Tulsa World: This time, Cowboys on their way up

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This time, Cowboys on their way up

By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist
Published: 12/30/2008 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 12/30/2008 3:21 AM

SAN DIEGO — The similarities between Oklahoma State now and 20 years ago are striking.

The Cowboys have a fabulous offense, All-American running back and receiver, excellent quarterback and very good kicking game. They have a chance to win 10 games for the first time since that 1988 team.

But, the similarities, when evaluating OSU's football program, end with the obvious.

"We're still a ways away from what we want to accomplish with this program," said OSU coach Mike Gundy at a Holiday Bowl press conference on Monday. The Cowboys face Oregon in Tuesday's Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium.

That 1988 team had one of the greatest offenses in college football over the past 25 years. Barry Sanders went on to become one of the greatest running backs in NFL history.

But where Sanders went and where OSU went from that 1988 Holiday Bowl blowout of Wyoming are two different things.

The Cowboys left the 1988 season and eventually were hammered for NCAA violations.

They went into a slump that lasted a decade until R.W. McQuarters led an OSU football revival by leading the Cowboys into the 1997 Alamo Bowl.

No such fall from the big stage of college football is expected for these Cowboys.

"We've taken some great strides," Gundy said. "But, we're not there, yet."

Unlike the 1988 Cowboys, who used the Holiday Bowl as one last hurrah of a successful era of football, OSU's current team is believed to be on the edge of even bigger things.

"I don't know if anyone has a perfect recipe for success, but we feel pretty comfortable about ours," Gundy said. "So, we'll stay with the same plan we've had the last few years."

That would be continued improvement.

There has been much talk about how similar the 1988 and the 2008 teams are for the Cowboys. And, that is true.

But, the program is in far different shape.

In 1989, the Cowboys started a slow slide into oblivion that eventually led to the firing of popular coach Pat Jones.

Jones said the Cowboys, lacking in facilities and resources, had no chance to compete at the highest levels in the Big Eight.

That is no longer even remotely true. Thanks to the huge gifts of Boone Pickens and other OSU boosters, the Cowboys soon will move into new facilities that will rival any in college football.

Money, once the enemy of OSU football, is now its biggest ally.

Jones believed all of those shortcomings in the overall program were a major factor in OSU's complete collapse in recruiting.

That recruiting problem eventually materialized on the field as the Cowboys hit rock bottom in the early 1990s.

Out with Jones, and the slow climb back to respectability began.

Gundy is the third coach since Jones, but he would appear to have staying power. He repeatedly has said he plans to stay for a very long time. He has no desire to go anywhere else.

The football program is in far different shape than when he finished playing quarterback.

There are great facilities, resources, steady improvement on the field and, for the first time in a long time, a lot of optimism about the future.

Still, it is somewhat ironic that Gundy finds himself headed back to San Diego, 20 years after one of the highlights in OSU football.

"It's really neat to get back out there," Gundy said.

But where the Cowboys go from this Holiday Bowl is far more important to Gundy.

Every indicator would point toward even better things in the next few seasons.

That is far different than 1988. By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist

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wk, (12/31/2008 9:36:00 AM)

How about that improved OSU defense? Looked good against the ducks. I hope they recruit a few good men to help those slow linebackers and puny safeties.

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