On the road, at a place that has been traditionally tough on visitors, the Cowboys proved they are not fading away with a 30-17 victory at Colorado.

By contrast, Tulsa followed up its disappointment at Arkansas, and an off week to recover, with perhaps its worst performance in at least six years. Houston pushed Tulsa off the national college football map with a 70- 30 beat down that was every bit as bad as it sounds.

It leaves the Golden Hurricane not only long gone on the national scene but with some serious obstacles to even reach the Conference USA Championship Game.

Tulsa’s loss was a complete collapse on all fronts. The defense was awful. Special teams made a series of blunders. The offense kept trying to be cute when basic would work. And, coaches made a handful of baffling decisions.

Now, Tulsa has to hope for a Houston loss and play perfect the next two weeks, which shouldn’t be hard this week against lowly Tulane. However, a season-closing trip to Marshall no longer looks like a gimme.

That is in stark contrast to the Cowboys, who were solid and remain clearly among the nation’s top teams at 9-2.

OSU coach Mike Gundy was blunt in looking back at the first 11 games.

“You tell (players) you have played well and won nine games,” Gundy said Sunday.

“You played terrible at Tech.

The other games you have played as well as anyone in the country.”

OSU’s victory, regardless of how Oklahoma does against Texas Tech this week, means the Thanksgiving weekend showdown with the Sooners will be the most significant Bedlam game in perhaps 24 years.

Not since OSU and OU hooked up in a battle of top 10 teams in 1984, or maybe the showdown between the Barry Sanders-led Cowboys and Oklahoma’s defense in 1988, has Bedlam been such an attractive game on the national stage.

One of the biggest reasons has been OSU’s ability to stay focused and rebound from disappointments.

The Cowboys followed a close loss on the road to No. 1 Texas by coming home and taking care of resurgent Baylor. Then, after OSU went out and collapsed in a loss at No. 2 Texas Tech, the Cowboys went back on the road and won at Colorado, a place where so many highly regarded teams have lost.

“Our coaches have done a nice job,” Gundy said. “It all ties in to discipline and structure.”

Much of that may be due to Gundy’s ability to keep his team on a consistently-level emotion.

Gundy hasn’t shown much fire, win or lose, since his infamous rant after the 2007 Texas Tech game.

Since then, the Cowboys have been playing at a level that should put them among the nation’s top 10.

No one should doubt OSU’s ability to score or the improvement it has shown on defense.

Good teams are able to be competitive on the road against good teams and win against average teams. The Cowboys have been good enough to win on the road at the No. 3 team, good enough to nearly beat the No.

1 team and respond against a decent team when doubts were starting to surface.

It doesn’t mean Oklahoma State has arrived on the national college football stage to stay.

But, winning in Colorado would seem to indicate this is a different OSU team.

“A lot of factors can take a team in the wrong direction,” Gundy said.

The Cowboys have won far more than even the most optimistic OSU fan could have hoped. Most figured the schedule, loaded with challenging road games in the nation’s best conference, would keep OSU from winning more than seven games.

Instead, O-State, with the exception of the lost weekend in Lubbock, has been consistently good.

“They are handling it all pretty well,” Gundy said.