Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Take Six-Game Winning Streak To College Station
October 20, 2003 | Cowboy Football
No. 18/19 Oklahoma State [6-1, 2-1]
vs.
Texas A&M [3-4, 1-2]
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2003 • 2:30 p.m. [CST]
Kyle Field [82,600] • College Station, Texas
TV - ABC • radio - Cowboy Radio Network
internet broadcast - www.okstate.com
Cowboys on the Road for Texas A&M
Riding a six-game winning streak and gunning for its best seven-game start since 1987, Oklahoma State travels to College Station, Texas, this week to face Texas A&M. It will be OSU's first road trip since a Sept. 20 trip to SMU, and its first league game away from Boone Pickens Stadium since the August 30th opener at Nebraska. A lot has changed since the Cowboys left Lincoln. Les Miles' Pokes have won six straight since that opening-day loss, have vaulted back into the national rankings, and put themselves in solid contention for the Big 12 South Division title. To keep that momentum going, the Cowboys must come up with a win in one of the most difficult venues in college football.
OSU-A&M on ABC
Oklahoma State's game at Texas A&M will be broadcast by ABC and kick off at 2:30 p.m. (CDT). It will be the second-straight week for the Cowboys to appear on ABC, and the third time this season. It will be the first time ever the Cowboys have had back-to-back regular season games on ABC. Oklahoma State will arrive in College Station early Friday afternoon and have a brief walk-through at Kyle Field. OSU players are not available for interviews on Friday, but head coach Les Miles will be available briefly just prior to the walk-through.
Movin' On Up
Oklahoma State's 51-49 win over Texas Tech resulted in a move upward in both major Top 25 polls. The Cowboys jumped from 24th to 19th in this week's USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll. O-State is one of four Big 12 Conference teams ranked in the Top 25. Texas is 18th, Nebraska 11th and Oklahoma still holds the top spot. The Cowboys moved from 23rd to 18th in this week's Associated Press poll. It is the highest the Cowboys have been ranked since coming in at No. 12 in week seven of the 1997 season.
The Heat is On
It may be the middle of October and cool fall winds are blowing, but the college football world is heating up, and the Cowboys are right in the middle of the action. Saturday's trip to Texas A&M is the first of two difficult road outings for the Cowboys who travel to top-ranked Oklahoma the following Saturday. It's also the middle game of a six-game stretch of games against Big 12 opponents that represent the best in the country. OSU has already beaten Kansas State and Texas Tech, and will now face a difficult Texas A&M challenge before facing Oklahoma (7-0), Texas (5-2) and Kansas (5-2). Both Kansas State and Texas Tech were nationally ranked before losing to the Cowboys, and two of the next four opponents (Oklahoma and Texas) also carry national rankings.
OSU-Texas A&M, Briefly
There is much more on the Oklahoma State-Texas A&M series elsewhere in this release, but the Cowboys and Aggies will be meeting for the 19th time in a series that has been one-sided in the direction of Texas A&M. The Aggies have a 13-5 series edge, and have won six of the last seven. OSU snapped a six-game losing streak against A&M last year when the Cowboys claimed a 28-23 victory in Stillwater. If the Cowboys can claim a victory at College Station this week, it would be their first there since 1983, and just their second victory ever against A&M on the road.
Another Milestone
Last year, it was snapping losing streaks against Nebraska and Texas A&M. This year, another long streak (Kansas State) was taken care of. This week, the Cowboys will be looking to take care of one more. Oklahoma State will travel to College Station looking to snap a three game losing streak to the Aggies at Kyle Field. OSU has not won at Texas A&M since the inception of the Big 12 Conference. OSU's last win at Kyle Field was in 1983, when the Cowboys came away with a 34-15 win. Snapping negative streaks has been a trademark of the first 31 games of the Les Miles' era of Cowboy football.
Six Straight
Oklahoma State heads for Kyle Field with a six game winning streak. A victory this week over Texas A&M would match the fourth-longest (seven) winning streak in school history, and will be just one shy of matching the second longest. OSU's all-time longest winning streak was 13 games over parts of three seasons (1944-46). The last seven game winning streak began with a 37-17 win over Baylor in the final game of the 1996 season and lasted through a 33-29 win over Colorado in the sixth game of the 1997 season. That streak was snapped by a double-overtime loss to Missouri in Stillwater on Oct. 25, 1997. OSU has had two different eight game winning streaks. The first came during an eight game span of the 1911 and 1912 seasons, and the second came during a stretch of the 1986 and 1987 seasons.
Bowling Again
Oklahoma State's win over Texas Tech last week gives the Cowboy six victories on the season, technically making the Cowboys bowl eligible for the second-straight season. OSU won the Houston Bowl a year ago and, if the Cowboys earn a postseason invitation again this year, it would mark the first back-to-back bowl appearances since the 1987 Sun Bowl and the 1988 Holiday Bowl. Oklahoma State has appeared in 14 bowl games since 1944, but only three times previously have those appearances been in successive years. OSU appeared in the 1944 Cotton Bowl and the 1945 Sugar Bowl. The Cowboys went to three straight bowls in 1983 (Bluebonnet), 1984 (Gator) and 1985 (Gator), and OSU made back-to-back bowl trips in 1987 (Sun) and 1988 (Holiday).
Gunning for a Title
With five games of the regular season remaining, Oklahoma State finds itself squarely in the hunt for the Big 12 South Division title. While Oklahoma tops the division at 3-0, the Cowboys are just one game back at 2-1, as is Texas Tech, a 51-49 loser at Boone Pickens Stadium last week. Below is a glance at the remaining schedules for the three teams at or near the top of the South standings with five weeks remaining:
Oklahoma State (6-1, 2-1) Texas Tech (5-2, 2-1) Oklahoma (7-0, 3-0) O25 at Texas A&M O25 at Missouri O25 at Colorado N1 at Oklahoma N1 COLORADO N1 OKLAHOMA STATE N8 TEXAS N8 at Baylor N8 TEXAS A&M N15 KANSAS N15 at Texas N15 BAYLOR N22 at Baylor N22 OKLAHOMA N22 at Texas Tech 10 and Counting
Last week's 51-49 win over Texas Tech was Oklahoma State's 10th straight victory on the OSU campus. The Cowboys have not lost at home since Sept. 14, 2002. OSU's 10 straight victims include SMU, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Southwest Missouri State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Kansas State and Texas Tech. O-State is now 5-0 at home in 2003. If the Cowboys can go through the 2003 season unbeaten at home, it would be a first since 1984 when OSU was 6-0 on the home turf, defeating Bowling Green, San Diego State, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri and Iowa State.
10 in a Row
Sept. 21, 2002 Oklahoma State 52, SMU 16 Oct. 19, 2002 Oklahoma State 24, Nebraska 21 Nov. 2, 2002 Oklahoma State 28, Texas A&M 23 Nov. 23, 2002 Oklahoma State 63, Baylor 28 Nov. 30, 2002 Oklahoma State 38, Oklahoma 28 Sept. 2, 2003 Oklahoma State 48, Wyoming 24 Sept. 13, 2003 Oklahoma State 42, Southwest Missouri State 3 Oct. 4, 2003 Oklahoma State 56, Louisiana-Lafayette 3 Oct. 11, 2003 Oklahoma State 38, Kansas State 34 Oct. 18, 2003 Oklahoma State 51, Texas Tech 49
