Tulsa World: OSU Notebook

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OSU Notebook

By MATT DOYLE, World sports writer
Published: 1/1/2009 2:29 AM
Last Modified: 1/1/2009 3:27 AM

Unfamiliar feeling: Oklahoma State used bowl wins to finish the 2006 and 2007 seasons to jump-start its offseason conditioning programs.

For returning players, the 42-31 Holiday Bowl loss to Oregon was a difficult way to end the season. But it likely will heat up offseason weightlifting and running drills even more.

"Some of us had never lost a bowl game in our careers, so we didn't know how to respond," junior linebacker Andre Sexton said. "It's different. But we have a lot of leaders on this team (returning) that will step up. (Strength and conditioning) coach (Rob) Glass is going to push us to make sure we're back even better next year."

Rush to glory: OSU and Oregon entered the game ranked in the top seven nationally rushing the football.

Oregon lived up to its reputation by rushing for 307 yards, the most the Cowboys allowed all season.

Conversely, the Cowboys recorded a season-low 119 yards rushing. Sophomore Kendall Hunter only tallied 37 yards on 13 carries. Hunter's longest run of the game was 13 yards.

"It came down to us not being able to run the football," OSU coach Mike Gundy said.

The team rushing numbers were the lowest since the Cowboys had 70 yards on the ground in the 2007 opener at Georgia.

Bowl record: The setback to Oregon dropped OSU's all-time bowl record to 12-7. The Cowboys were attempting to win their third consecutive bowl appearance for just the second time in school history.

OSU won three bowl games in a row with triumphs in the 1958 Bluegrass Bowl, 1974 Fiesta Bowl and 1976 Tangerine Bowl.

Next season's OSU team will attempt to reach its fourth bowl game in as many years, a feat never accomplished in program history.

Interesting fact: OSU is scheduled to have all of its point production returning next season. Juniors (166 points) and sophomores (364 points) on the 2008 roster accounted for all 530 points the Cowboys scored.

The sophomore duo of wide receiver Dez Bryant (19 TD receptions, two punt return TDs) and Hunter (16 TD rushes, one TD reception) accounted for 38 touchdowns between them.

Thud in the third: Gundy and Oregon coach Mike Bellotti pointed to the third quarter as the turning point in the Holiday Bowl. Oregon outscored the Cowboys 21-7 in that quarter to take a 28-24 advantage.

The third quarter had been a dominant period for OSU all season.

Entering the Holiday Bowl, the Cowboys had outscored opponents 167-85. Oregon joined Oklahoma and Texas Tech as the only opponents to outscore OSU in the third quarter. By MATT DOYLE, World sports writer

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