU got one of those three wins last week at Kansas. Now, a few national pigskin prognosticators are starting to include the Cowboys in their weekly bowl projections.
CBS Sportsline.com’s J. Darin Darst: OSU vs. Kentucky in the Independence Bowl.
ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel: OSU vs. South Carolina in the Independence Bowl.
ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach: OSU vs. Indiana in the Insight Bowl.
Let’s see. An OSU-Kentucky matchup would feature two of Eddie Sutton’s former employers. The Wildcats faithful never have forgiven Sutton for his time as Kentucky’s basketball coach when the program was placed on NCAA probation even though the NCAA said Sutton was cleared of any wrongdoing. Kentucky fans are more basketball savvy than football savvy to start with and likely don’t realize that Sutton doesn’t coach football.
Speaking of basketball, an OSU-Indiana game would be much better on the hardwood than the gridiron. Sean Sutton vs. Kelvin Sampson is much more intriguing than the Cowboys and Hoosiers playing football.
OSU playing South Carolina would be intriguing. From this perspective, OSU’s greatest bowl win came against the Gamecocks in the 1984 Gator Bowl. Gundy trying to match wits against the cocky ol’ ball coach Steve Spurrier. Too bad that this projected matchup would take place in Shreveport. Ugh!
Truthfully, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
The Cowboys still need two more wins to become bowl eligible. Where are those two wins going to come from? Anybody care to help me out?
OSU’s offense is the real deal. The defense, unfortunately, is in real trouble without linebacker Chris Collins. Can the Cowboys win enough 35-31 or 38-34 type of games to get to the magical six-victory mark?
My mini-sized gut instinct tells me those fateful final four minutes at Kansas State will keep the OSU faithful home for the holidays instead of spending some of it in Shreveport or the Valley of the Sun in Arizona.
--- Matt Doyle
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
