Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State in Season Openers
August 25, 2014 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER - Oklahoma State is 67-40-5 all-time in season-openers, including an 8-1 mark under 10th-year head coach Mike Gundy. The Cowboys haven't lost a season-opener since 2007, when a Georgia squad that included Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno handed OSU a 35-14 setback in Athens. Since then, the Cowboys have won six straight season openers, headlined by a 24-10 triumph over Georgia in the return game of that home-and-home series in 2009.
When the Cowboys go toe-to-toe with No. 1 Florida State in Arlington Saturday, it will mark the 12th time overall and the third time since 2007 that Oklahoma State has opened a season against a team ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press poll. The Cowboys won three of their five most recent season openers vs. ranked opponents.
Saturday's contest marks the first time that OSU has ever faced the No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll to start the season. OSU faced No. 2 Arkansas to start 1969 and No. 2 Nebraska to start 1995. Saturday's date with the Seminoles marks the third time that the Cowboys have opened the season by facing the previous year's national champion. The Pokes started 1965 by facing 1964 champ Arkansas and started 1995 by facing 1994 champ Nebraska.
Perhaps the most impressive season-opening win in Oklahoma State history came in 1984, when the Cowboys rolled No. 12 Arizona State, 45-3, in Tempe. Though ranked No. 12 in the A.P. poll, the Sun Devils were actually tabbed as the No. 1 team in the nation by SPORT Magazine entering that contest and were viewed as a legitimate title contender. The Cowboys used that victory as a springboard to a 10-win season and a final ranking of No. 7 in the A.P. poll.
Back to that 2009 win over Georgia. That game serves as the most notable opener of the Gundy era to this point and the most notable season-opening win for the Cowboys in Stillwater. Quarterback Zac Robinson threw two touchdown passes to Dez Bryant and rushed for another and the OSU defense limited UGA to 257 yards of offense in that contest.
The 2014 AdvoCare Cowboys Classic marks only the fifth time that Oklahoma State has opened a season playing on a neutral field. OSU went 3-1 in its previous four neutral-site openers with a 21-13 win over Texas Tech in 1943, a 39-13 win over Washington State in 2008 and a 21-3 win over Mississippi State in 2013 to go with a 39-36 loss to Louisiana Tech in 2002.
Last year's season-opening win over Mississippi State in Houston's Reliant Stadium came thanks in large part to the Cowboy defense suffocating the Bulldogs. OSU allowed Mississippi State to cross midfield only five times in the contest and only three times after the first quarter. After a sluggish start from the Cowboy offense, quarterback J.W. Walsh provided a spark by rushing for 125 yards and a touchdown and passing for 135 yards to help lift OSU to victory.
For the sixth time in eight years, Oklahoma State opens against a team from one of the power conferences. The Cowboys have gone toe-to-toe with members of the ACC, SEC or Pac-12 to open 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 and now 2014. OSU won four of those five season openers vs. power-conference opposition, with two of those wins coming away from Stillwater.
