Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State and Missouri - Familiar Foes
December 26, 2013 | Cowboy Football
Dec. 26, 2013
STILLWATER - Oklahoma State and Missouri face off in the AT&T Cotton Bowl on Jan. 3 in Arlington, Texas. The matchup is one of the most anticipated of the 2013-14 bowl season and for good reason - the two teams involved have a long history with one another from their days as rivals in the Big Eight and Big 12 Conference.
Missouri holds a 28-23 all-time series advantage over Oklahoma State, but the Cowboys have won each of the last three meetings and four of the last five. This is the first neutral-site clash between the two teams. Mike Gundy is 3-1 against Missouri. Gary Pinkel is 3-3 against Oklahoma State.
"We've had some good battles with them. Missouri is a team that over a 20-25 year period has been better at football than what people think across the country," Gundy said. "We've always had a lot of respect for them. Coach (Pinkel) has been there for quite a while now, so he's established and he has done a great job with them during that time."
One of the most notable meetings between the two came in 2008, when Oklahoma State stopped a Missouri offense that had been scoring at will all season, intercepted quarterback Chase Daniel three times in the second half and upset the third-ranked Tigers, 28-23, to silence a sellout crowd at Faurot Field in Columbia.
"It was a big win for our program," Coach Mike Gundy said. "It was on national TV with a big audience and they were really good. I remember going into that game - I don't think they had a three-and-out all year and it was the middle of the year. They had Chase Daniel. On the first series, we had them in third and 15 and they converted. They threw the ball to (Chase Coffman) and I thought `great'. Then I think we stopped them with three or four three-and-outs that game.
"It was a really big win for us on a big stage that gave our players some evidence that we can do this. You have to win one to make people think that you can do it and I think that was a big game for our university and for our program."
Zac Robinson and Damian Davis hooked up on a pair of long scores in the second half, and Patrick Lavine's interception at the Oklahoma State 31 with 1:41 to go was the clincher.
Missouri was poised to challenge for No. 1 with a strong effort after top-ranked Oklahoma lost to Texas and No. 2 Alabama had the weekend off.
Instead, it was the coming-out party for the Cowboys.
And it was Robinson, not Daniel, who played like a Heisman Trophy front-runner. Robinson was 19-for-28 for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Kendall Hunter had 154 yards on 24 carries and a 68-yard scoring run.
Daniel was 39-for-52 for 390 yards and a touchdown for Missouri, which had won 10 in a row and 18 of 19 at home but were held 19 points below their scoring average. Derrick Washington, averaging 100 yards per game, was held to 11 yards on eight carries with a 5-yard scoring run.
That win was Oklahoma State's first over a team ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll under Mike Gundy. The Cowboys have since toppled three other top-10 foes, won an outright Big 12 championship and a BCS bowl.
