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OSU given no chance, but who knows?

 
By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist
Published: 10/21/2008  2:04 AM
Last Modified: 10/21/2008  3:28 AM

 STILLWATER — Oklahoma State has no chance.

The Cowboys don't belong among the nation's top six teams.

O-State does not have the defense to hang with high-flying Texas in Saturday's showdown with the top-ranked Longhorns in Austin.

Before the ink was dry on the BCS standings announcement, the bashing of OSU started with national college football experts.

The same experts said the Cowboys had no chance at Missouri.

Perhaps the doom and gloom predictions for OSU will come true this week. Obviously, Texas is very good. In two straight games, the Longhorns have scored 45 and 56 points in beating previously top-ranked Oklahoma and Big 12 North favorite Missouri.

"We saw what they did to Missouri, and we know it will be a big challenge," said OSU quarterback Zac Robinson.

If the Horns can roll Mizzou and OU for 101 points, they are more than capable of pounding the Cowboys.

That could happen. But just like the week before Mizzou, there probably is a belief in the OSU locker room that the Cowboys can win this game.

"We're further along as a team," said coach Mike Gundy at his weekly Monday press conference. "We're more mature. We have more depth. We're more seasoned."

After OSU won at Mizzou, Gundy said the only people who believed the Cowboys could win in Columbia were in his locker room.

That may be true again this week. There aren't many believers outside of Payne County.

"You let the cards fall in place after you play them," Gundy said.

There is plenty of evidence that OSU is not overrated or untested.

"This is a totally different team," Robinson said. "It is a totally different attitude."

The Cowboys are no longer frightful on the road, having learned their lessons to become road warriors in college football (5-1 in their past six away from Stillwater).

There is nothing wrong with OSU's resume to be included in the top 10 of the BCS.

If a traditional power like OU, Alabama or Penn State had OSU's season resume thus far in the year, they likely would be ranked No. 1. The Cowboys are unbeaten. They have not been challenged in two of their conference games. In the other, on the road against the nation's No. 3 team, OSU was clearly the better team.

There is no reason to downgrade the Cowboys through seven games. They have played a couple of challenging games, one very difficult road game and won the games they were supposed to win with ease.

Still, questions remain.

National contenders are supposed to be familiar names.

Look at the top of the poll. Texas, Alabama, Penn State, Oklahoma and Southern Cal.

There are no upstarts on that list. So, as usual, there is a tendency to favor the traditional powers.

Of course, there is a bias. Those teams have been winning big for decades.

Oklahoma State has not. That's why there is so much skepticism out there.

No one doubts any of the top five might be the best team in the country. Until the Cowboys keep proving it, there will be doubters. That's just the way it is.

So, winning again on the road against one of the nation's best teams would be huge.

Losing would not end the season.

In fact, any team in the country could lose at Austin and not be ashamed. The Longhorns don't lose in front of 98,000 friends very often.

Still, it would be foolish to completely write off OSU. The Cowboys have been much better on defense than expected. Not great but better. But, in the grand scheme of college football these days, very few teams have great defenses. What you want is a defense to make a few stops. OSU certainly had that at Missouri. The Cowboys were good enough to shut down Baylor, a team with an explosive offense and one of the best all-around quarterbacks in the league.

So can OSU win? Sure. Is there a reason no one outside those folks in the locker room believes it? Sure.

But Gundy has made a big deal of changing the expectations at Oklahoma State. He has turned the Cowboys into a legitimate threat to win just about any weekend.

It is a gradual process. Winning is the way you change perception. The Cowboys have a chance.
By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist

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COMMENTS 
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6 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
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Report Comment
MexiMike, tulsa (10/21/2008 7:50:02 PM)
"Experts" on Gameday also said that OSU would be upset by Baylor...yeah, exactly what field are they experts in again?
Report Comment
Icefighters, Muskogee (10/21/2008 8:01:06 PM)
Go Cowboys, leave it all on the field. The greatest win in OSU history!
Report Comment
Rhymeister, Tulsa (10/22/2008 6:34:39 AM)
Ok State can definitely win the game, they just need to be firing on all cylinders, let UT make all the mistakes and commit all the turnovers. The Cowboys have the horses to shock the nation! Let's do this, we owe the Horns a lil sumthin sumthin for the come-from-behind-a-mountain victories they have pulled out the past few years!
Report Comment
texasbill, (10/22/2008 6:37:41 AM)
O STATE WILL WIN !!!!!!!
Report Comment
wk, (10/22/2008 2:20:37 PM)
OSU will lose by 20. They really don't stand a chance against Texas and Colt McCoy. They have over-acheived long enough and now will go back to the mid-teens to low 20's in the rankings where they belong.
Report Comment
cowboy pete, (10/22/2008 10:07:08 PM)
The Boys can win this game. They have the confidence, the ability and the know how. They have come a long way this year and their supporters, nation wide not just in Stillwater, truelly believe in them. Go Pokes
 

 
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